Garmin Edge 840 Solar GPS Bike Computer

I've had the Garmin Edge 840 for a few weeks now. So far so good - relatively straightforward, loads fast, maps are useful for when you off track. Also has nice feature where you can load real world course from your phone and then virtually ride the course. The edge 840 controls the resistance of your smart turbo trainer to simulate the course gradient.This is my first bike computer head unit.For an in-depth review of this from someone with a lot more experience of these devices, see DC Rainmaker's review (Google 'dc rainmaker garmin 840' as Trustpilot doesn't allow links)

Best features worst platform

I’ve owned all the head units and used them extensively. My mainstay the last several years has been the Karoo but I wanted something more compact and with better battery life. The Karoo won’t last long enough for unbound. So I went with the new 840 solar. I’ll summarize it as, the operating system, responsiveness and usability is atrocious. It reeks of early smart phone era. Once you start to get familiar there are tons of subtleties no other head units have tho.

Better than the reviews suggested

Here are my thoughts after the first half-dozen rides. I'm not commenting based on months of experience. I replaced my trusty 520 with a 540 and am so glad I did! The setup was very easy due to the ability to sync settings from my old device to the new one. And, thus far, I have found the UI to be great, way better than I was led to believe by a couple of reviews that indicated the interface worked if you were running it on a 840 with drag and drop capabilities, but not well using the 540's buttons. I haven't found that to be an issue. In fact, the UI often highlights a button to suggest how to continue or complete a setting change. I really like that. As an (ahem) older rider, I also like that the screen text is adequately sized so I can read it during a ride ... MoreHere are my thoughts after the first half-dozen rides. I'm not commenting based on months of experience. I replaced my trusty 520 with a 540 and am so glad I did! The setup was very easy due to the ability to sync settings from my old device to the new one. And, thus far, I have found the UI to be great, way better than I was led to believe by a couple of reviews that indicated the interface worked if you were running it on a 840 with drag and drop capabilities, but not well using the 540's buttons. I haven't found that to be an issue. In fact, the UI often highlights a button to suggest how to continue or complete a setting change. I really like that. As an (ahem) older rider, I also like that the screen text is adequately sized so I can read it during a ride without the need to stop and use my reading glasses. The text would no doubt get smaller if I added items to my display pages, but my primary page shows 4 metrics and they are all easy to read. I suspect, but don't know for sure, that connecting to two GPS signals has resulted in a more consistent reading for mileage or speed. I find that the variation from one day to the next on my favorite ride is considerably less than it was with my 520. Finally, both the speed on start-up and battery usage are thus far exceptional. I expect the battery to lose life over the years, but thus far I i'm very happy with my experience.

Edge 840

I've just received my E840 yesterday. Initial thoughts compared to E830- USB-C port cover is much flimsier than on E830, does not seem to hold well in place. They should have gone with deeper rubber gasket to allow better sealing- The unit itself feels a bit bulkier than E830 due to larger bezel around the screen. I liked how E830 was stretched out with narrow bezeles- UI feels faster, but looks to be optimized for bigger screen like E1040. On E830 I never had a feeling that I don't have enough screen space- Side buttons. Need to get used to them, because some of UI functionality looks to heavily rely on them. I don't know if it's good or bad, but mid-ride it may require extra effort to get to some menus compared to E830Will need to test it on a road, but ... MoreI've just received my E840 yesterday. Initial thoughts compared to E830- USB-C port cover is much flimsier than on E830, does not seem to hold well in place. They should have gone with deeper rubber gasket to allow better sealing- The unit itself feels a bit bulkier than E830 due to larger bezel around the screen. I liked how E830 was stretched out with narrow bezeles- UI feels faster, but looks to be optimized for bigger screen like E1040. On E830 I never had a feeling that I don't have enough screen space- Side buttons. Need to get used to them, because some of UI functionality looks to heavily rely on them. I don't know if it's good or bad, but mid-ride it may require extra effort to get to some menus compared to E830Will need to test it on a road, but those are my initial impressions

Great unit. But…

This being my first bike computer I have to say I’m extremely impressed. It’s got all the features any cyclist could possibly ever need and it’s all relatively easy to navigate and utilize.Now for the But… For the majority of riders I just don’t see the solar charging as being nearly effective enough to warrant paying the additional $100 for it. The battery life is already more than good enough for the average person doing their daily rides and having easy access to be able to plug it in when they get home. That being said, I still highly recommend the Edge 840.

Great--but LOUD--replacement for Edge 1000

I bought this to replace an Edge 1000. The Edge 1000 still works fine, but it's so old it occasionally gets sensor errors with my Varia RTL510.I was a bit worried about the 840's smaller form factor, but this hasn't been an issue. I usually ride with ten data fields showing, and the crisp display on the 840 works great. I don't miss the larger form factor of the 1000.The 840 hasn't had any issues with the RTL510. The battery life is great. It seems to sync with my bike sensors faster. I like the new user interface--it only took a few minutes to get used to.The only thing I could complain about is the overly loud beep alerts--e.g., when the radar detects an approaching vehicle. It lets everybody within a 100 foot radius that something is happening! I've ... MoreI bought this to replace an Edge 1000. The Edge 1000 still works fine, but it's so old it occasionally gets sensor errors with my Varia RTL510.I was a bit worried about the 840's smaller form factor, but this hasn't been an issue. I usually ride with ten data fields showing, and the crisp display on the 840 works great. I don't miss the larger form factor of the 1000.The 840 hasn't had any issues with the RTL510. The battery life is great. It seems to sync with my bike sensors faster. I like the new user interface--it only took a few minutes to get used to.The only thing I could complain about is the overly loud beep alerts--e.g., when the radar detects an approaching vehicle. It lets everybody within a 100 foot radius that something is happening! I've improved this for the time being by putting a couple of small squares of gaffer tape over the speaker holes on the back. Now, the blast radius of the beeping is down to about 25 feet or so. I really hope Garmin lets us control the volume better with a firmware update--I'd like a loud bike alarm, but soft alerts for everything else.

High performance transparent gear

I jumped into Garmin gear with a 530. Have had every version in between. The 840 does exactly what you expect. For me, gear needs to just be transparent and do its job and not worry about it. All the others have seemed to have little quirks that would bug. I had three different 830 and the elevation never worked right. If sweat or over foggy got on the 830 screen it was just a hassle to navigate. The 840 seems to have refined several things. I still hang on to the 530 because it is still a sid great unit that worked without any snags.Garmin makes great gear and there really put out a great unit with the 840.The real time climb is nice and can be adjusted for small, medium, large type climbs.

Nothing Great So Far

The instructions provided with Edge 540 are mostly useless and I'm sitting down with a friend to figure it out. He said the same thing - nothing intuitive about moving through menus or getting it to work appropriately. Did the Ride of Silence two nights ago and it kept beeping, with the menu buttons not doing anything. It was embarassing, and I ended up shutting it off so not to interrupt the ride for everyone. Most likely taking it back for a refund. I bought it specifically to connect with my Garmin watch. Haven't been able to make that happen either.

Solar is *not* for everyone

I've used most of the cyclecomputers on the market at one time or another. The Garmin Edge 830 was my favorite for a long time, so I've been eagerly anticipating the arrival of the 840. I went with the 840 Solar thinking I'd need to charge less frequently and as the battery aged the computer would remain very usable. What I didn't anticipate was that the screen on the 840 Solar is dramatically dimmer and harder to read than my old 830. I'm really shocked how bad it is, and while I've seen reviews that casually mentioned that the screen is dimmer, they didn't convey the seriousness of the problem. On my 830, I never took my computer out of "auto-brightness" mode and never felt a need to tinker with the screen brightness. It was perfectly fine in my opinion. On the ... MoreI've used most of the cyclecomputers on the market at one time or another. The Garmin Edge 830 was my favorite for a long time, so I've been eagerly anticipating the arrival of the 840. I went with the 840 Solar thinking I'd need to charge less frequently and as the battery aged the computer would remain very usable. What I didn't anticipate was that the screen on the 840 Solar is dramatically dimmer and harder to read than my old 830. I'm really shocked how bad it is, and while I've seen reviews that casually mentioned that the screen is dimmer, they didn't convey the seriousness of the problem. On my 830, I never took my computer out of "auto-brightness" mode and never felt a need to tinker with the screen brightness. It was perfectly fine in my opinion. On the 840 Solar, with auto-brightness on it's difficult to read indoors or outdoors in late afternoon conditions. Don't get me wrong: It's not like it's illegible, but it takes more focus and attention to read than the casual glance that works with every other popular computer in the marketplace. I have to set it in manual mode and crank the brightness just below the battery consumption warning level to have a reasonable result. This is all without wearing polarized glasses by the way: I can only imagine how bad the experience would be with them.If Garmin released a software patch that made the auto-brightness brighter on the solar models that would help a bit. It would also consume more battery power, and you have to wonder how much of the extra power you're getting from the solar cells is going right through to the backlight. The bottom line is that the "Solar" option should be treated as a niche product and never a no-brainer. If you need every drop of battery endurance, refuse to charge from an auxiliary battery, ride in extremely bright conditions, and you're pretty indifferent about screen brightness, then this is probably a good choice, but I definitely wouldn't recommend it for the average rider.Outside of the solar/display brightness issues, it seems to be a decent (if uninspiring) upgrade. I haven't done empirical testing, but the computer seems to run faster, so for example, the latency between shifting gears on an electronic system and seeing the gear display update feels improved. The UI is not fantastic, but seems a little nicer to navigate , with a similar feel to the inReach Mini 2. Having both touchscreen and side buttons together is a welcome change. USB-C is long overdue. It is disappointing to see that Garmin hasn't added any new data field layouts, and the lack of organic Tyrewiz support is lagging the competition. If you're looking to get a first serious cyclecomputer, the non-solar 840 is probably going to be a solid choice, but if you have a 530/830, this is largely going to be a matter of incremental improvements.

Worthwhile Upgrade From The Garmin 810

I've had my Garmin 810 for almost 10 years and decided to upgrade to the 840. The difference is night and day. The 840 loads up fast and the setup was super easy. It has a wifi auto-sync so it will upload to Garmin Connect and Strava the second I'm back home and near my router. Some cool features I liked on my first ride were the climb warning that let me know a hill was coming up and the tight turn warning. It shows how long the hill will be, how much longer I had left to climb, and the current grade of the hill.My only gripe with the Garmin is out of the box the memory was full so I had to delete the EU maps to update it. Also, the auto-brightness seems a little too dark. Both of these are easy fixes in the menu. Overall it's a worthwhile upgrade.