Reviews over the

Garmin Edge 840

Been using a Polar Vantage watch for years while cycling (handlebar mount) but it cannot navigate and taking it off the handlebars every time is inconvenient. Because of the positive reviews and brand awareness, I chose this Garmin. It works well with my Polar heart rate, cadence and speed sensors via Bluetooth. However, the device does not excel in ease of use. I removed almost all screens, disabled most functions because of the beeping on the road. When you are not careful you get distracted. The apps and website are also overkill for the average user. The device is dedicated for cycling (professional) but the Connect app and website even covers diving?!?!? Creating a route you really have to get handy with because it's not intuitive. You do this best via a computer. Switching the pairing between phone, iPad or your PC is not convenient either. The device itself works well in the end and no complaints about that, but perhaps for my kind of use a Wahoo would be better

Pros & Cons

Good GPS with a multitude of functions (probably too many for the average cyclist). The battery life is excellent, as is the cartography, with all the fifrelins of trails well mapped out. On the other hand, it is not without its faults. In undergrowth, there's a nasty reflection on the screen, which is very disturbing in navigation mode. Again in navigation mode, the useful screen area is (very) small, and the same applies when you receive messages (traffic, text messages, etc.). If you have poor eyesight, it's best to go for a larger model. Once you're on the bike, the connection with your smartphone is catastrophic! It rarely works. Climbpro, while a nice feature, takes too much precedence over navigation. For example, you arrive at a Y junction on a hill and you don't know which way to go. And in the woods, where there are lots of paths, it's even worse. So navigating in the woods with the reflection + climbpro can quickly become very irritating. What's more, climbpro is very approximate. Often, the real end is 2-300 metres after the end of climbpro. In terms of bugs, on a route of (only) 126 km, I got a "memory insufficient" message and then the device shut down. I've also had contradictory messages: "turn back when I'm on the track". As for the usefulness of touch compared to the edge 540, I'd say yes, useful. Not that we use it a lot, because we know how to set more or less everything with our smartphone, but using the buttons is not really pleasant. The thermometer overestimates by at least 2-3 degrees, even in the shade, and the percentage of slopes is sometimes questionable. In short, for a Garmin-branded device, a state-of-the-art model at €450, I find that there are a lot of 'faults', hence the 3 stars only.