Garmin

Edge 530 Bike Computer

Good budget bike computer

Use often, but it would be significantly easier with a touch screen. Buy a cheap case for it and and go ride!

2nd One and Love these

Been using one for years and needed another. Works great and with Live Track you and your friends or family can keep track of each other on the trails.

Super useful to see, really easy to use and more useful data.

User unfriendly

Been an Edge user for 15 years (500 & 130) 530 for 2. Very difficult to set up displays I wanted for the device, numerous trial-and-error rides and struggling with manual. Buttons on the device are very temperamental, don't activate unless push just right. Not real convenient for a cyclist while riding. Coup de Grace came when I upgraded iPhone from 11 to 16. OMG, worse than starting from scratch. Connect App says I'm connected, but I'm really not. All App shows are a bunch of rides from 2022! Plus the 530 picks up activities from my Forerunner 55 watch. Why, when these are already displayed on Garmin Connect? BUT the 530 won't post my bike rides to Connect. Total frustration. Seems if Garmin is catering to "active outdoor" types, would realize their customers prefer to be there than parked inside behind laptops, computers, apps, and devices spread out, trying to make sense of it all.

Great Features - Reliability

I have hat it for over 3 years and it is reliable. Recently had a technical problem due to an update and the dealer replaced it with a new one.

Extremely reliable

This computer has held up to many years of travel, racing, bad weather, and mountain bike crashes. The function of physical buttons makes it useful in the winter with heavy gloves and in it’s third year of service the battery held up to navigating a >14hr/100mi navigationally punishing MTB alley cat event, including recording data from external sensors.

Tough to use

Difficult to pair devices, have used for about 2 years, but I have always had difficulty pairing devices. Just purchased a Polar H10 and cannot connect it. I have gone through Garmin hrm which do not seem very durable. I have reset device and now can't pair my varia..very frustrating. Think I'll be looking for a new bike computer. Thumbs down on garmin biking products.

-22% grade while going up

Does great for speed and all other stats except altitude and grade. Seems altitudes is not GPS based and only dependent on the atmospheric pressure sensor. So yesterday it was at 5020ft altitude and the Garmin displayed 3750 ft. That’s a serious error. And on top, the grade while climbing varied from -22% to 24%. I tried to get technical help but it was just out of warranty. Pushed on FAQ on inserting a needle to clean the minute vent hole of the sensor and warned that one tiny error and the sensor behind will be damaged. Or send the unit for a refurb at a fairly steep price. While part of the error is software since the grade % was going down while altitude was going up. That’s a program bug. I did a full reset and the bug is still there.

high quality, strong performance, wonky interface

I quite like the unit. I am a data guy at work, so I really enjoyed getting to know the Garmin for my cycling. I use the 530 for my road bike, my mountain bike, and my gravel bike, and the smart trainer too. It has been able to sync up to my arm power meter, to the smart trainer power meter, to my chest hr strap, etc. it always seems to work. I also like the ability to customize my data fields that appear on the different screens, and across profiles. No power meter on the MTB, no power meter data fields for my MTB ride profile. I just wish the menus were a little easier to navigate. That said, I have been very pleased with the unit. The connect app is decent at reconciliation across devices, I've got a Fenix watch I use as well.