Garmin Edge 840 Solar Bike Computer
Train smarter to go farther, faster and harder with advanced insights and targeted coaching from the Garmin Edge 840 touch-screen solar bike computer—and ride longer thanks to solar charging.
- During daytime rides, solar adds up to 25 minutes per hour in battery saver mode
- This advanced GPS cycling computer with a touch screen, button controls and solar power combines superior navigation, planning and performance tracking, and smart connectivity
- Multiband GNSS technology enhances positional accuracy under dense tree cover or the urban canyon so you can find your way in the most challenging environments
- Ride like a local, whatever your bike type, with improved ride type–specific maps that highlight popular roads and trails plus searchable points of interest
- ClimbPro ascent planner shows remaining ascent and grade when climbing so you can gauge your effort on every ride—no course required
- View ClimbPro on your Edge device and in the Garmin Connect™ app on your smartphone for ride planning
- Get on-screen daily suggested workouts and training prompts; stay on top of your training program with prompts to complete missed workouts
- Simplified setup and a streamlined interface make it quick and easy to access the information, courses and tools you need as well as adjust data fields
- Features button controls that work in any environment and a responsive touch screen so you can tap, pan and swipe on the fly
- Pair with your favorite apps and platforms—including Strava, Komoot, TrainingPeaks® and more—through the Garmin Connect™ app on your smartphone
- Offers personalized, targeted coaching that adapts to your current training load and recovery when used with a compatible power meter and heart rate monitor (not included)
- Power guide feature recommends power targets throughout a course to help you manage your efforts (requires pairing with compatible power meter, not included)
- Stamina insights while you ride help you keep an eye on how much longer you can really push it (requires compatible power meter and heart rate monitor, not included)
- Classify your strengths as a cyclist, and compare your ability to the demands of a specific course so you can focus your training and improvement in the right areas
- Battery life with solar charging in direct sunlight (75,000 lux): up to 32 hours in demanding use cases; up to 60 hours in battery saver mode
- Battery life without solar charging: up to 26 hours in demanding use cases; up to 42 hours in battery saver mode
Imported.
View the Garmin Edge Product LineView all Garmin Cycling Computers| Best Use | Cycling |
|---|---|
| GPS Tracking | Yes |
| Current Speed | Yes |
| Maximum Speed | Yes |
| Average Speed | Yes |
| Speed Comparator | Yes |
| Odometer | Yes |
| Trip Distance | Yes |
| Auto Start/Stop | Yes |
| Stopwatch | Yes |
| Countdown Timer | Yes |
| Clock | Yes |
| Alarm | Yes |
| Lap Timer | Yes |
| Cadence | Yes |
| Dual Bike Memory | Yes |
| Altimeter | Pressure-based |
| Target Zone Indicator | Yes |
| High/Low Target Heart Rate | Yes |
| Exercise Log | Yes |
| Illumination | Backlight |
| Smart Device Notifications | Yes |
| Low Battery Indicator | Yes |
| Batteries | Internal lithium-ion |
| Solar-Powered | Yes |
| Battery Life | Up to 32 hrs. in demanding use cases; up to 60 hrs. in battery saver mode |
| Wireless | Yes |
| Designed for E-Bikes | Yes |
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Great tool to keep you going!!!
I’ve only had this for a short time and still have gaps in my use. To date I’ve used it on a three day bike packing trip in the mountains of the Kenai Peninsula as well as over 1000 miles of local trails and roads. Everything has worked well. I compared battery usage with a biking partners non solar version and the difference was negligible (hence the four stars instead of five). About to head out on a 500 mile tour that I’ve mapped out with the Garmin Software. Looking forward to checking this on the trip as well. It’s a quality piece of gear and worth carrying the weight on any trip.
Does anyone at Garmin cycle?
Had a lot of riding computers, and in theory, this one is good. I use it for road, gravel, xc, and mtb. Solar charging is certainly novel. However, this is honestly just an annoying unit with seemingly unending list of stupid and trivial features. Often, it will get stuck trying to update, and I just get a spinning wheel of death for my entire ride. Also, Garmin has so many contrived and silly statistics like grit and flow for mountain biking... do not kid yourself, these are completely meaningless. Whenever I ride off a curb, my garmin beeps "nice jump", and tells me that I jumped 2 or 3 meters. However, if I hit actually hit a big road gap (eg 10 meters), and the unit doesn't even register it. There are also all kinds of annoying alarms; e.g., sharp turns ahead, traffic ahead, and possibility of bad weather. None of these are useful in the real world.... I wonder whether folks at Garmin have spent any time on bikes. You can turn these features and alarms off, but they spontaneously turn themselves back on and just annoy the living heck of me. I would say this cycling computer is packed with so many silly bells and whistles, I can't take it seriously. And it's not even reliable. Instead of focusing on silly features and trivial updates, I think that Garmin should get reliability dialed in first. I have a brand new iphone and it takes a stupid amount of time to synch. Every time I ride by the ocean, I'm tempted to turn this unit into a skipping rock and see how far I can get it.
Good for Garmin, but there are better options now
If you're a coming from an older Garmin unit, then this will feel worth the upgrade. But If you're looking at this as your first computer, I suggest at least checking out the other two: Wahoo Roam and Hammerhead Karoo. The interface on the Garmin is typical Garmin style, very Blackberry era. The screen is touch, but the resolution is also Blackberry like. I bought the 840 coming from an old 530 non touchscreen. In the end I returned it and went for something newer for a change, the Karoo and glad I did. The user experience on the Karoo is 2024 and the setup is easier. What the Garmin 840 does have going or it is the fast startup time and longer battery life. So if you're bike packer, then the Garmin 840 is excellent.
Seems great, terrible instructions
So far so good I guess. The 840 seems great, but I am struggling with how to use it. This is my first Garmin product so I have no experience with using them and there are essentially no instructions provided. Even most YT videos out there are assuming you have some experience with Garmin. For example, is there a simple shortcut back to the ride screen when the computer is showing something else? I don’t know? I haven’t found any indication that there is. Sometimes in the middle of a ride I’m left fumbling around with buttons or the touch screen trying to return to the ride screen just in hope of randomly ending back up there.
Thank you for posting a review we appreciate it. We would encourage you to start out on our support site for assistance and also to give you a way to contact our team as well. Getting Started: https://support.garmin.com/en-US/?productID=798946&tab=topics&topicTag=region_gettingstarted Edge 840 Solar Support: https://support.garmin.com/en-US/?productID=798946&tab=topics
I’m keeping it, almost perfect
*photo is of the the larger 1040 (or whatever #it is garmin, it was unnecessary for me and i prefer the 840). Plan ahead for time to sit down with necessary charging, WiFi, and account login information to setup the device. Once setup - it’s awesome. It lasted 6 days (lots of desert sun exposure) on the solar charging, had at least 6-10 different routes loaded, sharing information/updates/notifications, checking the screens/switching between screens for various metrics during long bike rides…idk how much more I could have been using unnecessary screen time with it, but it never died (#teamamerica). Also it does passively charge in the sun when it’s not in use! I’m keeping mine. Even though I wish it had more options/range for articulating how it sits on my drop bars. It’s not enough to negate the other advantages of it.
Cool computer
Love the climber pro feature and the touchscreen feature. I also have a wahoo element that I still use for regular rides. I needed the solar for bike events / century rides. The only issue that h have with Garmin edge 840 solar is it’s not compatible with my Quarq Tyre pressure monitor compared to wahoo. Also, there’s no temperature feature on it. But overall, it’s a good computer for bikes.
GPS is super accurate but bugs
First I like the form factor, the buttons and touch screen are awesome UI is fast and routing is great. If I had to do it again I wouldn’t get the solar, the battery gain from solar is negligible, even on 100mi rides. And screen quality suffers from the solar glass. I wish the screen was bigger without increasing the overall shape, there seems like a lot of wasted space in the bezel. Room for improvement: The garmin struggles to sync with the phone after activities I have to close and reopen start and restart the unit multiple times before activities are uploaded. In some case activities aren’t uploaded at all. Other than that I love it it’s better than wahoo or hammerhead.
Great upgrade for me
I've used a garmin 820 for several years now and have been happy with it. But decided it was time to upgrade so after reading many reviews I went with the 840 solar. My rides are never too long but I thought the solar part would be a good back up in case I was out longer than usual. No issues so far and I'm happy with the purchase! Many thanks Garmin
Solar Option Makes Device Unreadable
I got the 840 Solar in hopes that it can stay charged for those long gran fondo races. Unfortunately the screen is barely readable in direct sun and with sunglasses on. I could not make out details of the navigation. Brightness doesn't help - it's the contrast that needs to be better. I unfortunately returned this back to REI after this disappointing experience.
Replaced my 830
I enjoy some longer endurance rides, and was enticed by some of the new features on the 840 solar as an upgrade to my Edge 830. i bought the touch screen version, as I heard the one without touch was a bit hard to navigate through the menus with just the buttons. I've owned it for about a month now, and here are my thoughts. I like that it automatically calibrates the altimeter upon startup (based on the GPS location DEM i believe). The accuracy of the altimeter is very good, which makes me wonder if it also recalibrates during the ride. I also like that it tells you about upcoming climbs as you ride, with or without a programmed route. The volume of the speaker on the 840 is much louder than the 830. There is basically no way to miss a turn notification, or if using a Varia radar, an overtaking car notification. The amount of solar charge may not be great. And that comes at the cost of some clarity in the display. It is a little less clear, so that the most solar power is achieved. If I wasn't interested in long endurance events, and multi day bikepacking, I would probably just get the non-solar 840 with touch. The battery on this unit lasts much, much longer than the 830. I was able to get the unit on sale for 20 percent off. Considering I could sell my used 830 for around $200, I think this is a pretty great upgrade.