GarminEdge 530 GPS Computer(Return to Product Page)

Very stylish. Loaded with lots of stuff I'll probably never use. I believe that Garmin is phasing out support for 500 so I decided to upgrade to the 530. I had great success with the Garmin 500. It had just the right amount of basic functions. The 530 has all the 500 has and lots more, more than I really need. I can link the 530 to my IPhone and get my ride results immediately. That I like. It's a little bigger and heavier, but it has a very nice look on the bike.

I've had a Garmin 500 for some time, about 5 years, which has worked just fine with no issues. But... the 530 gives me so much more, especially nice is the routing. Yet then there are the other stats, training options and status updates which are great too. And simply put, I don't mind the setup even though it takes a little time to figure out. I've even configured the Activity Profiles individually by bike (4) as well as for the specific activities such as Indoor Training, so I can break out the data more easily.

I needed to upgrade my 520 that I've had forever and the 530 far exceeded expectations. I use this thing on many organized rides and the thing I love the most is the auto switch to elevation profile view and when you start a climb (I'm sure there is a tech term for this). Of course the easy connectivity with Strava is a winner too. Great value and I wouldn't hesitate to get the same thing if I needed to replace mine anytime soon.

I bought a 520 a year ago under the impression I could fully navigate. After several months of training, I finally felt my fitness was now up to actually level to download maps and explore.

I went to the Garmin site, punched in "520", said there was map for that model, so after taking my $20 I got a link.

The link didn't work.... huh. I called Garmin and found out I needed the 529 PLUS to get real (sorta) navigate.... grrrr.

At that time BTD had a sweet sake on the 530, so i went for it and so happy i did!

Just the mere fact that it does everything the 520 does but FASTER (better processor) and last literally ALL DAY LONG even while navigating and the back lighting on!

It tells me when a call comes in, tracks and reminds me to drink and eat and has a bigger screen.

The ONLY thing I'm disappointed with is it doesn't display text msg's even though it's capable (though that's an Android thing more than this unit).

One last thing. I borrowed my buddy's 830 to try out the touch screen before I decided which one i wanted (the 830 and 530 are the same, but the 830 is a touch screen). Like many have said about the 830, once the display gets wet, you're SOL getting it to respond to touch, plus all the touching makes the screen unreadable in the sun... bleh!

Go for the 530 and you'll be in Garmin bless! :)

The Garmin Edge computers are second to none. They just work. The only complaint is the fragility of the locking tabs. Even given this weak point, this is still my bike computer of choice.

I have a road profile for my road bike and another profile for my gravel bike. The unit came with two mounts and I have one on my road bike and one on my gravel bike.

The road profile includes average speed in addition to distance, time, and speed. The gravel profile adds temperature and time of day to the parameters. My only concern is that with my sunglasses prescription I don't have a reading lens and I have to limit the number of parameters displayed so they are large enough to read. Not a complaint since there is flexibility in the number of parameters and size of the boxes for the information displayed.

All in all, very pleased with the product. Now that I am wearing winter gloves, I can say that the buttons are really easy to use!

My Garmin Edge 530 was easy to set up, sync with Garmin connect which syncs with MapMyRide. It is easy to read under clouds or direct sunlight. The battery lasts a long time--should be no problem for a 100 mile ride. I can see text messages coming in through phone pairing. Interesting to see the grade % on those tough climbs--although it does lag by a few yards. There are certainly more features than I have used so far. Mount is solid as well.

Been a fan of the Garmin's 500 series for quite sometime. I bought the Garmin Edge 530 to replace my aging 500. The screen is bigger and brighter than its predecessor. The new features such as turn by turn map, live strava segment, and MTB tracking (air time, ft) if you're into that sort of things.

One thing is taken out and i wish Garmin leaves it, the bike profile which tracks each bike odometer (up to 3 bikes). On 530 you can set your bike profile as eitber road or mtb.

Been a fan of the Garmin's 500 series for quite sometime. I bought the Garmin Edge 530 to replace my aging 500. The screen is bigger and brighter than its predecessor. The new features such as turn by turn map, live strava segment, and MTB tracking (air time, ft) if you're into that sort of things.

One thing is taken out and i wish Garmin leaves it, the bike profile which tracks each bike odometer (up to 3 bikes). On 530 you can set your bike profile as eitber road or mtb.

I use the Edge 530 on every ride and upload to Connect afterwards to track my progress. My Edge 520 battery was worn down and could only last about 45 min, also had 45% powermeter dropouts. This 530 is much improved over the 520 in my experience. Look for it on sale and get out and ride.

I bought this Garmin 530 thinking i was going too have routes created so not to get bored riding the same routes doesnt work too great twice I got lost with this. What did wirk great was the emergency contact sos it sends your exact location out too whoever your emergency contacts are that was pin point location of where I needed to get picked up. I do like the drunk and eat alert vert nice feature as well.

The 530 is nice provides alot if cycling stats depending on what you really want info on.

I do like it though its a little quarks though.

Test it out in short distance and experience it for yourself

Also when directions say cycleway that means sidewalk or bike trail that can be very confusing and annoying.

Experiment with it set up you ER accounts and good luck

Safe riding

I use this every race in conjunction with my Garmin 255. It provides more detail and real time data.

I've had a edge 500 for a long time, and it was finally falling apart. I was hesitant going forward because the 500 worked so well, and I was concerned that a non LCD screen would wash out in bright sunlight while I was wearing my polarized riding glasses. But the 500 case finally started to disintegrate (literally, I could see the circuit board inside), so it was time.

The details

1. Unit finds the satellites much faster and can hold them when under tree cover better than the 500.

2. Wireless syncing works great. I don't even have to wake the unit up, just throw it on the shelf in the garage with my other riding gear after a ride and it automatically syncs. Now if it could only automatically charge too......

3. The screen is quite readable in bright sunlight, even with the sunglasses.

4. Metrics like 'grade' seem much more stable (the 500 wouldn't do well on very steep grades...15%....probably because I was not moving fast enough).

5. The new metrics, like 'load' and 'grit' and level of aerobic and anaerobic effort are kinda fun. Not sure if they are accurate, but they seem fairly stable (ie, rides of similar effort give similar numbers). Are they needed....no.... but it's fun. There is a 'flow' metric that seems useless to me so far but maybe that will change over time.

So far I have found nothing that is significantly worse on the 530 relative to the 500. It does take a bit more time to learn (more buttons) and customize, but once you are past that it is an upgrade.

I had been using an Edge 520 and upgraded to the 530 as my battery life was starting to decline and the 530 has a few interesting features that the 520 didn't.

The turn notification is much nicer. The screen switches to the map and shows exactly which way the route goes. It also is notifying when and where it should. The 520 was always a little late giving the turn notices, as if it always thought I was a few seconds behind where I actually was.

The Di2 integration is better, letting me set the chainring sizes for the unconventional setup on my tandem,

I like the smart hydration notifications and I've been drinking a lot more during rides on hot days while using that feature.

I like the climb feature that shows me the distance, vertical, and average grade on a climb, but the algorithm needs some work. Some of the climbs it detects are no bigger or harder than climbs it doesn't detect. On some climbs it stops before the very top, and on others it will include a descent and then maybe 20 more feet of climbing where it would have made more sense to call the peak before the descent the end of the climb.

I've had a few unexpected reboots and glitches, but I expect that from any new Garmin product while they work out the kinks. Two issues I'm having for now First, the bluetooth just won't stay connected to my phone. I have to open the Garmin app to get it to connect. That makes the emergency notifications and SMS notifications useless. My 520 didn't have this issue, so I don't think the problem is on the phone side. Second if I turn off the computer at a rest stop while navigating it will lose the 'Distance to Course Point' and the turn-by-turn list. It will still show each turn when I get to it however. So after I leave the rest stop it will just show the distance to next course point as the distance to the finish. I have to stop the route navigation and re-start it to get it working correctly again. I generally don't turn it off now at rest stops due to this issue, and luckily the battery life is really good, so I can do 2 or 3 rides of 40 or 50 miles without recharging.

Sweet computer! Switched from an Edge Explore to this 530. Big plus, rec'd enough credit to get the speed sensor 2 (saves distance if computer putts out - 300hrs!!). Out front mount is solid, buttons are clicky and snappy. My only gripe is some minor 1st release software hiccups. It was logging me moving and stopping, constantly setting off collision detection. It froze up on initial setup too, but both issues have subsided with sensors connected and out on the road. Very solid, highly recommended.

This is a great computer, even better if you're upgrading from another Garmin. I was able to transfer the info from all of my sensors which is the most time consuming and aggravating part of setting up a new Garmin, greatly appreciated.

Mostly have used it on the trainer, but a little bit mountain biking.

Mostly have used it on the trainer, but a little bit mountain biking.

Received within a couple days. Best price I found. Works as expected. Screen/ button navigation takes a bit of getting used to, but it�s a top notch computer.

Garmin Edge 530 GPS Computer: it's much less expensive than the 830 and 1030; I don't care about the bells and whistles of the other models, so for me, it's a better value...works great with the Garmin Varia RTL515 Rear-view radar/tail light too.