Garmin Edge second hand sweet spot

I'll sell you my Edge Explore if you want? First edition model (there's a new Explore 2 out now).
The only issue is that battery life isn't great and I'm not going to sugar coat that - anything over 6hrs I ride with a small powerbank now. This is a common issue with Garmin (no idea about other computers) but the battery life is excellent, good, good, average, drops off a cliff.

You can send it away for replacements though.

Edit: it's this one:
https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2018/07/garmin-edge-explore-review.html

I bought it in September 2021

What's your budget?

Also have you checked out the singletrack members discount on new garmins?

The Explore lasts fine if you run in power save mode over long rides, and no back light which isn't needed in the day. Still navigates etc, just saves the juice.  Power bank if you have a lunch stop, just to be sure.

I'd buy a 530. The 540 is now available so prices on the older model are ridiculously attractive.

We had edge explores, they developed battery issues where you couldn’t rely on them beyond a couple of hours. I’d be using the Singletrack rewards and getting the 530, I think £176 at the moment?

I got a 530 in the last amazon sale, think it was £160. Wasn't worth mucking around with used at that price. Happy with it, not touchscreen but it works much better with gloves.

I had an old Edge Explore, it wasn't bad for loading up a gpx and following it but very slow if you wanted to scroll around maps.

Thread hijack - is it still common for Garmins to step registering altitude gain properly after a while?

I've used 8 Garmins of various types over the years (currently using 3 - Fenix 6, Oregon 600, Edge 530). None have exhibited this behaviour.

I've got an Edge Touring that's about 8 years old now? I used it for 7.5 hours on sunday and had almost 40% battery left when i got home. I recorded the ride and used it for navigation, even did some on the fly route calculation. Quite slow and fiddly to zoom in / out, scroll around maps etc, but if you just want to follow a route created and loaded then its fine. Will require a memory card as the latest map won't fit on the inbuilt memory, but they're cheap as chips now

Thread hijack – is it still common for Garmins to step registering altitude gain properly after a while?

I've got a 520 plus. The slightest hint of moisture blocks the barometer port (so small I've no idea where it is) and it stops registering elevation.

@Cha****ng my Fenix 3 sometimes credits me with huge altitudes for short rides.

So what people seem to be saying is that there is not a used sweetspot, and that I'd be better off buying new? I'm not interested in power readouts- its purely as a navigation tool I'm interested so the £170 is quite a lot more than I was hoping for. thanks for the good and swift advices.

in that case I would say that the edge1000 would be the sweet spot. Still has plenty of features, good size and maps and sub £100 on eBay

I'd look.for an edge 530 on eBay, but set a limit on what you're willing to pay as a fair few will only be on sale due to the 540/840 release.

Lots of overvalued 530s on there at the minute, and the whole point of eBay as a buyer is to score bargains. I'd not pay a penny over £90, ideally less as there's always a chance you'll need to source a replacement battery down the line.

Of course there are options from other manufacturers if you're not totally commited to Garmin.

Amazon sell renewed/refurbished Edge Explores for £125ish. I bought one and it came in a garmin branded, albeit less flashy box with all the papers, mounts and leash and was absolutely like new.

I too wasn't too thrilled by an "explore" device with only 6hrs runtime but looking on the garmin forums (and maybe on here) I found out that the battery calibration is often out of whack. By factory resetting it, running it flat, restarting, running flat again and again once so its completely flat and then leaving it charging overnight (6hrs+) it recalibrates the battery. It's certainly made a big difference to mine.

in that case I would say that the edge1000 would be the sweet spot.

Does the Edge 1000 do wireless route loading? I wouldn't go back to anything that needs cables.

Yes, wifi and bluetooth, updates via the Garmin connect app etc.

Edge 1000 was flagship model for a good while, so still has decent features.

https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2014/06/garmin-1000-depth-review.html

I've just picked up an elderly 810 for £50. Loaded a free map onto a SD card and it's been great. Battery good, seems robust, easy to navigate. Connects to my phone via Bluetooth so never need to plug in to transfer routes to it. No complaints.

having got lost in the middle of wales, in the middle of the night, whilst using an 810, I would prefer the extra accuracy you get with newer models that give you gps and glonass. But YMMV

Amazon sell renewed/refurbished Edge Explores for £125ish. I bought one and it came in a garmin branded, albeit less flashy box with all the papers, mounts and leash and was absolutely like new.

I too wasn’t too thrilled by an “explore” device with only 6hrs runtime but looking on the garmin forums (and maybe on here) I found out that the battery calibration is often out of whack. By factory resetting it, running it flat, restarting, running flat again and again once so its completely flat and then leaving it charging overnight (6hrs+) it recalibrates the battery. It’s certainly made a big difference to mine.

Sadly that "recalibration" doesn't last, I found mine dropping off again after a few rides, navigation tends to spank it harder still.
In order to get the best battery life I end up using the power saver mode which turns off the screen between nav alerts, but then if I've paid for a device with a bigger colour screen to navigate by, spending most of the time with the screen blank feels like a bit of a piss take TBH. Sad because otherwise it's a great device IMO.

Edge 530 is a good place to start. Much, much faster than my older Edge 820 Explore ans I actually prefer the simpler buttons over the touchscreen.

I’ve got a 520 plus. The slightest hint of moisture blocks the barometer port (so small I’ve no idea where it is) and it stops registering elevation.

My 830 does it too.

[stealth Ad] My 520 plus is for sale; see classifieds, ignore the price, make me an offer. [/stealth add]

My hand me down garmin Edge 1000 became quite random on what it would record. Not heard about this type of failure previously but it's puts me off buying another 2nd hand one.

[nothing subtle about this ad] My Edge 1000 can be for sale.. for parts (the screen is relatively new)[/not so subtle ad]

One thing of note is that regardless of model, Garmin's after sales support is 'probably' the best in the business.

Tales of owners getting significant discounts on replacements, or just full replacements after the warranty has expired are not uncommon.

Tales of owners getting significant discounts on replacements, or just full replacements after the warranty has expired are not uncommon.

Variable in my experience. First one, a total crash of a unit, they acted all surprised on the phone then talked me through some fixes, none of which worked.

They then immediately offered a complete replacement, free of charge. It was obviously a known issue.

Second one they sold me a refurbished unit at a reasonable discount but that was the only deal they were prepared to consider.

Anyway @hb70 is buying my old Explore and I've ordered the new Explore 2 via the STW discounts offer. 🙂

Had an original 25 (excellent simple gps bike computer still in use as a backup and for breadcrumb trails), 810 (still in use too, bigger and a bit clunky when I snapped the lugs off in a crash) and a 520 (for TT bike and racing because it is smaller). What I miss most from the 520 is the touch screen - makes for easy set up of custom screens and scrolling. With three lines, I can read it even in the dark without my varifocals (a good thing), works seamlessly with Varia rear radar light (fabulous kit) and can take IQ for CdA dynamic readouts from my AeroPod. On battery life, the 520 gets about 4.5 hours now.

On that basis, I'd go for an Edge 830 for touch screen, or an Edge 530 otherwise.

All good advice thanks everyone.

I just got a 1030. On the basis I'm relying on it for multi week bike packing I wanted the certainty of a new battery. C40% off at crc made it a bit of a no brainier but still 300 quid with a load of training functions I'll never use.

Did notice on a weekend of riding with four others, over the 16 hours we were off road, the lad with the Wahoo was 1000ft more climbing than the Garmins.  I suspect it was over-estimating, even once corrected in strava it was more.