Garmin Edge 130 Impressions

Today is Saturday, 13th June 2020. I just brought home the Garmin Edge 130 from Nikita Distributors. It's a small box really. Smaller than any mobile phone box. 

About the Unit

Software Version 3.60 

(13427f0) 

Unit ID 3978212180

GPS 2.50

Sensor Hub: 5.80 

(The above details were noted down from the about section of the unit on 9th July 2020)

What's In The Box

The unit, a pack containing two mounts with two rubber gasket like things to work as a layer between the handle bar and the mount, 4 smaller rubber bands and four larger bands to connect the mount to the bar, then there is the charging and computer connecting USB cable, a string to attach to the unit and a quick start manual book presumably detailing how to use the unit (the main users' manual has to be downloaded from their website). There are some stickers also inside the book. I am going to keep all these packed in the box it came in and keep the box in the dining room cupboard.

The First Steps

After unboxing I  powered it up by charging it from my computer and then connected it to my smart phone - I think the technical term is pairing. The unit offered a number that had to be keyed into the phone. The rest of the steps were pretty much clicking the "next" tabs. I synced it to the computer as well. To do that you need to keep the unit connected to the computer through the USB cable.

I had Garmin Express and Connect downloaded in both my computer and the phone (I have been using the Forerunner 15 for a few years now). While the phone wanted to know my location, the computer did not ask for anything like that. The phone's location and bluetooth have to be on to use certain phone oriented features like weather report (good for touring if there is internet connection everywhere). The unit automatically uploads the data to the phone after a ride is completed if there is bluetooth connection. I don't know if the internet also has to be on for automatic upload of data.

While uploading data from my Forerunner 15 to the computer it is not enough to just connect the two. The internet must be on.

Internet and bluetooth has to be on when a completed trip is uploaded to the Connect app. It can be done at any point of time after the ride. If there is no internet for a long time then uploading GPX files from the unit into the computer may be considered to free up memory space in the unit. however, on a trip this will involve taking the computer along, which may not be viable. 

Pairing the unit with the phone or the computer was super easy. Just follow the steps suggested. Keep the bluetooth of the phone and computer on when you are doing this.

When the unit was first connected to Connect it learnt about me and my cycling accomplishments from the app and kept it stored in the unit. So the unit now knows my height, weight, maximum cycling distance etc. These were there in the Connect app from my earlier rides and the unit copied them into my profile. If you are using Connect for the first time the profile data will have to be keyed in. 

Just out of the box

As of now I have not used the unit. It is getting charged. Possibly the charge is full because the battery icon is showing full and not bouncing. In fact at some point in time in future I will have to find out how long it takes to fully charge the unit from zero. 

I ejected the unit out of my computer and it says it wants to update the software. The one that is installed 2.40. It wants to update it to 3.60. So I chose to "instal now". These firmwire updates are important to do. 

My First Impressions (Even Before First Ride)

It's very small. More or less the same size as the Cateye Velo that I have, which is a wired meter. The small size could be an advantage but having gotten used to large screen mobiles we find these small units a little disappointing perhaps. 

The unit's buttons need hard pressing, as opposed to the Forerunner 15 which is just feather touch. The buttons here are really hard. Will they ease up? I doubt. The unit cannot be switched off when connected to the computer. Incidentally it does not come with a charging unit/pod like the Forerunner does. Just a USB charger. Even that is difficult to pull out. You have to really pull hard to pull it out completely off the unit. It's a little scary that I might break something. It could have definitely been smoother. I hope the connector stays good. 

I think I also missed that it is not a touch screen unit. We are so used to touch screens. But then that would have meant spending a lot more money - almost double. I am okay with pressing hard buttons

As of now, it is fully charged and I shall go for a spin tomorrow. 

I attached the mount to the handlebar of my LHT and loaded the unit to it. Right now the bike has both the Velo 7 and the Garmin. After I get used to the Garmin I shall remove the Cateye.

My Brooks saddle has 200 km on it and the bike has done 1122 km so far. So, once the odo starts I have to mentally add these figures to it for the true numbers. 

I couldn't see the place for the odo. I believe it is visible once it starts rolling. We shall see all these tomorrow.

I discovered that to view Strava Live Segments you need to be a premium Strava member. I guess that will either have to wait or might never even happen.

14th June, 2020 - 11.45 am

It's raining since morning and I am waiting impatiently for the first test run to begin. I am even wearing my heart rate monitor and waiting with my track pants and t-shirt on. The socks are ready. The moment it stops I go out but doesn't seem that is going to happen any time soon. 

I had meant to go towards Gol Park and take a call after reaching there. But all that has to wait now :-(

First Ride

I finally did manage to go out for a short ride. Basically to test the unit out. Just a lazy roll to Golpark and back. Here is a link to the Connect page of the particular ride.

I had forgotten to set the unit to metric system last night. So on the road it was showing me distance, speed etc in miles because that's its default setting. I corrected that after the ride and Connect is showing the distance etc in kilometers. History is also showing it in kilometers. The HRM didn't connect but that is possibly due to a dead battery. Because I came home and found it wasn't pairing with my Forerunner either. Will try changing the battery and see later. 

Note - the battery in the HRM was replaced and it got connected the moment the two were kept in close proximity. The unit sought permission before pairing with the HRM. The HRM is ANT protocol unit that came bundled with the Forerunner 15. 

Note 2 - Last night went for a 12 km ride to Buro's with the hrm strapped. It worked perfectly.  

I had kept the phone's bluetooth switched off. A little before ending the ride I turned it on. When I finished the ride it automatically uploaded the data to my Connect. There is no provision to edit the title of the activity. It just said Kolkata Ride or something like that. Connect is showing the temperature during the ride, presumably collected from the phone.

(15th June Note - On the way to office I had kept the bluetooth switched off. After the bluetooth and internet was connected, which was well after finishing the activity, the ride was uploaded. Of course the machine would also have to be on. After the upload they give you a message saying your ride is ready to view.)

Back at home I also customised the display of the unit. By default it was displaying distance, time and speed only. I guess I put things like odometer on top, speed, average speed, heart rate etc. I cannot remember. Am I happy? Yes more or less. It's just a matter of time before I get used to it. 

I guess I will have to find a buyer for the Velo 7.

Laps

I guess auto lap is 5 km for this unit. For the Forerunner it is 1 km. There are two options - auto lap on or off. I think it was in default mode of auto lap off. I turned it on. Let me see what happens tomorrow. 

New Learning on 15th June - The toggle switch The auto lap has to be turned on or off with a toggle switch whose meaning is difficult to understand. It is a blank small vertical bar with rounded corners and a black dot. Whether the dot on top means on or off is something one as to find through trial and error. It took me a lot of net search to finally learn that the dot on top means it is on. Intuitively I thought the dot at the bottom means it is on because that is how and electrical switch works. In fact, that the switch is known as a toggle switch was the first thing I had to learn. I found the final answer, or even this issue being discussed, in reddit. I don't know why this simple thing is not mentioned somewhere in the manual. It is not a universal symbol or icon.

While on the subject of auto lap - this unit can be used to manually mark your laps. For example, I could mark a lap up to Ruby and from there to Science City as another lap to understand how I perform in the city and outside.

15th June 2020 - The second ride was this morning while coming to work. I somehow did not realise the ride was not switched on. So I switched it on after about a kilometer. Therefore the odo reading is 1 km less than what it actually is. Rest everything was fine. I have customised the display to show the odometer on top, distance, speed, average speed and heart rate. This somewhat mimics my car's odometer. I would have loved to have the time of the day displayed somewhere. But I guess it does not show it anywhere.

I think I will write a one month report after this when I get to understand the unit better. I take my own sweet time to understand these modern machines. I must remember to get a battery for the hrm this evening. 

New Edge 130 Plus Launched - The moment you buy a new electronic gadget it becomes obsolete. This saying was proven right last night once again when I read the news about the launch of a new Edge 130 plus in the US. I believe battery hours have come down from the official 15 to 12 hours. Therefore it would have not attracted me in any case. I think Garmin is trying to position this model as an MTB computer because the additional features are more for mountain bikers. In fact I couldn't even understand what those new features mean. 

The mounting position - Having removed the Velo 7 from the stem last night (I have put it up for sale and found a buyer in Howrarh for Rs 800) I placed the 130 on the stem, oriented in a vertical manner (the Velo was turned 90 degree to the left) and went for a ride to Buro's. Did it principally to look cool :-)

Now the readability of the unit suffered because the stem is a little inclined so the 130 is offering a slanted view. The digits in the bottom line weren't so clearly visible in the night while riding. I will see how it goes in the morning and then decide whether the stem is the right place for the unit. I would love to put it on one of those extended arm mounts. They look uber cool.

I have checked this during the morning now and readability is fine. 

Live Tracking - This evening I had gone out with the bluetooth, location and internet on, meaning to see how Live Tracking works. I set up the email as mine. Upon return I realised no email had come. I had forgotten to switch on Live Tracking before starting. Now I have set it to automatically always send me live tracking whenever I undertake an activity. So, let me see what happens tomorrow when I go to work.

I have set it to automatically send me and Monisha email of my ride. What happens is a link is sent which is clickable during the ride and you can see/follow my ride live. I am yet to see it. This link becomes inactive once the ride is completed and the data is uploaded to Connect. So unless I click it mid-ride I will never be able to see myself. 

Few Quick Observations

There is some battery loss even when the unit is switched off. Self discharge. Not very high but it is noticeable. Once turned on, the battery indicator shows one or two bars less. They come back on after some time. The battery management system is not the best. While charging I do not even know when it is full. (Added later - the power icon gets changed to a battery icon with five solid bars, each representing 20 per cent)

But one can download free third party apps from the IQ Connect stores. I intend to download a battery management widget and see how it goes. I want to know the detailed pros and cons of downloading such apps. 

I have quite got used to the small size of the unit. In fact I love the cute little size. The on-off switch does not seem as hard as it did initially. The charging cable still needs a little pulling to take it off the unit. The unit moves smoothly on the mount and clicks perfectly. I do not know if I got used to the unit or it's the other way round. 

June 26, 2020

IQ App Store I downloaded a third party battery related app called Battery Up Down. It is now a data field in my unit. I created a separate page for it where it shows an icon as well as number in per cent. For example, right now it is showing as 20 per cent. On the Connect website, the battery performance during the ride is also shown I wonder how accurate it is. 

On the Garmin Connect website, when seen through the computer, a separate chart also gets displayed like they show the elevation, speed, heart rate, temperature etc. It is definitely not correct. For example, today's ride shows 40 per cent for most of the ride with two points where it had dipped to 20 per cent suddenly for a few seconds. On the unit though it shows as 20 per cent. Last night it came down from 40 to 20 after the ride. But today it continues to show 20. So, I really don't know how useful it is. But it takes an insignificant space in the unit. 

The Garmin Connect website shows that this is one of the apps downloaded by this unit. 

I downloaded it through the phone. I opened the Garmin IQ app store (downloaded from Google Play Store) on my phone. The IQ app store is like the play store of Google but only for Garmin related third party apps. From this IQ app store I downloaded the Battery Up Down app and it got transferred to the unit through Bluetooth. Nothing very complicated, if you have ever downloaded any app for your phone.

For downloading through the computer you have to connect the unit to the computer. Because the computer bluetooth does not connect with the unit. 

Do I want any other app? As of now, no. I have a feeling they eat up battery. I am a little paranoid about battery. Because in India, in the remoter places, there is hardly any electricity in many places. Of course I have the Anker solar charger. But even then it is always safer to conserve as much power as possible.

Live Tracking

Edge 130 comes with a feature that is increasingly becoming very popular with a lot of such units. It's called Live Tracking. You can nominate a few email ids where a link would go from Garmin as soon as the ride starts. Clicking on this link, one can see your movement on a Google map. This can be an important peace of mind kind of thing for your family when you are out cycling. 

However, there are certain practical difficulties to get this working and I had to get it right after making many many minor errors. A. This is literally a live feature. That is, the link is active only when the activity is on. The moment it is finished the link stops working. So if you really want to know where I ended my trip you have to be continuously glued to the screen. But yes the screen is indeed live. You can actually see the blue line moving. B. At the time of starting the activity your internet has to be on. If there is no connectivity where you start then there is no live tracking even if internet comes on some time later. C. If for whatever reason the connectivity is gone somewhere in the middle of the trip, the live track cannot be seen after this. 

Odometer Cannot Be Manipulated

The other day battery died out while I was riding to work. The ride was finished at .80 Km. I know the exact distance from home to work. So I corrected the distance in the Connect app. The ride in the unit was still showing .80 Km. I thought once the unit connected to Bluetooth it would rewrite the distance in the odo and correct the ride in its own memory but it did not. Apparently once a ride is recorded it cannot be changed in any way. Therefore my odo is actually showing a distance of 2.8 km less. Not a big deal but have to remember to charge the unit before a long trip. I want my odo to give as correct a picture of my total distance as possible. I will celebrate the landmark distances when they are reached. For example, 5K will be a landmark to achieve. 

Syncing Issue - 9th July 2020

Today I faced some syncing issues with the unit. After coming to work, riding 3.56 km in 14 minutes, I found the unit had not synced. Opened the Connect app and found it is written that the servers are undergoing maintenance and asked me to check back. 

After a few hours that maintenance notice was gone but I find the unit is not syncing with the phone. The two are connected. I can even see the phone notices on the unit. It is showing all the signs of syncing but ultimately the data transfer is not happening. I cannot see my activity listed in the mobile. I believe I will have to do this by directly linking the unit to my computer through the Garmin Express application. But this problem needs to correct itself. It means I will not be able to upload the data while travelling/touring. 

I am hoping this is just a temporary software related problem and it will correct itself shortly. I have had similar issues with the Forerunner in the past. That was quite scary but it solved itself. 

I asked Nishant whether he could sync his unit an Edge 830 bought almost as the same time as me. He said he was having similar problems with syncing for a few days and has been syncing directly through the computer. Now I joined the club. Let me see how long this continues. I have asked the facebook forum about it, if someone else is facing similar problems. 

Speed & Cadence Sensors - Odo - 675 - 25th August, 2020

Yesterday I got for myself a set of speed and cadence sensors for my Edge 130 from Exad Sports for Rs 4900. They were installed right away on the LHT and I even went for a 10 km spin with them. Syncing them with the unit was very easy. With the unit close by and switched on you have to rotate the sensors one by one as if they were on the crank arm or the hub and the bike is in motion. They synced readily. I created a special page for them on the Edge 130. It's an eight field page with all sorts of data being there like cadence, average cadence, lap cadence etc.

I actually want to improve my cadence over time. The best way to do that is to see what the cadence actually is and then work on it. I think I will ultimately install them on the training bike Merida and spare the LHT. My normal leisurely cadence is 45 on the 7th gear. I want to exercise at 70 and then move on to 90. Question is on which gear? Let me see.

The speed sensor can either automatically decide the wheel size or it can be manually keyed in. I let it decide automatically. Because the actual size is not really 26 inches. It's a little more than that and finding it out is a rather tedious process. Plus, since I will be changing bikes often I kept it on auto mode only.

Milestones and Timelines

List of various items added to the Edge 130 and other important events associated with it

Date	Odo	Remarks
13-06-20	000	Bought unit from ExadSports & installed
14-06-20	000	Went for maiden ride
25-08-20	675	Bought, synced and installed speed and cadence sensors from ExadSports (Rs 4900)