GarminEdge 130(Return to Product Page)

I had high hopes for the Edge 130 GPS, even though I have not been especially impressed with several Garmin products in the past. They should be improving as a company.....right? Apparently not. Same steep learning curve, obscure work arounds, crappy difficult interface. The only plus is the size and the black and white display is very clear to read. Setup was painful, and I had to end up shutting down most features to get it to work at all and to not eat the battery in an hour. So now it gets maybe 7 hours of battery life. App on the phone also eats the phone battery. The auto-power down feature was causing problems, and it kept toggling back to shutting it down after about 3 minutes and hosing the data for the ride. Then the auto-power-down toggle, buried in a menu, stopped working. After much research, someone said you need to reset after every update to get that feature to work. So I reset.....which wiped out all my custom data screens, most of my data , and all settings and blued tooth. Literally making it so the unit was like it was fresh out of the box. Several hours later I had it back up and running. This for every update???? Also the Auto-pause feature randomly decides to toggle, and it is also buried deep in a menu, not handy for manually toggling on a ride and not available on the phone app. In fact none of the settings are actually available on the phone or computer app. What a waste of money. Plus you cannot use it for anything but cycling. It would be great for hiking/walking/running but no option is given to record exercise as anything but cycling which really messes up your Strava or Garmin Connect stats, even if you go in after and manually change it. I have not been brave enough to try creating a route, but after all this trouble, I suspect that will be a usual Garmin disaster. I have owned 3 Garmin devices over the years. All have been full of problems and terrible interfaces. I really have to stop putting my hopes on having a Garmin work well, but hey, they pretty much have a monopoly on the market, so what can you do?

Great tiny GPS that punches well above it's weight and size. Couldn't believe how small it was when I unboxed! Some initial bugs to be expected with any new Garmin release, which Garmin has mostly ironed out with FW upgrades. I've been using the device since it was first released a back in May and have't had any major glitches or ride loss so far. Note If you take full advantage of multiple sensors(powercadence, HRM, Speed) and features(LiveTrack,BT pairing, GPS-Glonass), battery life will be considerably less than advertised - realistically is more like 8-10hrs for me. Garmin should be more upfront about this in their marketing copy.

I don't really use the navigation features much, but its nice to know I can have the ability to at least upload up a simple course in a new area or to scout a new route. The only thing I find myself missing is the ability to load interval workouts-but honestly I do all my workout rides indoors these days anyway, so this is more of a nice to have. YMMV.

Bugs - elevation ht not always accurate (although accumulated elev will be correct)

Hits

Strava segments, Customizable data pages, text alerts, LiveTracking, very sharp screen, fast GPS lock, fairly easy setup and menus.

Misses

Battery life, elevation accuracy

Buy it if you don't need the more robust navigation and workout features of the 520520

My point of reference is the trusty Edge 500. The 130 really seems to be the spiritual successor of the 500, containing all the same features, but encapsulated in a minuscule, modern package that is more convenient and readable in bright sunlight. I have been looking for something like the 500 but with the ability to sync to Garmin Connect over the air instead of requiring a mini-usb cable to connect with a computer for synchronization. This 130 fits the bill perfectly as it pairs with a phone over bluetooth, and the phone synchronizes with GC.

Granted, I could've continued in the 500 series (520, 520 plus, 530), but frankly, I do not need GPS mapping/directions or other fancy features. I just need a GPS-connected cyclometer that serves me the basics. The 130 satisfies my requirements.

The only downside I would say is the lower battery capacity vs the 500 which was a beast in runtime, but the 130 is not too bad.

I agree with Road Rider's review. I bought this for my wife to use on our tandem after her Edge 20 mysteriously disappeared from our luggage during our last airline trip. It works, and it does link to her phone, but it is much less convenient to use than my 520. It takes multiple button pushes to do what my 520 does with one, and the display is both tiny and not very bright. If you leave the backlight on it devours battery life.

Wish I'd bought her a 520+ on sale.

I bought the edge 130 to upgrade from the edge 25. My primary objection to the 25 is it's poor battery life which seldom lasted more the five hours (in cold weather much less). I am very happy with the 130. I've used the device for several months and on one occasion used it at least 8 hours and it still had charge left. I also really like the small size. It takes little space on the stem. It links with the satellite much more quickly and more reliably than the 25.

I'm only downgrading my review to four stars because it doesn't have a convenient mapping feature. Since purchasing the 130 I wish it had more robust mapping.

I am, nonetheless, very happy with the device and for the price I am still getting significant value.

Was looking for a replacement for my Edge 520 that no longer would charge.

It has all the basic features of my former 520.

Pros

BluetoothANT

Fast to charge

Displays entire text message vs. first 50 characters

Has GPSGlonassGalielo tracking.

Cons

Smaller screen than 520

Need to activate update to log to Strava

Profile settings not as customizable

Weathertemp reading needs Garmin Connect App to be on

The Garmin 130 is a very good small gps cycling computer. It has all the basic functions that I care about: speed, distance, cadence, and HR (albeit you have to have a cadence and HR monitor). I had a Garmin 25 and decided to get a newer, slightly larger, model. It was on sale and my daughter had given me a BTD gift certificate so I purchased it. If you want a large screen with lots info then you will have to spend more money.

This is a basic Garmin. It is my third. It is a step down from my other one which was a 520. I can download routes but it will not or does not have the memory to complete the route. The screen just goes blank. It does keep all the basic information for my rides that I need. If you do not need all the routes, touch screen, and other features of the more expensive Garmins than this is a good bike computer for the price.

Bought 3 of these for my family and all work well giving all the info needed. However much less intuitive and less easy to use than the 500 series ( I have 520 plus). Smaller screen is less clear as well. Next time will just wait for 530 on sale.

I really like the features on this computer. It has several screens that are available and they can be configured in several different ways. The down side is that the instructions are not very good on how to configure it and the buttons took awhile to get used to. After I got it set up the way I like it, and I got used to pushing the right buttons, it has worked out really good for me. I think that it is a good computer for the money.

This has been a great computer for a bike that I have struggled finding one that works (Origin8 cross bike). The GPS accuracy is with 10' of my phone and has been very easy to use and upload to strava without a thought. When my bontrager on my Trek dies I am replacing it with one of these.

This is a great computer and it does everything I need to record my rides in Strava. It's super compact and mounts perfectly on my mountain bike with an after market stem mount. It's super user friendly and easily syncs with speed/cadence sensors and heart rate monitors. Also the battery life is really long.

All Garmin Edge products are packed with great user friendly technology and the Edge 130 is no exception, however due to its size it is a challenge to read all the data, I do give it 5 stars and highly recommend the Edge130!

I appreciate the easy-to-read screen and continuous real-time updates to ride speed, distance and elapsed time. The free smart phone app allows you an easy to access interface for your ride data.

One thing has me puzzled though: the Button sequence required to advance through screens, or even to �save� your ride to your database is too complicated!

It is easy to setup and hook up to my smart lights and new Garmin radar

This compact cyclecomputer does all I need it to, and more. I haven't used the nav function as yet. It fits conveniently on the stem, reducing bar clutter. The Garmin connect app is fun, and would have satisfied me when I was training seriously. Its a big improvement over my Polar M450, but also uses the bluetooth Polar sensors so i saved some bucks that way.. Battery life is about 12 hours, so you randos will need some kind of charger, although you can turn off the gps and just use a speed sensor. No complaints

This has more features and better accuracy than my old Edge 500. Not quite all the bells and whistles of a 530 or 830, but lots of capability at a reasonable price.

My first gps computer. For strava was using my phone andor watch (plus a Bad Elf for long rides). I cant stand having gadgets on my handlebars and so most gps computers are way too big. The problem with the small ones is battery life is too short. My phone and watch didnt last long enough either. Im very pleased with the 130. Everything is super easy and automatically uploads from Garmin Connect to Strava and Training Peaks. Way more capable than old methods and its small enough to live on my stem without getting in the way.

This 130 is my first GPS cycle computer. I love not having any sensor on my wheel. It's easy to switch between bikes w the extra mount. I may need to get more mounts for my other bikes. So far it's been really easy to use. I like the alerts and elevation profile especially. On sale, it's a no brainer.

I'm not a big tech geek. I found the 130 to have the features I want in a small package. My 25 ran out of battery on 100 mile rides (6hrs). This 130 has yet to display low battery. Biggest con is lack of adjustment w auto stop speed.