Upgrade from 920xt?

That's going to be a very personal decision, but my two cents -- 

I use my FR945 and Edge 520 plus similar to the way you currently use your FR920XT and Edge 500.  Based on your choices

BETTRAVE77 said:

1. Upgrade my watch to a 935 or 945?
2. Upgrade my Edge to a 520 or 530?
3. Or just keep everything as is?

Option 1 is good if you are looking for an everyday watch that does the same thing plus adds some more features (that may or may not be useful or meaningful to you).

Option 2 is good if you are happy with 920XT as your primary tracker but you want more features on the bike.  For example, I often program new routes in to my Edge 520 plus and use the maps to route me the right way.  I have no intention of upgrading to an Edge 530 because everything I need or care about is already present in the 520 plus.

Option 3 is certainly the cheapest.  What do you feel you are missing or what is your end goal with the products?  If you feel the 920XT is a better computer than the Edge you can just buy one of these to mount it on your bike when you ride: https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/11078#overview

The reality is that I know a LOT of people who love the 920XT and don't intend to upgrade because of the big easy to read screen and the fact that it pretty much just works.

For me personally, I used to use just a FR910XT -- I would wear it on my runs and swims and mount it on my bike for rides.  Then I decided I was tired of accidentally forgetting to bring my 910XT to work or on a trip with me so I upgraded to the FR935 with the tri bundle and used the quick release kit to mount it on the bike for rides and otherwise wore it 24/7.  I found that I really desired a larger screen with more information at the same time, and didn't like dealing with the quick release during triathlons, so I bought the Edge 520 plus for the bike.  Since the physio true-up feature didn't seem to work as great for me as I hoped, and I wanted the watch and Garmin Connect to have the "full story", I just use the bike computer during the ride and never save the activity.  I save everything on the watch.

Upgrade from FR935 to FR945 was an impulse thing when it came out. I tried to justify it to myself that when I am running in places I don't know it is nice to have the maps on the wrist, but the reality is I have used it maybe twice ever, and I normally have my phone on my armband anyway.

Good luck with your decision.

the 920 is nowadays (after all the software updates) rock solid and does probably anything you need. The newer watches are nicer, slightly lighter and have a couple of nice-to-have features like optical heart rate, widgets or advanced fitness metrics. of course the 945 has music and maps functionality. Some things were never improved, for example you can still only use 2 connect iq fields - same as with 920.

The Edge 500 however has some flaws i think. There are still a few old bugs left (e.g. following a course results in occassional freezes) and you cannot sync it with your phone. It's also a workhorse and countless devices were sold but its in my opinion hard to recommend anymore

Edge 520 is a great choice because you can even add color maps (there is a good manual how to do it from dc rainmaker). Edge 530 is only slightly fancier, e.g. with real navigation instead of following just a breadcrumb.

Thank you both for your opinion.

There are some things that bug me a little on the 920XT

1. When I stop running or biking, there is a delay for the watch to show I stopped and another delay before it shows restart running or biking.
2. I connect my watch to my phone and it is difficult to check notifications later.

The new features on the 935/945 for Lactate Threshold, body battery, pulse OX, ...

I have to check more the Edge series.

1. I assume you are talking about auto pause? Since this relies on GPS it will always take a few seconds, also on newer devices. If this annoys you you can buy a speed sensor for your bike which tracks the wheel revolutions and speeds up the auto pause/resume

2. The new watches have an improved menu system which makes it a bit easier to check notifications later. But it‘s probably always better to just pull out the phone and check there

Hi Heikoo,

1. I am not talking about auto pause. Let say that I have to stop at a red light (running or biking). I stop, but my watch still show a speed. Then, when I start again, it takes a while to show my speed. I say speed, but I generally speaking about detecting that I stop moving or start again moving.

Okay i get it. Reason is the same as with auto pause - GPS is in general not accurate enough for a faster reaction. So on the bike you would need a speed sensor and for running a footpod. If you want to spend some money, then check out the Stryd Footpod, its an amazing device.

It all comes down to what you need/want but personally if your current devices work fine i would stick with what  you have.

Unless there's a feature on the new devices that you really really want, my experience is that garmin devices are buggy when new and very fragile. Bought my 945 in May and haven't been able to use it at any races this year due to the GPS Open water swim bug and recently the optical HR has started cracking so will need to request an RMA from Garmin. For a 5 month old device that has only been used for running workouts and 2 open water swims (until i realized it was useless) during this time it seems like a joke.

This is not the first time this has happened and, while Garmin warranty is usually good to deal with, it eventually runs out and it also gets really annoying...