Edge 130 Cold Weather Performance

For clarity, it appears that BrianXDaly did the internal battery upgrade, not referring to my external battery add.  I'm still considering the internal battery upgrade, but for now my laziness has won out with the lipstick battery...

Sorry, that is correct.  I replied to the post on the internal battery swap, but I see that the thread does not distinguish.  

Also, to support CrankyK. , I am investing this time because the Edge 130 is the only computer that can (barely) squeezes between the 2 prong tri bars on the Cervelo P5 (including the twist into position).

I agree Garmin lied here. It seems the engineers made something and then marketing got hold of it. It appears though that they have learnt their lesson and the plus version makes less extravagant claims. The 530 is still the one for you though ;) It was for me also and I haven't looked back. 

I'll agree, if I had it to do over again, I would gladly pay the extra $100 for the 530.  I don't need all the extra features, but some would be nice, as well as the larger screen, and especially the much improved battery capacity.  I just can't justify starting over and spending $300 more.  I need return on the investment I've already made!

That being said, Garmin should have put a larger battery in.  There are many who need the small size of the 130 (such as BrianXDaly), and it is not unreasonable to expect at least 8 hours of battery life.  Many on this very thread have fit the larger battery in the same case, so Garmin could have done the same.

Garmin also makes external battery packs for their other units.  They could do the same for the 130.  It would work even though it would likely need a cable jumper.  They could have made another $40 or $50 off me and I wouldn't have felt too bad about it. 

Thanks for this tip. I should have paid attention to it before reassembly as I had the same problem.  I would suggest bending up the 4 tabs slightly for everyone installing this battery.

• All- this was my last post after returning my 130 under warranty. Since February of last year, I have had ZERO issues with battery life. I’ve ridden in subzero temps and in pouring rain. There was a bad batch about 1-2 years ago. The warranty rep was not aware early on that there was an issue, and still might not if people do not submit warranty claims. I get 14-16 hrs of life if I am not using Nav, and about 10hrs with Nav running. See below.

  robfischer said:

  Update on my Experience-

  I exchanged my 130 for a new unit under warranty in late February. In the last 4 months I’ve put 3000 miles on it in all weather conditions (3deg f to 102deg f) on rides as long as 7.25 hrs. Battery life has been excellent. There is likely a bad run of units out there and Garmin needs to know. The warranty rep I dealt with was very helpful and knowledgeable. Once the old unit was in their hands the turnaround was quick.

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I bought a OTG cable for my phone which have a 4000 mAh battery - it's battery is almost 22 times bigger than the battery in my Edge 130 and for emergency recharge I'm able recharging the Edge 130 directly from my phone via the OTG cable!
Definitely I'm going to upgrade to Edge 530 one day because I'm riding brevets all the time, BUT I LOVE my Edge 130 the wight is 30 gr but have full set of functions!!!
The name of my Edge 130 is Grogu - as is the name of the baby Yoda Jedi from the Mandalorian.
My Grogu is a real Jedy  ...

:) :) :)

Maybe you can use The Force ;)
(because the 130 battery sucks)

Doesn't the OTG cable put the Edge in USB-mode ?

I don'r see how Cranky's expectations are unreasonable if the project literature states it should work within a specified temperature range and it does not.  I live in Canada and even on 0C rides (32F), battery life spans between 45min and 2 hours.  As big of a problem as the limited run time is the randomness of it.  I have no confidence the next time I look down at the Garmin that it will be on during these rides.  And often it isn't.  I've started running strava on my phone as a backup.  It's ridiculous.  Now I find myself in the same shoes as many--am I really going to patron this company even more of my money now?  Garmin needs to step up to the plate and offer some kind of discount for 130 users who need to buy a 530 to have a usable winter device. 

Used my Etrex 30 as backup (it records HR too).
(but after I updated the battery of my 130, it has'nt died on me, so now I only use the Etrex30 in "unknown territory")

Love Garmin for making devices like the Etrex, and the Edge130.
Hate them for lying to us about battery life and cold weather performance.
Like a marriage gone wrong.

A gesture like swapping my 130 against a 530, FREE OF CHARGE would help to mend the relationship.