I use my Garmin 1030 to track my rides and create a history for routes on the road, bike paths, etc. Performance has been very dependable. The battery is very strong and lasts a long time (5 to 7 1 to 2 hour bike trips before I need to charge it.) It has taken a little bit to learn how to use and my biggest issue is that i wish they would put the course outline, or the history of the course I took, in a "brighter" color (i.e. yellow, blue, green). It can be a bit challenging to review the path on the colored screen. That said, the directional guidance will tell you where to turn. That said, i always like to get a "birds eye" view of the map and path.
You have to use a smart phone to set this unit up, good luck. Bluetooth works, kind of, when it darn well feels like it. Garmin's documentation assumes bluetooth works, so it's no help.
After that first frustrating week, this is a great unit. Battery life looks like it could go 15 to 20 hours with mapping and routing going based on my 5 to 6 hour rides. Screens are user definable and readable in all lighting I've encountered. No need to stop and look under bifocals to read!
I looked at the Garmin Edge 1030 for a long time. It's expensive. I got the bundle on sale, which for me was what made me jump. I've had it about 3 months and I love it. Some of my favorite features are The long Battery life and never loosing your computer life in the last 5 miles of a 100 mile ride. If this has happened to you, then you know how bad it SUCK! Also, I like being able to set the screen categories in the order I want and setting up different pages, that you can swipe or bounce through. You can have a main screen with speed, cadence, heart rate, power, etc etc on one screen, and second screen for Hills and another for Maps and another for whatever you want.... It very covenant. Other feature I like are the turn by turn directions and how hard you rode at the end of you ride. (Aerobic and Anaerobic) If you get the bundle, buy the silicone case protector and consider the buying the Edge remote too. which makes it easier to change screens without taking your hands off the bars. I would buy it again.
Garmin 1030 works great for cycling parameters and navigation - almost too much data. Not sure why the speed sensor is required as the GPS speed syncs perfect. NOT as easy to use or setup as an Apple device, but not too bad. Good battery life. Especially liked the training metrics when paired with the heart rate monitor. We had a few small issues on setup and syncing, but a phone call to Garmin cleared everything up satisfactorily.
I use this on all of my rides indoor and outdoor. I also have the emergency alert set to email my wife and daughter just in case something happens. I do have this set up with Strava and it down loads in a few seconds after my ride.
I ride year round in Portland, OR which means long fingered gloves at least a third of the year. This computer does NOT work with long fingered gloves. Sure, maybe I could get gloves with the special fingertips but I already have a variety of gloves at my disposal. And my Garmin 800 works quite well with any of my gloves.
So once I found this out, I immediately stopped trying to set the unit up with my preferences and reset it back to original settings.
Yes I was very disappointed! But my 800 works well and my old 705 still works well. The 705 has buttons!
This is my 3rd edge in the past 8 years. I had the 810 last, for about 5 years and had minor problems with it, mainly operator error. The 1030 is easier for this computer idiot to navigate the system on and set up the sensors. Using STRAVA courses on this one is even a breeze that is opening new doors for me. Very happy with the product.
So phone mapping with apps is always getting better, but this is good to have a dedicated device that can sync with all your sensors, is waterproof, and actually works well in the rain using the touchscreen. Uploading routes to the device is super easy and with the bluetooth and wifi network, automatically syncing your activity when you are done is a breeze. It's also nice that you can map a ride say with RidewithGPS that focuses on bike routes and then upload that to the device and it will give you turn by turn directions. The color screen is good and being able to zoom in and out is super handy if you miss a turn. There are a variety of handlebar and stem mounts and I had to get three different ones because each bike has a slightly different handlebar. I do think it's a bit on the expensive side, but going from a phone to this with the garmin sensors, bluetooth, wifi, turn by turn directions, and stable gps signal, it's nice to have a device that's simple to use and if you want to gather more metrics, it will do it for you.
The Edge 1030 has worked well so far and I've not had any issues with it. Buttons on the bottom are easy to reach on the provided mount and were also reachable on my old SRAM out from mount I used for the 510. The screen is much clearer in daylight than the 510 although it is a bit duller when dark & it is using the backlight.
Battery life is good - it goes through 6-7 % per hour while navigating, around 5 % per hour while not navigating. Coming from a 510, I noticed the GPS is slightly more accurate (9 ft compared to 16ft). I've not seen that mentioned in reviews.
Giving 4 stars because I agree with the other review, swiping left and right between screens is not reliable. I've also had a few issues getting it to pair with sensors (ANT Speed, cadence, heart rate) when turning on. Usually that is resolved by navigating to the sensor and telling it to connect although I've had to repair a couple of times so far.
Not an improvement of the Edge 1000, actually a step back (In my opinion). One of the improvements was to be the touch screen and it supposedly works great when it's wet. I guess it's great that it works so well when the screen is wet. I live in Arizona and it rarely rains and even if it did, I wouldn't ride in the rain. Anyway, paging between data screens is terrible. I almost have to beg it to work. I've tried the different sensitivity settings and that makes littleno difference. I wish I would have kept my 1000. Not a total waste though, maybe I'll pay more attention to the road than my computer now.
I upgraded from the Garmin Tourist Plus to the 1030. I bought the bundle because it has been years since using a cadence counter and HRM and decided it was a good time to try these again.
The 1030 is definitely an improvement over the Tourist Plus. Positives screen readability, up to 10 data fields that are still good size, HRM analysis is a fun fact at the end of each ride, pairing with devices is easy, you can create profiles for you various bikes. So-so battery life is OK but when using my Varia tail light, HRM, cadence counter, etc it's not anywhere near the 12 hours advertised.
Miss HRM has been frustrating. The unit pairs easily but the HRM bpm is not showing consistently and I am constantly wrenching the strap around to get it to transmit. I contacted Garmin and they went through some troubleshooting and believe the strap is defective and are sending a new one out.
Garmin Service I believe Garmin product support is very good. I never wait long either on the phone or on chat. And, they are helpful and knowledgeable.
Longer battery life, bigger screen, faster loading of satellites and Ant sensors. all the info I want on one screen. The only complaint I have is the placement of the buttons which are on the side of the unit on the bottom. Depending on how you mount it and how close to the stem, might be hard to operate especially with full finger gloves on. The edge 1000 buttons were on the top, make it much easier.
Aside from a little larger display, the Edge 1030 is also faster at locking into satellites. It also seems to work in areas where the Edge 1000 did not receive a signal. Two features that I really like are the emergency alert feature, that will text a contact of your choice, with your location, should you need assistance. The second feature that I found, but don't ask me how I found it, is the alert system that beeps when you approach a sharp curve or bend in the road.
