Garmin Edge Explore - Touchscreen Touring Bike Computer With Connected Features, 010-02029-00

Garmin Edge Explore - Touchscreen Touring Bike Computer with Connected features, 010-02029-00

• Includes preloaded Garmin cycle map with turn-by-turn navigation and trendline popularity routing to find the on- and off-road routes most-traveled by cyclists
• Built-in GPS tracks how far, how fast, how high and where you ride
• Compatible with varia cycling Awareness devices, including smart bike lights and rearview Radar to detect cars and alert drivers
• When paired with your compatible smartphone, you gain connected Features, including livetrack and grouptrack, smart notifications, rider-to-rider Messaging and built-in incident detection

Buy Now : Garmin Edge Explore - Touchscreen Touring Bike Computer with Connected features, 010-02029-00

Brand : Garmin
Category : Electronics,GPS, Finders & Accessories,Sports & Handheld GPS,Handheld GPS Units
Rating : 4.4
ListPrice : US $193.99
Price : US $193.99
Review Count : 405
ChildASIN : B07DWRNHZ5

Garmin Edge Explore - Touchscreen Touring Bike Computer with Connected features, 010-02029-00

• My new Garmin Edge Explore arrived yesterday so today I strapped it to the bike along side my trusty 8 year old Garmin Edge 705 and went and rode a new trail I have not ridden before to fully experience the Explore. Since I pre-ordered the unit and got it fairly early I figured I would post a review to help others with their decision.I love my 8 year old Edge 705 - its on its second battery and 3rd navigation ball but the lack of internet and Bluetooth connectivity was starting to get to me. I recently purchased the 520 Plus - but returned it after 2 days primarily because the lack of touchscreen navigation made the UI awful to use and I couldn\'t justify the cost of the more expensive touchscreen models. The Edge Explore doesn\'t come with all the bells and whistles that the more expensive models have - but if you are looking for a touchscreen device, that will connect to your heart rate monitor and your phone and the internet - I think Garmin have nailed it with the Explore.The Good: Great large full color screen which is awesome to see the extra level of detailed maps that come on this unit - like lakes and swamps and hills already marked. The map was also showing trails that were in the base maps already on the device - and I took advantage of them on the very first ride which I could not have done on the 705. The touch screen is great - working in humid conditions with sweaty fingers. You can move around the map or your course on the screen (vs the ball on the 705 or the direction keys on the 820) . The initial configuration of the device with the phone was easy, setting up the ride screens is similar to previous models and using on the trail is mostly easy. I ran both the Explore and the 705 side by side and the GPS accuracy was identical. Has lots of new features now that its connected like Live Tracking and Emergency Assistance which were both reasons I wanted an upgrade.The Bad: Full disclosure - I\'ve done one ride with the Explore - so will edit as I go along. But there are a few gripes too. The first one is that the Strava App in Connect IQ does not appear to be compatible with the Explore. Hopefully this will change, but in the meantime you have to load the course into garmin.connect first, or use another app like TrailForks. Secondly, the Map Zoom function. I didn\'t realize until today how much I zoom in and out of the map as I am riding along following a course - especially on the tight sections that are difficult to follow if you are zoomed out. On the 705 this was done via two buttons on the side of the unit. On the Explore you have to tap the screen which requires a level of precision quite tricky to manage in the middle of a rock-garden. Thirdly - I think I consumed like half the battery on a 3 hour ride. Not such a big deal since I rarely do 6 hour rides - but I will need to remember to charge after ride and a battery pack on the all day rides. There are some other smaller gripes too. The Start location is not easy to see with all the new detail on the maps (I used my 705 to navigate back to the car) and the \'Zoom Scale text\' is like a size 4 font - something else I didn\'t know I referred too as I am riding and judging where to turn on the trail. Hopefully Garmin read this and change it :) Also, I felt like it was loosing the bluetooth connection to my phone a fair amount - but will need to monitor thatOverall - very happy after ride 1. I believe and hope the issues I do have will all be fixed in firmware updates over the next few months - which is to be expected in a first release product.Update: 7 rides in and my old edge 705 has been confined to my spare parts draw. The Edge Explore is awesome. I haven\'t noticed the bluetooth connection drop and battery consumption with a heart rate monitor and connected to my phone is 10-15% per hour. The lack of Strava Route integration forced me to start using TrailForks - which is actually much better than Strava for creating ride plans so not missing the Strava App on the device.
• If your handlebars have other attachments, this unit might be a challenge. Note that the mounting requires the unit to be rotated 90 degrees. You therefore need to plan on clearance of not just the WIDTH of the unit, but the LENGTH, too. The included attachments didn\'t work for me for a stem mount (see pictures). I ended up buying a stem cap mount (wileosix Bicycle Bike Stem Top Cap Holder) which has worked out well. (Note: if you are like me that has a STEM RISER, you will need a M6x100 bolt to mount the cap holder).
• I\'ve always shied away from Garmins. No doubt they were capable and feature rich devices, but Garmin were more interested in making the bean counters happy than providing a competent and capable product at a reasonable price that most other casual or enthusiast riders could afford. With this new Edge Explore, I think they\'ve finally hit the mark and provided a device that\'s a good \"bang for your buck\" with all the features you could want at a price most people wouldn\'t immediately scoff at.The color touchscreen could stand to be a tad brighter, but has good redraw/refresh rates for map navigation and is still easily viewable in direct sunlight. It is also very good and responsive at registering the various pokes and swipes you will need to navigate. The menu system is intuitive to get around and pairing with your smartphone and additional sensors is quick and painless.Battery life, for any device in today\'s age, could always use improvements to longevity and stamina. After almost two weeks of riding with it, I\'ve noticed that out-of-the-box with all notifications and alerts turned on, battery percentage gets to around 70% after 1.5 hours and about 50-55% after about 3 hours of riding. Turning on battery saver mode and turning off unnecessary alerts will extend battery life but I\'m still dubious that you can get anywhere near Garmin\'s stated value of 12 hours. Battery saver mode will turn off the screen after a few seconds. To reactivate your device, just touch the screen and use as normal before the device goes to sleep again. This is probably for the best as you should be focused on the road ahead instead of intently staring at the device as you ride anyway. If you\'re going to be riding for 5-6+ hours, then definitely have a power bank on hand to recharge the device.All in all, I\'ve been very happy with the device thus far. If you don\'t need advanced training features like structured workouts, Strava Live Segments, or support for power meters, but you do want a no-frills device that can navigate you around turn-by-turn with a nice color touchscreen display, I suspect you will be very happy with the Edge Explore as well.

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