Most cycling computers are designed for city use, offering features and stats that road cyclists are going to appreciate. That’s great and all, but not too interesting for more mountain bikers who want the same detailed monitoring for their trail adventures. You know what would be interesting? The new Garmin Edge 830.
Designed for both roads and trails, the bike computer comes equipped with features that support both road cyclists and mountain bike riders. Whether you spend your time riding through city streets or backcountry trails, this thing will provide all the activity monitoring and stats calculations you’ll need to better inform your training.
The Garmin Edge 830 has a 2.6-inch full-color screen (246 x 332 resolution), which should allow you to see any information you need at a glance without having to take your eyes off the road for extended periods of time. It’s a touchscreen, by the way, so you can interact with the interface directly, although they also put in a couple of physical buttons on the lower edge for starting/stopping and creating a new lap, so you don’t have to flip through the menus to perform those common functions. While there are more functions onboard, it uses the same general UI as other Garmin Edge devices, so if you’ve used one before, you’re likely to find it easy to get into.
As with most bike computers, it can calculate routes and offer turn-by-turn navigation, complete with the ability for off-course recalculation, on-device route creation, and popularity routing (as in, it will find the routes locals will typically choose). Unlike them, it can integrate data from Trailforks, allowing you to get the same routing capabilities on backcountry trails for those times you rack the road bike in favor of an MTB. It can even show heatmaps, trail conditions, and trail difficulty ratings, so you can plan out your sessions and be adequately prepared each time out.
The Garmin Edge 830 has all the performance monitoring for basic cycling activities, complete with support for additional sensors with ANT+ and Bluetooth, as well as more advanced metrics like VO2 max, FTP, training load focus, heat and altitude acclimation, recovery, nutrition, hydration, and more. Basically, it has all the monitoring functions you expect from the more advanced GPS bike computers in the market today. On top of that, you get mountain bike-specific dynamics tracking, including jump counts, jump distance, hang time, and flow (how smooth a downhill descent is), among other data trail riders are going to appreciate.
There are built-in functions for creating workouts (including intervals), virtual racing, and other elements that can make solo rides more fun, as well as incident detection, group messaging, and group tracking for times when you’re riding with a crew. Other features include smart notifications (when paired with a phone), 16GB of onboard storage, a battery rated at up to 20 hours of operation, and IPX7 water resistance, so you can take this safely in less-than-sunny weather.
Want one? The Garmin Edge 830 is available now.
- Performance GPS cycling computer with mapping and touchscreen