Check out our more recent post, Garmin Edge 840 vs. 830: What’s the Difference? by clicking right here.
The Garmin Edge 830 is an upgrade on the Garmin Edge 820. In this post, we evaluate how the two compare. The Garmin Edge 830 offers a host of great features that are not included on the Edge 820. These features will be of special interest to those interested in cycling training, long-distance rides, and mountain biking. In this post we sum up 9 of the great features found on the 830. You can use this post to see exactly what’s the difference between the Edge 830 vs 820. And decide if these upgrades have value for your own cycling needs. Is the 830 the one for you? Or will the older Garmin Edge 820 meet all your needs?
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Chart Comparing the Garmin Edge 830 vs. 820
| Edge 830 | Edge 820 | |
|---|---|---|
| If viewing on a smart phone, please rotate your phone to a horizontal orientation so you can see the chart better | ||
| Screen size | 2.6″ (6.6 cm) | 2.3″ (5.8 4cm) |
| Resolution | 246 x 322 pixels | 200 x 265 pixels |
| Dimensions | 1.9″ x 3.2″ x 0.8″ (50 x 82 x 20 mm) | 1.9” x 2.9” x 0.8” (49.0 x 73.0 x 21.0 mm) |
| Weight | 2.8 oz (79.1 g) | 2.4 oz (67.7 g) |
| Battery life | 20 hours. | 15 hours |
| Option to add Battery Pack to increase battery life on the road? | Yes | No |
| Full navigation? | Yes | No |
| Connectivity | Smart Bluetooth, ANT+, Wi-Fi | Bluetooth, ANT+, Wi-Fi |
| ClimbPro preloaded? | Yes | No |
| Mountain Biking Metrics preloaded? | Yes | No |
| Performance power curve | Yes | No |
| Heat and altitude acclimation | Yes | No |
| Built-in better structured workouts? | Yes | No |
| Bike Alarm and Find my Bike Computer | Yes | No |
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Related Post: 9 Great Upgrades to the Garmin Edge 530 – Garmin’s Game-Changing GPS Bike Computer
Double the Speed with the Garmin Edge 830
The Garmin Edge 830 comes with a processor that is claimed to be twice as fast as the one used in the 820. But in actual use it sometimes feels even faster than that. Plus, it comes with an entire raft of awesome abilities that were not offered by the 820. In this post, I summarize the most important upgrades, so you can decide if these upgrades have value for your own cycling needs.
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The Garmin Edge 830 Offers Full Navigation Features
Note that the Garmin Edge 830, like the Garmin Edge 1030 Plus, offers full navigation features for routing and turn-by-turn directions. This means it comes complete with a full set of Garmin Cycling Maps, plus Trendline Popularity Routing. So it knows which routes are most popular with cyclists who use Garmin Edge bike computers.
If you are out on the road and you suddenly need a coffee shop, the 830 has a full set of nearby POI (Points of Interest). If you get a text to meet your partner at a specific location, you can just input the address and the 830 will calculate a route for you. If you go off-route, it will alert you and recalculate!
Upgrades offered by the Garmin Edge 830
Upgrade no. 1: Speed
The processor is twice as fast. This is by far the most important upgrade, in our opinion. Who hasn’t been irritated by having to stand astride your bike, waiting for your bike computer to get done processing, so you can ride your bike already?
Upgrade no. 2: Better Touchscreen
You control your Garmin Edge 830 mainly with the touchscreen. The responsiveness of the 830 touchscreen is much improved over the 820, and works very well.
Upgrade no. 3: ClimbPro
The Garmin Edge 830 has a feature called ClimbPro. This is awesome for those who like to cycle up hills. It basically shows you graphically the grades that lie ahead, as well as the grade you are currently climbing. This could be immensely useful on long-distance, hilly rides.
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Upgrade no. 4: Mountain Biking Metrics
The Garmin Edge 830 is a whole lot better for mountain biking. It includes these great features:
- Grit rating – this shows you how difficult a route is.
- Flow rating – this shows you how well you descended a tough route. This gives you a metric to try and beat the next time!
- Hang time – this shows you on the fly how long you were in the air after a jump. Later, you can analyze every single jump in great detail on Garmin Connect. How far did you jump, how long were you in the air, and how fast were you going?
- Trailforks – this app is now integrated into the unit. This means that maps for 130,000 mountain bike trails are included in the unit, along with their difficulty rating. So, you can see the difficulty level of the trails you are cycling on. If the trail forks, you can make an informed decision as to which trail to take. For example, if you’re tired, you can choose the trail with a lower difficulty level.
Related Post: Garmin Edge 530 vs 830: What’s the Difference?
Upgrade no. 5: Enhanced Performance Metrics
With this bike computer you get even more training data on your bike computer. These metrics include:
- Performance power curve – this will track your power over various periods of time. This is very useful if you are training and want to track improvements. Of course, you need to pair the bike computer with a power meter installed on your bike.
- Heat acclimation – how well are you adjusting to heat?
- Altitude acclimation – how well are you adjusting to high altitude?
- Water and calorie requirements – this bike computer will remind you to drink and eat on a long bike ride, based on your individual profile. You can even meticulously record all the hydration and nutrition you take on board.
Upgrade no. 6: Better Structured Workouts
The workouts built into the Edge 840 rival those offered by dedicated apps. So, if you are interested in training, this could be extremely useful for you. It’s like having a training coach on your handlebars.
Related Post: Which Garmin Edge Bike Computer is the Best?
Upgrade no. 7: Bluetooth
The Garmin Edge 830 has Bluetooth Smart connectivity, so you can use sensors that connect via Bluetooth Smart. This is of course in addition to ANT+ connectivity. Bluetooth Smart is very fast, and is also becoming almost universal.
Upgrade no. 8: Longer Battery Life
The battery will last for 20 hours (up from 15), even while running sensors. More importantly for long-range cyclists, the Edge 830 can be used in conjunction with a Garmin Edge Charge Power Pack, so you have power for more than 40 hours! In practice, if you were navigating and running multiple sensors, this would be more like 10 hours.
Upgrade no. 9: Bike Alarm and Find my Bike Computer
You can use this in situations such as running into the coffee shop or the washroom. If anyone moves your bike an alarm will go off, and you will get an alert on your phone. Of course, if you are going to leave your bike for longer than one minute, you will want to combine this with a great bike lock.
Related Post: 7 of the Best Bike Locks to Keep Your Bike Safe
Let’s say you do a huge jump and your Garmin Edge 830 manages to come loose and land in the bushes. With this feature you can get it to make a noise, so you can find it.
Personally, I would be more likely to use it to find where I left it. The only reason I wore an Apple watch for a few years was because I could use it to find my iPhone. Very useful feature!
Related post: Garmin Edge 530 vs Wahoo ELEMNT Bolt: Which is Better?
Bottom Line on the Garmin Edge 830 vs. 820
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If navigation on the fly is a must, plus you cycle long distances, or you are seriously into bike training, or you are a mountain biker, the choice of bike computer is simple – get the Edge 830!
If on the other hand you don’t need to be able to input addresses on the roadside and have your bike computer give you the route, or you don’t care about how well you are mountain biking, you can get most of the other features in the Garmin Edge 820.
Also, if you want all the great features except navigation, the sweet spot for you could be the Garmin Edge 530 – for $100 less (usually)!
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The 530 is almost identical, except when it comes to navigation. With the 530, you have to download routes before you ride, in order to get turn-by-turn navigation. Also note that the Edge 530 does not have a touchscreen, so you control it with buttons. This can actually be an advantage if you are wearing gloves.
Update: Actually, the best deal of all is the Garmin Edge 840, which offers you a choice of touchscreen and/or excellent, upgraded touchscreen. It usually sells for around $450. Please Click here to see the latest price of the Garmin Edge 840, and reviews as well.
Or, see if you can source a Garmin Edge 820, and get that instead. You most likely will have to settle for previously used model.
For more bike computer options, please see our popular post on 7 of the Best Bike Computers.
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