Garmin  Edge 530 GPS Bike Computer

I travel to Europe once a year. Every single time the Garmin has failed me. Leaving me without navigation at crucial times. I even paid Kamoot for a specific route to take all the guess work out of route planning. I get to Paris, rent a bike and Garmin says it cannot locate any local maps or routes. In PARIS it can’t locate a map. My experience with Garmin is so bad that I’m selling the 530 and will never purchase another Garmin device again. Never dropped and in a case since the moment it came out of the packaging. Garmin has literally ruined 4 years of riding in Europe and I’m just not going to deal with it anymore.

I was excited for the integrated Trailforks maps and mountain bike metrics so I took a chance on purchasing despite the negative reviews. Used the 530 for a week+ and experienced some sync and upload issues and that Garmin support was able to remedy via resets and such. Went out for a mountain bike Sunday, powered on the 530 and it froze completely at the boot screen. I was unable to unfreeze it and decided to return the unit. At least the buttons on my unit seemed fine, unlike other reports. If Wahoo makes a similar unit in the near future I might consider it or trying the 530 again this fall once all the bugs are worked out.

This product was plagued with glitches from day one. Out of 4500-ish miles logged on Strava in the past year, I'd estimate another 500 lost due to-- lost connections to satellites, battery issues, and general weirdness with connecting to sensors. I also bought the companion heart monitor, and I must admit, it was the final straw. After the first battery replacement, I had a couple weeks of solid performance and then the 530 started registering "75" as the heart rate. I replaced the battery again; got a day of accurate performance, and then, "72". After four batteries and a half hour of deleting the sensor and re-adding it to the GPS I'd had it. On to the next manufacturer...

used to be a loyal Garmin Edge user despite every unit breaking after 1-2 years. Then I switched to the Wahoo Elemnt that works perfectly but can't use the Garmin Varia radar with it. So gave Garmin one more try and it failed miserably. Setup was ok except for one random crash. Worked fine during ride. Post ride, did not auto-upload. Called tech support, screen froze, stuck in loading mode on reboot, Garmin tech put me on hold, then returned and disconnected. Called back and could not fix it, they offered exchange. Unit is going back to REI for refund. Hope Wahoo comes out with a radar

With Speed, Cadence, Remote, HRM sensors and the Rally RS200 Power-meter pedals, this robust compact cycling navi really becomes a connected powerhouse for serious analytics both live during training and later analysis via the Connect app and -portal. Battery lasts forever. Though its routing capabilities, available apps (via the mediocre ConnectIQ store) and its UI (through soo many functions via too many button presses), feel outdated compared to modern Smartphones. Setting-up data screens after many firmware updates sadly still can’t be done drag-drop via the Connect app yet only via zillion button presses in the 530. Once finally setup though, no need to reconfigure this luckily ever again. All things considered, a very handy versatile bike-computer. Recommended

I got this for my wife primarily as a result of the Livetrack and the accident detection features to give me peace of mind while she was riding alone. These features require the device to be connected to your phone via bluetooth and we discovered that this connection was random an unstable. This resulted in the Livetrack rarely working and the accident detection not giving any peace of mind. I purchased the 830 for myself and had similar issues as well. Thank goodness for REI and their satisfaction guaranty policy as this is one of the reasons why we are dedicated customers of REI.

Well, Garmin seems to have missed the mark on quality control with the 530. I received the unit today and, like the first reviewer, find the lower right "back" button to only be intermittently responsive. In my case it requires a great deal of force to activate the button, and even then it only activates one out of every three or four presses. The other buttons do not inspire confidence when pressed (they feel cheap), but function and have a subtle "click" feel when activated that the lower right button on my unit does not. I will unfortunately return this unit before trying it out due to what seems to be a critical manufacturing defect. Buyer beware until they acknowledge and correct this problem. Note that I tried the button again after the firmware was updated with the same results.

I decided to replace the terrible Edge 820 with a non-touchscreen Garmin bike computer. However, one of the buttons (the back button) on this new Edge 530 requires a really hard press to register, something that will be challenging to do while I'm riding the bike. From what I've read so far, this is most likely a manufacturing issue that affects many units. If you are getting one, I suggest visiting a REI store, test every button on the device before taking it home.

When the 530 works it does a pretty good job. The problem is, it sometimes pauses recording ride at during the ride. It doesn't happen on every ride but might occur once or twice during a ride. The map stops updating and the ride distance recorded is incorrect. By Googling this issue, I see that many others have the same problem. I've tried proposed remedies and nothing works. Garmin is aware of the problem but has done nothing to fix it. My advice: Avoid the Garmin 530 if accurate GPS performance is important to you.

I was super excited to replace my Edge 25 an upgrade to the 530 based on features and the reviews I read... until I got it and tried to use the back button. All 6 of the other buttons responded with adequate pressure but the back button was either completely unresponsive or required a crazy amount of pressing and cursing. I returned it before taking it out on a ride. I’ve ordered another because I want it to just be a weird manufacturer issue, but buyer beware.