Garmin Side 830 Analysis: My Personal First Cycle puter

After many years of devoted Garmin eTrex utilize, kilometers takes a closer look on Garmin side 830 to find out if it’s a worthy improvement from the most widely used device in bikepacking navigation. Listed Here Are his thoughts after a couple of months of good use, plus a side-by-side parison with his trusty Garmin eTrex 20x…

I got myself my personal Garmin eTrex 20x—the exact same any We continue to use today—back in 2016. I got myself it in preparation for a trip from the Kokopelli path, which had been initially I needed a trusted navigation device, and virtually every weblog and discussion board rated it as are one of the best choices for bikepacking. If you’re trying adhere a gpx track from point A to point B, the Garmin eTrex 20x is difficult to conquer. It’s running on AA electric batteries, these devices is actually resilient, weatherproof, and dependable, also it’s fairly simple to make use of. It has acpanied me personally on nearly every bikepacking travels I’ve started on in the very last four ages and I’ve created a routine for running route and map documents that actually works personally, regardless if that processes is somewhat clunky every so often.

Since getting van lifestyle on hold and relocating to the coastline, I’ve have an urban area to name ‘home’ for the first time in a little while. It’s no happenstance that my brand new yard is bursting with signing highways and singletrack, and is two ferry rides from Vancouver, that makes it a perfect place to hunker straight down while in the pandemic. Which delivers me personally back again to the topic in front of you: with that said, the Garmin eTrex could very well be more trustworthy routing unit for bikepacking available on the market. As previously mentioned, the software is a bit clunky, loading roads and maps could be easier, however it offers powerful routing knowledge that may maybe you’ve proceeding for the best course. For almost all multi-day bikepacking travels, the Garmin eTrex 20x still is my favourite GPS device. But for local day trips on mountain cycle trails? Less.

After some rapid internet searching and uploading an Instagram review or two, we got throughout the Garmin sides 830. The sides 830 was released in 2019 as an updated form of the advantage 820, and even though numerous functionality stayed unchanged, modern type gotten some pretty considerable improvement that seemed guaranteeing. This incorporated an updated touchscreen, more quickly handling rates, some pretty distinctive navigation services, and my personal preferred, escort sites Austin Ride With GPS and Trailforks integration. Like most modern-day bike puters, the Garmin sides 830 has the benefit of countless higher level classes properties that I’m not into. So, because of this overview, I’m looking at the equipment as a parison on the eTrex 20x after using it for many several months.

Sides 830 VS. eTrex 20x

The obvious distinction between the side 830 and eTrex 20x is that the former is a cycling-specific GPS puter and the eTrex is actually a portable product with far fewer cycling-specific properties. Whilst side 830 try stuffed saturated in various wise services, alerts, practise metrics, and a lot more advanced level connectivity (Wifi, Ant+, and Bluetooth), the eTrex is more of a standard navigation product that’s excellent for soon after a pre-planned route. Without diving as well strong, the sides show puters may do a lot more than the eTrex handhelds, but both are superb hardware for bikepacking.

Side 830

Battery Life: as much as 40 several hours
Show Dimensions: 2.6? Diagonal
Satellites: GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO
Battery Kind: Rechargeable Lithium-ion
Memory: Inside Mind Merely, 16gb
Dimensions: 1.9? x 3.2? x 0.8?
Weight: 80 grms
Price: $399.99 USD

eTrex 20x

Battery Life: doing 25 many hours
Show Size: 2.2? Diagonal
Satellites: GPS, GLONASS
Electric Battery Type: 2 AA Battery Packs
Mind: Internal / External, 32gb max
Proportions: 2.1? x 4.0? x 1.3?
Body weight: 130 g (with two AA battery packs)
Cost: $199.99 USD

Although I’m a massive lover of my personal eTrex 20x, there are many important features that ready the Edge 830 aside from they. Initial, the 830 makes use of an interior Lithium-Ion battery in place of two AA battery packs. I’ve located the interior battery pack in the 830 becoming less afflicted by cold temperatures, plus the electricity draw is much more predictable while from the path. Even if using lithium AA battery packs in my own eTrex, it’s difficult to predict how quickly they’ll wanted changing plus it doesn’t handle heat changes as well. This ways the 830 is generally recharged via a portable cache battery, that will be useful for those operating dynamo hubs, anyone who desires abstain from single-use AA battery packs, or on lengthier most isolated excursions. My basic experience with the 830 was six several hours long, in temperature only above freezing with many wind, additionally the power supply fallen to 87per cent. All my flights are typically in ‘battery save mode’ which adjusts the options instantly to give battery pack existence for a longer time rides. I’ve in addition combined the 830 with Garmin’s Charge energy package (133 grms / $129), which plugs directly into the back of the unit’s bar mount and provides an extra 1 day of battery life. The eTrex tends to be operated from an external cache power supply, it won’t cost. Nevertheless, I accept the user friendliness of replaceable battery packs referring to the reason why I’ve stuck because of the eTrex for so long.

The next most significant differences, which has been a game-changer for me, is the graphical user interface and connectivity choice the side 830 features. The touchscreen is effective, even if moist or with gloves on, and is also a big step up from the clunky user interface associated with eTrex. Combined with a smartphone, the 830 also can load routes via Bluetooth within just mere seconds, which is among my favorite features. With Garmin’s integrated experience With GPS software, there’s you don’t need to export GPX data, keep an eye on wires, and even incorporate a puter—simply select and obtain. The process is so easy and fast that I’ve going planning day trips on journey With GPS and TrailForks and downloading all of them throughout the 830 therefore I don’t have to verify I’m heading into the correct direction and will rather focus on riding. For bikepacking, i really could read this getting very helpful whenever updating a route regarding travel with no a puter or any wires. It’s really worth noting your most recent eTrex Touch 35 has grown to be loaded with Ant+ and Bluetooth, it retails for $299.99 and it has a battery life of doing 16 hours, which isn’t truly much of an upgrade.