
User submitted reviews
Review by psclark2
I upgraded from the Edge 500, which I've been using for years - mostly I was looking for map capability for taking off into the country to chart new territory.
This is a worthwhile investment - tons of available information, easy to program and easy to use.
The only complaint, minor as it may be, is battery life seems to be about 12 of the Edge 500. I understand the additional capabilities eat more juice, but I'm used to recharging every 12-15 ride hours...now battery is low after 6 hours of saddle time.
Other than that, it's got a great display and lots of features and options. I considered the Wahoo Elemnt Bolt, but I don't regret the decision to stick with Garmin.
Review by Rollei
Once set up properly, which took a bit of studying, the unit works fine. I like how easily the head unit is Integrated with the sensors. The software is so so in the user interface department, which is SLOW, for 2019, standard. This is really annoying, and distracting, when you are riding.
My biggest complaint has to do with the screen. It is basically as good as my Palm Pilot from about 2004! The color and resolution on the screen are not acceptable in todays standards. Garmin, for charging $400, you can do better than that.
The few times I was caught in the rain when I was riding the screen when crazy! The rain drops randomly changing my screens and settings. I guess I could have changed the touch sensitivity then but I was too busy to not cause a crash in the pace line.
My 820 is out of warranty now so I will be replacing it with one of their competitors when it dies.
Review by Fuelfool
Traded up, finally, after years with the 500. Works well but with two minor quibbles. First, the screen is more difficult to see in bright light. And secondly, when wiping sweat droplets off the screen, I sometimes inadvertently change pages, which can then be difficult to swipe, especially on the fly. That alone makes me almost prefer buttons instead. A little pricey compared to competitors, but okay if you catch a sale.
Review by PAA Wine guy
Returned the Edge 520 go the Edge 820, both worked fine, however I wanted the touchscreen. This was an upgrade from the Edge 500.
Saving your data when paired to your cell phone is fast, getting you kudos from friends on Strava.
Im still figuring out all of the features it did cause an alert to my emergency contact when I stopped for an adjustment.
Love my Garmin.
Review by Anonymous
Great product features. Good size, combines touchscreen functionality of garmin 1000 with the size of the 520. Rides upload immediately to StravaGarmin Connect via your phone or WiFi, you can see incoming texts and calls. Touchscreen though was abit of a setback. Abit difficult to use especially when riding. Does not perform like the smartphone screens to which so many of us have become accustomed. But overall, Im very pleased with the product, still a recommended buy.
Review by Anonymous
Great product from garmin
Review by Anonymous
Like the graphs the way ot looks on the bike
Plus easy to navagate.
Review by Anonymous
All computers seem overpriced since upgrades are needed more often than I would like. Watch for sales. Others have complained about the sensitivity of the touch screen but it seems just right to me including when using gloves. The stop and onoff buttons are located on the bottomside to prevent accidental touches. Garmin seems to continue to lead all others in the field.
Review by Anonymous
Great unit. Customizing data screens is easy and can be changed mid-ride. Havent had to use navagation, but tested it out on local route and was very easy to use. Touch screen works good and I added screen protector and still works good.
Review by jcambridge38
Used on multiple bikes. No more searching for sensors after initial set up.
Looking forward to the faster processor for maps and turns. The 500 was so slow.
Review by JigaWhat
I use the item on the road and CX. I like the small form factor and the placement of the startstop and lap buttons. I previously had an Edge 510 so I was familiar with the touchscreen. The Edge 820 touchscreen is not as precise as I would like it but it's doable. The performance metrics are a nice feature. It pairs easy with all of my devices. So far it's been working well given the discounted price I paid.
Review by Anonymous
I bought this to replace my 510 since I like the touch screen. It's faster starting up with more features and a larger screen. The color navigation is nice. The battery life is poor, less than my 510. I can get 2-3 rides out of a full charge. The altimeter failed at 6 weeks and Garmin had to send me a new one. I miss the bike profiles from my 510 but the 820 had no problem handling all the sensors from 5 different bikes. Overall it's a big step up from my 510 but I think battery life could be better.
Review by AlexA
This is my second Edge. I upgraded from the 800. To keep this succinct, connectivity is simply fantastic. Screen size has me squinting. The reason for the less than perfect rating is that the apps are not tested to work well. For example an excellent third party graphical training page crashes the connectivity with the Vector power meter. Yes, there are resets and work arounds, but. In summary, this device is more an Android than an iPhone.
Review by austein
There are just to many kinks on the Garmin Edge 820. My Garmin 500 wasis great. Solid! But the 820 is finicky at best. Won't turn off 12 the time. The battery life is very short. Connections come and go, especially to the Garmin Varia Rearview Radar that I bought at the same time.
The touch screen is a pain in the '$' as well. If you like looking down and swiping 100 times, then this is the computer for you. I've tried several different settings and they all seem to work just as problematic.
I've only used the routing capabilities twice now and for the most part it was good. At times it would tell me to turn only to tell me I was off course for not going straight! Besides that quirk, it got me to my destination even if I ran off course by accident (or on purpose due to road work).
Review by Six-O
After reading and watching video reviews for the recent months after the 820's launch date, it appeared that it had some significant shortcomings for those users. However, I purchased my unit in mid-2017 and have not had the problems noted in their reviews. My unit came with software version 8.0, which may have solved their dilemmas. I find that the screen responsiveness is satisfactory for me even though it requires a more definitive touch than a smartphone. I later purchased a Garmin remote to jockey the 820's data screens easily while riding. An added benefit with the remote is that it keeps the flat glass surface free of finger and glove smudges, which helps me see the ride information on the screens. I like the 820's size. It's on the small side for mapping, which I don't use much. Heck, I don't even like big smartphones - I got an iPhone SE instead of the bigger iPhone 7 so it fits more comfortably in my pocket. So, far the group ride track rider feature is not too useful to me since older Garmins don't have that feature. It's hard to convince other riders to participate in that for my benefit alone. It may be a while before others purchase newer units such as the 820 and the 1020 for that to happen. I do use live tracking on every ride so my wife can monitor my location. My typical rides are 40-60 miles and I am away for three hours, give or take. It was a great upgrade from the Edge 500, but may not be worth it for riders with more recent Garmin units.
Review by Brian
Been using my new Garmin for a couple mouths now and love it. I feel comfort knowing my wife can track me on my rides from her phone.
Review by Hrudy
I bought this device primarily for a 400 mile cycle the erie canal ride. Since my sense of direction is so poor I figured that I would be able to get to the night's lodging if I lost track of the road markings.
However, due to touchscreen, , sensor and software issues I am considering selling this thing on Ebay.
First the touchscreen.
I rank it somewhere between horrible and unacceptable. Never again will I purchase a Garmin product with a touch screen. It is slow to react , unreliable and I still do not have the hang of the gestures needed to navigate across screens. In fact I am surprised that I have not crashed while being distracted trying to change screens with this thing on my bike. I also believe that a side effect of having a touchscreen also dims the display , like what happened with the Garmins that are used for hiking. I have no idea why Garmin doesn't offer a push button model.
Sensors- The bike cadence and speed sensors work OK on this device. However, the altitude sensor is wonky with quite a discrepancy between it and my Fenix 3 on the same source. I suspect it needs re-calibration. Another issue is that I got spikes in altitude initially. This caused the altitude display to look flat on the Connect.garmin website since it had to expand the display scale to accommodate the spikes. I had to edit the .fit file to eliminate the times where the spikes occurred.. This resultant Altitude display did scale properly but still had the annoying offset that I mentioned earlier.
The gradient displays are a disappointment , since they are slow to react and seem inaccurate.
Software- I did have the Edge 820 lock up when I was using it for navigation. I had to reset it during a bike ride.
On the positive side - I was able to navigate to where my car was when I on a bike ride, so that should count for something.
However, since I have a Fenix 3, I do not believe that this Unit's features offset the problems I've had.
Review by Anonymous
Set up has proven difficult. Was linked to smart phone, then connection was lost. Some settings are hidden far too deep in the menus.