Awesome. That 520 plus had been tempting me the last couple months. Glad I held off!
Not a fan of touchscreens on the bike so it’ll be a 530 for me.
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Definitely peaked my interest more than I thought it would. Kinda had a new watch more on the agenda though, so may wait until I see what the 945 has to offer first.
very close to buying the 520 plus, as well! glad I waited…
+1
I have a question about both the 520 and 530 after reading Ray’s review regarding the “On-Unit Interval Feature.” I have a Bolt so I’m just trying to understand what this is and if it’s something I might need in the future.
Is this feature Garmin’s ability to create an interval on the unit without using third party software such as Training Peaks? Something else or more to it that someone can explain to me please?
On-unit intervals means that you don’t need to load any specific training program/plan/workout, you can just create something on the fly on the unit itself (usually, something basic).
However, if you’re a TrainerRoad person (as I presume you are), then what they’ve got cooking with the structured training push using the recently released Garmin Training Plans API, then there’s little need to use on-unit interval creation as TrainerRoad would be pushing those to the unit.
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I ordered a 530 today (looks like it will take a few weeks to ship though). My 5 year old 510 has gotten a little long in the tooth and I’ve been waiting this to come out for some time now. I was almost ready to crack and get a Wahoo . . . .
Welcome to the forum, Ray.
Thanks for the clarification on the new function.
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Hi Ray, looking at the first pic in your review:
It looks like you have workouts for Wednesday, Saturday, and Monday. Did you have those on Garmin Connect calendar?
Thanks,
Brian
Yes, on Garmin Connect calendar from generic Garmin Oly Tri plan.
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thanks. One more question, how is the screen brightness (compared to Stages)?
Hi Ray and welcome to the TR forum 
Hope you can answer, though this is probably better for DesFit…my Wahoo Bolt often loses GPS in the forest and auto pauses all the time (especially up switchback hills), so I end up running it without auto pause on. How is the in-the-forest GPS strength of the Garmin 530 / 830 - has this been tested? Tempted to get a 530 for the MTB and keep the bolt for the road bike…
In the Netherlands it should be available in the week of 13 to 19th of May
halo???
On DCR’s site the comparison table between the 530 and 830 is virtually identical. So other than the additional cost, why would someone get the 830 over the 530? Anyone know if there are any advantages to the 830 over the 530?
Primary differences I remember from DCR/Ray’s review - touchscreen and navigating to an address using only the 830 (no phone or cellular data required). There were a couple others listed.
Edit: from the DCRainmaker review of 530:
So what are the key differences to the Edge 830you might ask (which costs $100 more)? No problem, here ya go:
– Edge 830 has a touchscreen (thankfully different than the older Edge 820 touchscreen)
– Edge 830 has can do address-specific routing, whereas on the Edge 530 you can’t enter a street address
– Edge 830 has searchable points of interest database, for finding food/monuments/hotels/etc…
– Edge 830 has four less buttons than the 530, since it’s a touch screen (and also has some slight differences in user interface, since you can touch it – most easily seen in the mapping pages)As you can see, there’s not a lot of differences. It really comes down to that touch screen, and whether or not you plan to enter specific addresses onto the device, or would instead route by just using saved routes or moving the little finish selector over a given spot (more on that in the Navigation section).
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This is similar to the running watches - intervals set on the device are limited to an (optional) warmup (that can end on time, distance or lap button press), a set of intervals (again time, distance or lap press) and recoveries (same deal), and an (optional) cooldown. It’s very useful for simple workouts, but limited to one-set of one-kind workouts. Anything more complicated (multiple sets, intervals with varying intensity/duration, etc) is a “custom workout” in Garmin terminology, and must be pushed to the device.
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@bbarrera Thank you. 
Tempted to return my bontrager 1030 for an 830. Would like all the mtb stuff. Also varia radar started disconnecting from 1030. Garmin support excellent and a new varia shipped out same day but it could be the 1030 as well.
Welcome ray! Thx for the info and great reviews. I have the cadence and speed sensor on order because of your review. Great job as always!
I ordered a 530 (despite already having a 1030) mainly for the TrailForks info. We have a ton of MTB trails near us but they have, in general, lousy maps and signage and I have gotten temporarily lost numerous times. However, they are all in Trailforks. I use the phone app now to figure out where I am and having it on the head unit will be a huge advantage since phone service is often spotty where I ride. Silly how one feature would make me buy a head unit but it has.
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