Garmin Edge 530, Performance GPS Cycling/Bike Computer with Mapping, Dynamic Performance Monitoring and Popularity Routing

Garmin Edge 530 I bought the Garmin Edge 530 because apparently riding a bicycle was no longer complicated enough. There was a time when you got on a bike, rode somewhere and came home. Now I apparently need a computer to tell me where I am, how fast I’m going, how far I’ve gone, how high I’ve climbed, how much longer I have to suffer and, occasionally, whether I am making acceptable progress towards something called Training Effect. The Edge 530 is very good at all of this. It is also extremely small. Which is impressive when you consider the amount of information it is constantly trying to give you. Speed. Distance. Cadence. Heart rate. Power. Elevation. Navigation. Calories. Performance metrics. At one point I was fairly certain it was judging me. The navigation is particularly useful. You can load a route and follow it without having to stop every few minutes and stare at your phone like a confused tourist. It also has a remarkably useful habit of telling you that a hill is coming. This is technically helpful. Emotionally, it is not. You can be happily cycling along, enjoying the scenery, when the Edge 530 informs you that you are approaching a climb. You already knew there was a hill. You can see the hill. But now the Garmin has documented it. And apparently it knows exactly how much climbing remains. This is information I didn’t necessarily require. The battery life is good, the screen is clear in daylight and the physical buttons are a much better solution than trying to operate a touchscreen while travelling at speed on a bicycle. The ANT+ and Bluetooth connectivity also mean it works nicely with sensors and other cycling equipment. Once you’ve added cadence, speed, heart rate and whatever else you decide you need, your bicycle begins to resemble a small mobile laboratory. Which is excellent. Because clearly what my cycling lacked was instrumentation. The Edge 530 is also robust. Mine has endured the usual combination of rain, dirt, vibration and general bicycle abuse without complaint. The biggest criticism I can make is that there are an enormous number of features. I have used some of them. I have ignored many others. There are metrics in this device that I am reasonably certain have never been viewed by a human being under normal circumstances. But they’re there. Waiting. Ready. Just in case. And that’s really what you get with the Edge 530: a remarkably capable little cycling computer that does far more than most people will ever need, while being small enough that you barely notice it on the handlebars. Five stars. It tells me where I’m going. It tells me how fast I’m going. It tells me how far I’ve gone. And, most importantly, it tells me when I’m about to encounter a hill. Unfortunately, it cannot tell me why I agreed to ride up it. I’ve checked. There’s no setting for that.

I am not one for reviews but I feel I have to review tis item. Just to summarize: The Garmin device 530 edge is brilliant. I have used it 5 days a week since I bought it late April. It is easy to set up and works like a dream. The buttons are easy to use when you get the hang of it as we are so used to touchscreen. It is very accurate as I have HR monitor Polar H10 which works flawlessly. I use the Garmin cadence and shows up every time. The Bluetooth is picked up easily and even use my phone as a hotspot I have used Komoot and Strava with this and again works as it should. It is small but I can easily see everything on it. It comes with the cycle mount and host of other accessories except a case. My only gripe is that today it just would not turn on and I have lost 2 days of data as I did not sync it with my Garmin connect. I know of some people that said the same thing on internet forums. Amazon have been brilliant and ordered me a replacement asap. Such a shame this rather expensive device just decided it would not turn on today and only owned it for literally 3 weeks. Regardless of the above this product is brilliant in size and what you can do on this and way cheaper than the elder 830. That has touchscreen and map navigation but I use my phone for that so not needed. Expect to pay around £170 when it is on a deal otherwise £200 -220.

I don't see myself as a serious cyclist. I tend to go out for 5 mile rides with the kids or 20 miles solo, but having recently started pushing myself to the occasional 40 miler I found tracking and navigating my rides with my phone or Garmin watch wasn't working for me any more for a variety of reasons including battery life and effectiveness during rain. So I spent forever going back and forth deciding whether to invest in a bike computer. Now I have, I'm so glad I did. Being used to using Strava to plot my rides, I continue to do this, then upload to my garmin once I'm ready to go. The navigation is easy to follow, the battery lasts well and rain doesn't affect it! Hooray! (this was a serious downfall of using my phone, if caught out in a downpour on an unfamiliar route my phone had a tendency to become controlled by the raindrops I think and suddenly start closing and opening apps like a teenager who's battery died for 10 minutes). It comes with a simple mount, which I like. You can upgrade to a mountain biking one, but for my needs (including some slower mtb trails) the basic mount works fine. After my ride, it automatically uploads to my garmin app and Strava. Took it on a recent holiday to France. Maps worked fine, although it was quite comical the range of lanes marked as "unpaved road"... From grassy lanes to gravel paths to fully paved roads to rocky trails... Nothing my hybrid couldn't handle, and I suppose anyone on a road bike would have taken more time to rule out such roads. Overall, really chuffed with my purchase. Can't go wrong with pay monthly over Amazon either, with no credit charge. Two thumbs up from me.

Many things to like. Long lasting battery. Easy navigation. Good integration into connect and broadly good route planning via app. Great with radar. It syncs reliably and uploads well. Better on this than the fenix, which fails to upload many times. Easy to read and use on the road. Once you've learnt buttons it's fairly easy to use. And I don't miss lack of touch screen at all. But.. the screen scratches easily. And we are now several iterations into gorilla glass and it's ilk. So for an outdoor multi use product that's pretty poor to be so easy to scratched. It's starting to look a little naff and I've been pretty careful with it. Even cheap phones come with screen protectors and cases now days, as well as anti scratch gorilla glass. Back to start is good. Mapping is generally good, although for some reason while I get good road coverage in UK and Belgium it seems poor in France. There are also very frustrating differences between metrics of edge v fenix. Performance condition - the reads are substantially different. Small differences on sweat and calories - no Biggie. Surely this could and should be consistent or Garmin should just say ignore the edge as it's old? The out front is sound and has another connector underneath - I use for an akaso. All the accessories are well made and perform well. Generally very happy to have. But the niggles could easily be removed.

Bought this to use when cycling abroad and other parts of the UK we were not familiar with. Initial set up was a little frustrating but once it was paired with Strava its great. I use my laptop with OS Maps to plan a route so I can make sure the route isnt too hilly and am avoiding where possible dangerous or busy roads. Downloading these from Strava to the Garmin is straightforward and really accurate. Some reviews are critical of the buttons but if you use it regularly and are prepared to spend a bit of time "practicing" it soon becomes fairly intuitive. I have cycled in various locations on hot bright sunny days and the screen is always visible so I dont really understand some negative comments here. Overall its a great bit of kit and has transformed our cycling-no more stopping every 5 minutes to check the Mobile phone I have mine mounted on my bars its easy to see.

This is my third iteration of the Garmin Edge range. Clearly they have refined and improved the experience offered over the years. Unsurprisingly it gives all the usual features (speed, time, distance, etc). Additions such as power meter and heart rate monitor allow for additional metrics, all of which can be displayed on customised screens. The features that are most useful for me are ClimbPro, which details climbs on routes (very helpful when you haven't ridden them before), the mapping and the scores provided on training effect. All in this is an excellent piece of equipment. The battery life is strong. I've never had it crash/freeze. Integration with Garmin Connect/Strava works well and the live track has proven useful (my brother now knows when to put coffee or dinner on because he can see how close I am to home).

Excellent bike computer. I purchased this to be able to leave my phone at home on longer rides. Pre loading the maps and routes is easy. Navigating the menus is very intuitive and it pairs easily with my power meter on my bike and heart rate monitor to have all my data in front of me when cycling. Great battery life and easy to see on the sunniest of days. It charges with USB-C and come with everything you need to get started right out of the box, after updating it.

Updated review. This was bought in July 2023 developed some faults in Jan 2025. Amazon / Garmin replaced with a new unit. Awesome service. There is a lot to like about this GPS, it integrates with Camoot using a PC for creating a ride or using a phone while on the fly. The battery life easily covers a day's ride. The mounting kit is very good quality. Initially the screen looks a bit limited but in bright sunlight it comes into it's own. So that's the good stuff the bad points are as flows. The software is so fragmented it's hard to remember where to find bits of the menu. The layout of the buttons would suit a left handed person better "what were Garmin thinking?. The buttons on mine were defective and some times worked this maybe a known problem with older stock. Mine was bought on a Amazon deal for £160 an excellent price but when trying to get it replaced after a week initially only a refund was offered. After some heated words Amazon did do a direct replacment. To summarise this is a Marmite product I like it so it's a keeper.

For those who find the Edge 530 complicated; in my opinion it is not more (or less) complicated than setting up Garmin's sports watches. Regarding features; it does all that I want. The screen is easily visible, also on a bright day (as far as we get those in the Netherlands in spring), the course is easy to follow, and there is almost an overkill (for me) of training statistics. At Amazon's sale price (probably there's a new model on the horizon?) I think it's a very good buy.

Garmin gear is pricey but this is good.

Tried and trusted. A great device.

El Edge 530 es el sucesor del 520 Plus, siendo más ligero, más grande y con más funciones. Datos de interés/Destacables: -No tiene pantalla táctil. Pantalla más grande, Mejor visualizado de datos (3.5p / 6,6 cm). -Conexión wifi, mucho más rápido a la hora de sincronizar y ver datos. -Pantalla con colores nítidos, color Blanco en pantalla, (no tiene el color amarillo/verdoso como el 520 Plus). -Mayor velocidad del procesador, funciona/carga todo más rápido. -Modo entrenamiento. -Curva de potencia de rendimiento. -Todo tipo de notificaciones con móvil conectado. -Compatibilidad con sensores Bluetooth: sensores inteligentes Bluetooth, como ritmo cardíaco, alimentación, etc. -ClimbPro (Solo valido para trayectos ya programados). Puedes ver el recorrido y tu rendimiento durante la escalada, con datos de tiempo de subida, km que quedan por recorrer, % pendiente, etc... -Batería (20 horas) Batería real sobre 15 horas, navegando serian menos por el consumo de la navegación con mapas. Tiene un modo de ahorro de batería es útil para extender el tiempo de batería. + Más más funcionalidades no tan interesantes o para todos los públicos… (Mapas de Trailforks, ForkSigh, Aclimatación/Hidratación/Recuperación, Alarma de bicicleta, ‘Find my Edge’, Clima, datos de Grit, Flow y Jump). Diferencias con Edge 520 Plus: - Menor precio. -El 530 es ligeramente más grande pantalla más grande de 3.5 pulgadas, de 5,8 cm de 520 Plus a 6,6 cm de 530, 830. -El 520 Plus más antiguo Año 2017, (Año 2019 edge 530). -El 520 Plus no tiene conductor para la navegación. -El Garmin 530 con navegación. -El 520 Plus tiene una interfaz antigua con un diseño diferente. *Mejor sensación a la hora de tocar los botones por diseño que tienen, (En el 530 el tacto es diferente, no siendo malo, si no sensación al pulsar distinta). Diferencias Edge 830: Mayor precio. -Tiene todas las funciones que el 530. Excepto: -Pantalla táctil, menos botones físicos. (Mismas dimensiones que el 530). -Navegación Más extensa, con posibilidad de poder buscar rutas en el mismo edge, tiene una base de datos de ‘puntos de interés’, gasolineras, etc… en el 530 no tiene estas opciones. (En el 530 habría que hacerlo atreves del móvil con Garmin Connet). *Opinión Garmin edge 530: Ciclocomputador más que efectivo y para todos los públicos igual o superior a gamas altas por un precio moderado. Si eres una persona de mirar datos/métricas es más que suficiente al igual que el 520 Plus, 830 o 1030. Si lo tuyo es navegar, conocer nuevas rutas de sitios distintos al habitual o viajar y crear rutas, iras mejor con el edge 830 o 1030 por el tema de navegación, creación de rutas, puntos de interés y de más opciones que tiene en el modo de navegación dentro del mismo dispositivo sin necesidad del móvil. -Motivos por decantarte por el edge 530 y no por el 520 Plus: Wifi, pantalla de buen color, más grande, más batería, mejor interfaz, más moderno... -Motivos por decantarte por el edge 530 y no por el 830 o 1030: Navegación, Pantalla táctil... + Video simple navegando dentro del dispositivo.

Jeśli szukasz nawigacji rowerowej, gdzie wgrasz trasę z Komoota, dostaniesz dokładne informacje na temat treningu oraz oczekujesz długiej pracy na baterii - Garmin 530 jest dobrym wyborem. Musisz jednak wiedzieć że nie jest to najbardziej intuicyjna nawigacja na rynku, i opanowanie jej zajmie Ci trochę czasu.