After many years of devoted Garmin eTrex usage, Miles requires a closer look at the Garmin side 830 to find out if it’s a deserving upgrade from the preferred unit in bikepacking routing. Here are their head after a few period useful, plus a side-by-side parison along with his trusty Garmin eTrex 20x…
I purchased my Garmin eTrex 20x—the same people I continue to use today—back in 2016. I purchased they in preparation for a trip on the Kokopelli Trail, that has been the very first time I had to develop a competent navigation tool, and nearly every website and community forum ranked it are one of the better alternatives for bikepacking. If you’re looking to stick to a gpx track from point A to point B, the Garmin eTrex 20x is difficult to conquer. It’s running on AA batteries, the product is sturdy, weatherproof, and reliable, therefore’s quite simple to utilize. It has got acpanied myself on nearly every bikepacking travel I’ve started on in the very last four years and I’ve developed a routine for running path and map data that really works personally, though that beautifulpeople Inloggen procedure is actually just a little clunky occasionally.
Since putting van lifestyle on hold and moving to the coastline, I’ve had an urban area to name ‘home’ for the first time in some time. It’s no happenstance that my brand new garden try bursting with signing streets and singletrack, and it is two ferry flights from the Vancouver, that makes it an ideal spot to hunker all the way down while in the pandemic. Which brings me personally back to the topic available: that being said, the Garmin eTrex is probably the quintessential dependable navigation tool for bikepacking on the market. As stated, the program is a bit clunky, loading routes and maps could possibly be smoother, nevertheless provides effective routing apparatus that perhaps you have heading within the best path. For almost all multi-day bikepacking trips, the Garmin eTrex 20x still is my personal favourite GPS tool. However for neighborhood day rides on mountain bicycle trails? Not so much.
After some fast web looking and publishing an Instagram research or two, I got in the Garmin advantage 830. The advantage 830 was launched in 2019 as an upgraded version of the sides 820, and even though most elements stayed unchanged, the most recent version got some pretty substantial adjustment that seemed promising. This included an updated touchscreen, more quickly running speeds, some pretty unique navigation qualities, and my preferred, Ride With GPS and Trailforks integration. Similar to latest bicycle puters, the Garmin side 830 even offers most advanced level instruction functions that I’m simply not enthusiastic about. Therefore, because of this review, I’m looking at the product as a parison toward eTrex 20x after using it for several several months.
Edge 830 VS. eTrex 20x
The most obvious difference in the advantage 830 and eTrex 20x is the fact that the former is a cycling-specific GPS puter in addition to eTrex is actually a handheld unit with fewer cycling-specific services. Whilst advantage 830 is actually loaded stuffed with various smart properties, notifications, exercises metrics, and a lot more advanced level connection (Wifi, Ant+, and Bluetooth), the eTrex is much more of a general navigation tool that is ideal for after a pre-planned route. Without diving also strong, all advantage collection puters can create way more as compared to eTrex handhelds, but both are superb tools for bikepacking.
Sides 830
- Battery Life: as much as 40 hours
- Display Dimensions: 2.6? Diagonal
- Satellites: GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO
- Battery pack Sort: Rechargeable Lithium-ion
- Memory space: Inner Mind Best, 16gb
- Proportions: 1.9? x 3.2? x 0.8?
- Lbs: 80 grams
- Costs: $399.99 USD
eTrex 20x
- Life of the battery: Up to 25 days
- Screen Size: 2.2? Diagonal
- Satellites: GPS, GLONASS
- Battery Kind: 2 AA Batteries
- Memories: interior / exterior, 32gb max
- Proportions: 2.1? x 4.0? x 1.3?
- Fat: 130 grms (with two AA electric batteries)
- Rate: $199.99 USD
Although I’m a big follower of my personal eTrex 20x, there are a few essential features that set the side 830 in addition to they. Initially, the 830 makes use of an interior Lithium-Ion battery versus two AA batteries. I’ve found the inner power in the 830 to-be far less afflicted by cold weather, as well as the power draw is much more predictable while out on the walk. Even when utilizing lithium AA batteries in my eTrex, it is tough to forecast how quickly they’ll wanted replacing also it does not deal with temperatures variations at the same time. This suggests the 830 could be energized via a portable cache power supply, which is a good choice for those run dynamo hubs, anybody who desires to avoid single-use AA battery packs, or on much longer considerably remote travels. My first drive with the 830 had been six several hours very long, in temperature ranges only above freezing with many wind, and the power fell to 87%. Each one of my flights will be in ‘battery save mode’ which adjusts the setup automatically to extend the battery lives for a longer time tours. I’ve furthermore paired the 830 with Garmin’s Charge electricity package (133 g / $129), which plugs directly into the rear of the unit’s pub mount and gives an additional 1 day of battery life. The eTrex tends to be powered from an external cache battery, it won’t fee. Having said that, I know the ease-of-use of changeable electric batteries and this refers to the reason why I’ve stuck using the eTrex for such a long time.
The 2nd greatest difference, which was a game-changer in my situation, could be the user interface and connectivity selection the advantage 830 gives. The touchscreen is effective, even when moist or with gloves on, and is also an enormous rev up through the clunky screen on the eTrex. Combined with a smartphone, the 830 may weight routes via Bluetooth in just a matter of mere seconds, basically certainly my personal favourite features. With Garmin’s built-in Ride With GPS app, there’s you should not export GPX files, keep track of wires, if not use a puter—simply choose and install. The procedure is therefore simple and easy quick that I’ve begun planning time adventures on Ride With GPS and TrailForks and getting them in the 830 and so I don’t must verify I’m heading into the best movement and will as an alternative pay attention to driving. For bikepacking, i possibly could read this being very helpful whenever upgrading a route about fly with no a puter or any wiring. It’s well worth observing the newest eTrex Touch 35 is currently equipped with Ant+ and Bluetooth, it sells for $299.99 and has now a battery life of as much as 16 days, basicallyn’t actually the majority of an upgrade.