£519.99 Compact GPS device with solar technology
The Garmin Edge 840 Solar replaces the Edge 830, its major sell being the titular solar tech. If you’re upgrading from an older Garmin Edge connected to the Garmin Connect app, you can import your previous data screens and sensors. You can also now customise your data screens from your phone. The functionality is quite basic, but works well and is fast to load.
At 57.8 x 85.1 x 19.6mm, it’s slightly bigger than the outgoing Edge 830, and 9.8g heavier at 88.9g. It’s also heavier than the 68.4g Wahoo Elemnt Bolt. The size is a decent balance between screen real estate and a compact feel on the bar (out-front mount included). The excellent touchscreen has large bezels so the display size is just 2.6in, though that’s bigger than the Bolt’s 2.2in. There are buttons, too, for use with gloves.
There’s also a new user-friendly home screen and, with more customisation options, you can have your main ride profile at the top of the screen. Under that, there’s an adaptable box which shows your last ride, or uploaded course. The latter is very helpful when you’ve created a route, transferred it to your phone and are heading off on your ride. The small bars below can be expanded to show everything from ride history to an estimate of your current VO2 max. You can also swipe down on any screen to reveal more swipeable pages, including a list of nearby climbs. Clicking on one brings up a map, gradient profile and route to the climb’s start.
Mapping is, for me, still one of the best features of the Edge, and the new address search function works really well. Thanks to the multi-band GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System), I could head along tree-lined cycle paths and navigate through the most built-up parts of Bristol without any hiccup in the signal or noticeable effect on the battery life.
The new Climb Pro 2.0 function displays a handy climb profile, even when you’re not following a route. Garmin uses its route data to make educated guesses of which climb you’re about to tackle and where it starts and finishes. You get average gradient, distance to go and metres left to climb and the small section of map visible is helpful when you come to a junction. I only had a few occasions where the climb segment ended before the actual summit. However, the always-on nature of Climb Pro 2.0 has massively
