Customer Reviews for Garmin - Edge 540 2.6" GPS Bike Computer - Black
Customer Rating
4
I like the *lack* of a touchscreen
on June 10, 2024
Posted by: h457ur
I've been using Edge computers for quite some time now, starting with the Edge 800. I had always chosen computers with touchscreens because I was of course used to using smartphones. Recently, I decided to replace my aging Edge 1030 (it's been dropped once too many times) and my local bike shop had the 340, the 540, and the 840. I chose the non-touchscreen 540 because I have historically had issues where rain or sweat would mess with my screen layout (yes I know you can lock the screen, but I sometimes forget.)
I am happy to report that I really like the menu navigation via buttons on the 540. It does take some getting used to and it's not intuitive (subtract one star here), but once I got the hang of it, I decided it was a good interface.
Menu navigation has no logic. Buttons have no logic either and are difficult to press. Unusable product.
Response from GarminBy Garmin Fitness, June 11, 2024
Thank you for your review and experience with the Edge 540. We would like to discuss this further over email. If you would please email us at product.support@garmin.com.
Navigation is much improved and battery life is amazing. Have done 12 and 17 hour rides with navigation and phone connected and still had ample battery life
Been using the garmin for a month. Some places I know and others I don't. It has the capability to reroute you on a premade course if you go off course to find your way back or if your route isn't what you wanted. Amazing feature.
The Garmin edge that I bought did not include a cable that was capable of charging the device. I had to go out and buy a separate cable for that!
In addition, there were absolutely no instructions on how to use the garment edge. The website instructions were virtually useless. I ended up spending hours pressing various buttons until I was able to figure out some rudimentary functions of the edge. For such an expensive piece of equipment this sort of attention to the customer is exceedingly substandard.
Response from GarminBy Garmin Fitness, June 7, 2024
We are sorry to hear about the issue that you are having and would ask that you reach out to our team so that we can get the details from you and offer further assistance. Thank you for posting a review.
Please reach out to our team at: product.support@garmin.com
I'm coming from an Edge 510 that I literally wore out. My first reaction was how horrible the UI has become. First and foremost, there's no easy way to get back to a STARTING place. The online manual is dreadful because there are no pictures to show you what to look for. Too often, they present the order of steps for something, and it's too easy to miss a step because you are looking in the wrong place. The YouTube videos are almost as bad; the people typically go too fast. So, you see, stop, go to your Garmin, and do not see what they showed, so you go back, find where you left off, and go back and forth: it's a mess.
As far as performance goes, meh! When I'm riding, my cadence and speed monitors keep flipping out and in, back and forth. Sometimes, I can't get my cadence to link at all. I've called for help, and they sent me the instructions to get some data for them, but the instructions do not work. The guy I talked with had an attitude issue, and it sure sounded like he was wasting his time talking to someone who couldn't figure this out on their own.
And while I'm ranting. As I stated, I'm coming from the 510. There are a slew of features in this one that were not in my previous Garmin. I've tried searching for what any of these new features do and why I would want to use them (let alone figure out how to access them), and I find nothing. Would it have been that hard to provide a basic sentence or two about what the various features are for?
So, yes, I am very disappointed with my unit.
Response from GarminBy Garmin Fitness, May 27, 2024
Thank you for your review and experience with the Edge 540. We would like to discuss this further over email. If you would please email us at product.support@garmin.com.
this review is based on my opinion: i started with the Edge 130 and loved it! but at my 48 years of age i needed a bigger screen to read better some of the screens. i got the 540 and guess what!!!! they made the letters smaller! the colors of the screen in certain light conditions make it harder to see the (specially the maps) the screen brightness in AUTO mode is super low!! i need external light from a lamp to see it clearly and if you turn off the auto brightness off your battery will die mid ride. in the 130 was basic (i get it) but you would just open it and go riding, but this new 540 the menus are so intricate that you will need an afternoon to set it up as you like it minor annoyance
Response from GarminBy Garmin Fitness, May 24, 2024
Thank you for posting a review we appreciate it. It is possible to enlarge the font size of the device by decreasing the number of active fields on a particular data screen. We would encourage you to start out on our support site for assistance first, and from there you can always reach out to our team as well.
Editing Data Screens: https://www8.garmin.com/manuals/webhelp/GUID-17DE938E-466A-4746-BDBF-7A6FC1B3A32C/EN-US/GUID-1BDAFDBC-FBD8-4466-A4D4-5EEEB600A438.html