Garmin Bike Computer

[Bradley Brooks]

I purchased the Wahoo Elemnt Roam v3 last year and it had some  initial issues but nothing since the last few weeks. This bike computer has not been syncing activity history, and the computer battery is not holding a charge. Seems to me it is time to move on to Garmin.

I have been looking at the Garmin Edge 840 & 1040 Solar as well as the Edge 850 & 550. I am most concerned will battery life as on long brevets I do not want to be concerned about charging my bike computer. Does anyone have any recommendations or thoughts on which model is better for randonneuring?  

[Richard Stum]

I also had been using Wahoo for years, but the late turn notice issue forced me to switch brands. The 1050 screen is more clear than the 1040. I pack a small battery pack for topping off. 

Cheers,
Richard Stum
Living & Working in the Mountains of Central Utah
Rap Sheet: Salt Lake Randonneurs former RBA | Rando Richard—Blog | Strava | eoGEAR—My Bag Company | 

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I purchased the Wahoo Elemnt Roam v3 last year and it had some  initial issues but nothing since the last few weeks. This bike computer has not been syncing activity history, and the computer battery is not holding a charge. Seems to me it is time to move on to Garmin.

I have been looking at the Garmin Edge 840 & 1040 Solar as well as the Edge 850 & 550. I am most concerned will battery life as on long brevets I do not want to be concerned about charging my bike computer. Does anyone have any recommendations or thoughts on which model is better for randonneuring?  

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[Ray Whitlock]

If you're looking for a head unit that you don't have to worry about charging, I would highly recommend the Coros Dura. Their battery and built-in solar charging capability is simply amazing! 

I have 21 hours of ride time on mine since I last charged it 23 days ago and still have 92% battery life remaining. I rode a sunny 200k on Saturday and only used a net of 4% battery with the screen on the entire ride. I set it out in the sun Sunday and gained 8% battery back.

The maps are not as good as most other head units but everything else (RWGPS integration, cues, customizations, etc.) is on par with others I've used and I haven't gotten lost since I started using it in December. 

All this for the low price of $250. Buy it from REI and you can return it within a year if you don't like. I'll be keeping mine.

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[Madeline Nguyen]

I just purchased the Coros dura as well because I wanted the long battery life. I find it 50/50 on cueing the turns but following the blue line always works. I want to experiment with downloading different kinds of files to see what works. Not having to worry about battery life especially on tours and hopefully PBP will take one stressful thing off of my plate. 

FYI REI will be having their May sale soon. hopefully you can use the discount there or if not, watch for a Bike Tires Direct sale. I just got 20% off. 

[Steve Ciccarelli]

I use my phone and a backup power bank. On the 300k with about 50% of the ride with the screen on and music playing, it used about 21mah. I’ll get more data on the 400 this weekend. 

Sent from my iPhone

On May 5, 2026, at 9:13 PM, Madeline Nguyen <madelin...@gmail.com> wrote:

I just purchased the Coros dura as well because I wanted the long battery life. I find it 50/50 on cueing the turns but following the blue line always works. I want to experiment with downloading different kinds of files to see what works. Not having to worry about battery life especially on tours and hopefully PBP will take one stressful thing off of my plate. 

FYI REI will be having their May sale soon. hopefully you can use the discount there or if not, watch for a Bike Tires Direct sale. I just got 20% off. 

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[Kole Kantner]

I just returned my Coros Dura to REI today for $233.98 with tax. Battery life was fabulous and it was still at 75% charge after 500 miles of riding. Recently I was asked about how it did with navigation so I tried to get turn directions going and was highly unsuccessful. It sometimes showed turns in some interfaces, but I never could get them on rides. So many of the functions required concurrent use of the phone. I just liked my old Garmin 840 so much better, and it gets relatively good battery life. It is quick and easy to charge from the smallest battery. I know I have been using Garmin devices for 20 years, but it just seems more intuitive to find everything on it. If money was no object I would have kept the Coros Dura to keep exploring its options. I really liked never having the charge it. It also showed the battery level on power meters which almost convinced me to keep it.

Kole

From: seattl...@googlegroups.com <seattl...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Madeline Nguyen <madelin...@gmail.com>
Date: Tuesday, May 5, 2026 at 9:14 PM
To: Seattle International Randonneurs <seattl...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [SIR] Garmin Bike Computer

This Message Is From an Untrusted Sender

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I just purchased the Coros dura as well because I wanted the long battery life. I find it 50/50 on cueing the turns but following the blue line always works. I want to experiment with downloading different kinds of files to see what works. Not having to worry about battery life especially on tours and hopefully PBP will take one stressful thing off of my plate. 

FYI REI will be having their May sale soon. hopefully you can use the discount there or if not, watch for a Bike Tires Direct sale. I just got 20% off. 

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[Ray Whitlock]

Interesting that you couldn't get turn directions to work, Kole. I've had my Dura since December and have never had that issue so I wonder if you had a lemon. As far as integration with a phone, the only thing I'm aware of where a phone is required is rerouting, which I'm not a fan of on any head unit.

Cheers,

Ray

On Sat, May 16, 2026, 6:58 AM Kole Kantner <ko...@uw.edu> wrote:

I just returned my Coros Dura to REI today for $233.98 with tax. Battery's life was fabulous and it was still at 75% charge after 500 miles of riding. Recently I was asked about how it did with navigation so I tried to get turn directions going and was highly unsuccessful. It sometimes showed turns in some interfaces, but I never could get them on rides. So many of the functions required concurrent use of the phone. I just liked my old Garmin 840 so much better, and it gets relatively good battery life. It is quick and easy to charge from the smallest battery. I know I have been using Garmin devices for 20 years, but it just seems more intuitive to find everything on it. If money was no object I would have kept the Coros Dura to keep exploring its options. I really liked never having the charge it. It also showed the battery level on power meters which almost convinced me to keep it.

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/seattlerando/SA1PR08MB11047BE43694D7AA17297230DAF052%40SA1PR08MB11047.namprd08.prod.outlook.com.

[Kole Kantner]

Doubt it was a lemon. More likely user error. Garmin very helpfully replaced my dead 2-year-old 840. 

Kole

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From: Ray Whitlock <rwhi...@gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, May 15, 2026 10:20:35 PM
To: Kole Kantner <ko...@uw.edu>
Cc: madelin...@gmail.com <madelin...@gmail.com>; Seattle International Randonneurs <seattl...@googlegroups.com>