I've just started using an Edge 520 to replace my old 500 which has been great but the battery has now started to fail. My first few rides have highlighted a big difference in total ascent compared to the 500. I have noticed when riding rolling hills with lots of inclines of 20 to 40 ft the 520 is barely registering any total ascent even though the elevation shows correctly. Long climbs are registering ok. I have set up the 520 with 1sec recording and with an elevation start point set. Is my device faulty or are they all like this?
It's how the 520 (and 820) behave. As to which provides the most accurate result is hard to say? Was the 500 overoptimistic and the 520 is right? Who knows? It will certainly feel like you are being cheated by many metres on every ride. If you just want to bump up the ascending figures in Strava to catch up with everyone else, then just get Strava to recalculate the climbing figures on each ride - Strava figures will always be higher than the 520 - and most will agree that these figures are not accurate either - just higher.
Thanks for the replies. I guess i'll have to get used to it then. I expected it to be similar to the 500 but after 6 rides i'd say it reads 20% less. This missing 20% is all from small rolling hills which the 520 seems to ignore. Seems a backward step in this respect to the 500. The bigger climbs of 300 ft+ are almost identical between the two. This indicates the 500 is more accurate. Is this something that could be corrected by a firmware update?
It's possible a firmware fix may correct this - but don't hold your breath.
I also came from a 500 and I just reset my expectations with my 520 based climbing figures - lots of rolling hills here - and then got on with riding. Sounds like you're going to take the same route. Enjoy the riding.
I emailed Garmin Support about this and got a useless response about how to set an elevation start point! No chance of a fix if they don't understand the issue. The elevation updates correctly so you'd think it wouldn't be difficult to show the Total Ascent correctly.
I believe Edge 520 and 820 total ascent is accurate. I compared it to VDO MC 2.0 which I was using for many years. It shows difference like 23m for all day ride with 2000+ meters climb. It's only 1%. On flat rides readings are also the same
Strava is not that accurate. It can show more or less climb than VDO, depending on the type of course. Differences up to 20%.
Edge 500 doesn't have barometric altimeter. I think your 500 shows higher total ascent than real.
Thanks for the comparison data. I've no experience with the VDO devices, but at least their sales literature makes some attempt at explaining how the altitude calibration and correction take place, which is a good sign. It really does come down to the type of terrain and the smoothing approach taken in the devices though and I don't think any of them cope well with lost of relatively short ascents and descents.
I'll just correct you on one point there - the Edge 500 does have a barometric altimeter.
Since I've updated the firmware to 10.00 I've had some surprising results for Total Ascent. I've been using my 500 as a comparison against the 520. They are now reading virtually the same every ride. Don't know if something was changed for 10.00 but I'm happy with it now. I've done 6 rides never with more than 3000ft of climbing but they are very close now.
