After years of devoted Garmin eTrex use, kilometers requires a close look at the Garmin advantage 830 to find out if it is a worthwhile improve through the hottest device in bikepacking navigation. Listed Here Are his thoughts after a few period of good use, plus a side-by-side parison along with his trusty Garmin eTrex 20x…
I purchased my Garmin eTrex 20x—the exact same one I continue to use today—back in 2016. I purchased they when preparing for a-trip throughout the Kokopelli walk, that was the first time I had to develop a trusted navigation device, and just about any blogs and discussion board ranked it becoming among the best alternatives for bikepacking. If you’re looking to adhere a gpx track from point A to aim B, the Garmin eTrex 20x is difficult to beat. It’s running on AA battery packs, the product is actually sturdy, weatherproof, and trustworthy, and it’s fairly simple to use. It’s acpanied me personally on virtually every bikepacking travels I’ve been in the past four ages and I’ve created a routine for loading course and chart records that works well for me personally, though that procedure are somewhat clunky from time to time.
Since placing van existence on hold and moving to the coastline, I’ve have a town to phone ‘home’ for the first time in sometime. It’s no happenstance that my new garden are bursting with logging roads and singletrack, and is also two ferry flights from Vancouver, that makes it a perfect place to hunker straight down while in the pandemic. Which gives me back once again to the topic available: All things considered, the Garmin eTrex is perhaps the absolute most dependable routing tool for bikepacking obtainable. As stated, the interface is a bit clunky, loading courses and maps could be easier, nevertheless offers effective routing methods that will maybe you have heading from inside the best path. For almost all multi-day bikepacking visits, the Garmin eTrex 20x continues to be my personal favorite GPS product. However for neighborhood day rides on hill bike trails? Less.
After some rapid web looking and publishing an Instagram review or two, I arrived on Garmin sides 830. The side 830 was launched in 2019 as a current version of the sides 820, and though lots of aspects remained unchanged, current adaptation obtained some pretty substantial changes that felt encouraging airg Desktop. This incorporated an updated touchscreen, more quickly running rates, some pretty special routing features, and my favourite, Ride With GPS and Trailforks integration. Similar to modern bicycle puters, the Garmin Edge 830 even offers a lot of advanced classes properties that I’m simply not interested in. Thus, because of this overview, I’m studying the product as a parison into eTrex 20x after deploying it for all period.
Advantage 830 VS. eTrex 20x
The most obvious difference in the sides 830 and eTrex 20x is the fact that previous was a cycling-specific GPS puter in addition to eTrex is a portable equipment with far fewer cycling-specific properties. Whilst sides 830 try jam-packed full of various smart qualities, alerts, training metrics, and a lot more advanced level connection (Wifi, Ant+, and Bluetooth), the eTrex is far more of a general gps device equipment that’s ideal for after a pre-planned course. Without scuba diving as well strong, the Edge series puters can do far more compared to eTrex handhelds, but both are great apparatus for bikepacking.
Sides 830
- Battery Life: doing 40 hrs
- Show Dimensions: 2.6? Diagonal
- Satellites: GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO
- Electric battery Sort: Rechargeable Lithium-ion
- Memory: Inner Memory Best, 16gb
- Size: 1.9? x 3.2? x 0.8?
- Lbs: 80 g
- Price: $399.99 USD
eTrex 20x
- Life of the battery: as much as 25 hrs
- Display Proportions: 2.2? Diagonal
- Satellites: GPS, GLONASS
- Battery Pack Sort: 2 AA Batteries
- Mind: interior / External, 32gb max
- Size: 2.1? x 4.0? x 1.3?
- Pounds: 130 grms (with two AA battery packs)
- Terms: $199.99 USD
Although I’m a giant lover of my personal eTrex 20x, there are many essential functions that ready the sides 830 in addition to it. Initial, the 830 utilizes an inside Lithium-Ion battery pack in the place of two AA battery packs. I’ve found the internal battery on the 830 to-be less impacted by cold weather, while the energy draw is far more predictable while from the trail. Even if utilizing lithium AA batteries within my eTrex, it’s difficult to foresee how quickly they’ll wanted replacing and it also does not manage temperature fluctuations and. In addition, it means the 830 may be billed via a portable cache battery, which is ideal for those working dynamo hubs, whoever wants to stay away from single-use AA battery packs, or on lengthier much more remote journeys. My personal earliest experience using the 830 got six several hours long, in temperature ranges only above freezing with lots of wind, plus the battery fell to 87percent. Each of my personal flights will be in ‘battery save mode’ which adjusts the configurations immediately to extend the battery life for longer tours. I’ve additionally paired the 830 with Garmin’s Charge electricity prepare (133 g / $129), which plugs into the rear of the unit’s club mount and gives yet another a day of battery life. The eTrex may be run from an external cache power, they won’t fee. That said, we identify the convenience of replaceable batteries and this refers to the reason why I’ve trapped using the eTrex for such a long time.
The second greatest differences, that has been a game-changer personally, could be the user interface and connectivity selection the Edge 830 gives. The touchscreen is effective, even when moist or with gloves on, and is also a big rev up through the clunky user interface in the eTrex. Combined with a smartphone, the 830 may also stream paths via Bluetooth within seconds, that will be one of my personal favourite characteristics. With Garmin’s integrated journey With GPS application, there’s you don’t need to export GPX data, keep track of wiring, or make use of a puter—simply select and install. The procedure is very basic rapid that I’ve began prep day tours on experience With GPS and TrailForks and getting them about 830 therefore I don’t need verify I’m heading during the correct movement and can instead pay attention to driving. For bikepacking, i possibly could discover this are invaluable when updating a route on travel with no a puter or any wires. It’s worth keeping in mind that the newest eTrex Touch 35 has become built with Ant+ and Bluetooth, however it sells for $299.99 and it has a battery lifetime of to 16 time, that’sn’t actually most of an upgrade.