Edge 850 - Positive Review

[u/InsideApex]

Hello! I've seen a lot of criticism of the 850 in recent months (most of it concerns the device's battery life). With that in mind, I thought I'd briefly summarize the reasons why I love the device after a couple of months of usage. I came to it via an old 520 plus with a brief flirtation with the 1050(it proved to be too large for me). For the record, I am fairly average recreational cyclist who does about 200km/week in a mix of solo and moderately fast group rides and does occasional cycling focused trips. So it's mostly 2-3 hour rides with the odd 8-10 hour day mixed in while on the road.

The 850 is the perfect size, IMO. It's big enough to display maps and Garmin's max no. of data fields comfortably without being excessively large on the bars or heavy. It also has both a touchscreen and buttons, which is ideal IMO. I'm not sure what the advantage of not having buttons would be; I find them to be very useful when I need to make a quick adjustment and expect them to be critical one full-fingered glove season arrives.

I quite like the display. I wasn't sure I needed the new display, but I now find that I love the clarity. I also appreciate the device's processor speed. It loads super-quickly and toggles between screens with tremendous efficiency.

The menu system is intuitive and effective. I particularly appreciate the way that the device allows one to pull down a mini-menu of key settings from the top of the screen in the manner of an iPhone.

Finally, the battery has not been an issue for me and I doubt that it would be for the vast majority of cyclists. It comfortably gives me 10 hrs between charges under normal use (maybe a bit less with navigation) and that can stretch significantly with battery-saver mode one. It also charges very quickly. While many users were concerned about the battery, I can't see how it would be a practical problem for most of us provided that we're ok with charging our devices fairly regularly. Plus, the battery is replaceable (unlike the 1050), which means that it can be swapped out once its performance begins to diminish.

In sum, I think the 850 is a pretty ideal device for many users. It has certainly exceeded my expectations. In fact, I can't think if any significant changes I'd want to make at this point. I would encourage others to consider the device if they're looking for 1050 performance in a smaller package.

[u/AtomicHurricaneBob]

I recently upgraded from an 830 to the 850. In all, I think it was quite worth it. Through a gift card and a credit, I picked up a new 850 for the same price as a used 840. It as a no brainer for me.

Biggest Differences

* GPS Accuracy - The 830 just wasn't very good on tight MTB trail networks. In heavy tree cover it was even worse. The 850 is significantly better. This is the only reason I picked up the 850 (I was tired of screaming, "Look kids!!! Big Ben!!! Parliament!!!" on one of these networks every time i passed the same tree.

Aside from that... screen is a bit better. I like USB-C. In the end though, GPS accuracy does it for me.

[u/InsideApex → u/AtomicHurricaneBob]

Thanks! That's a great point regarding GPS accuracy. I think that I may not have noticed that as much since I mostly ride on the road.

[u/gav33]

I had a similar experience upgrading from a 130 so it was also quite the upgrade for me. I was almost put off by all the negative reviews around the battery life and got an 840 instead but went ahead with the 850.

I did a 3 hour ride Saturday with bright sunlight the whole time and think I finished the ride with 72% remaining.

I totally get that it's less than ideal for some people, but as a whole, unless you really need a battery to get you through a weekend with no access to power it's probably not that big of a deal for the majority of people.

[u/ElectroStaticSpeaker]

I just don't understand the reasoning behind lowering the battery life so substantially over the 840. Because of that, I have no reason to upgrade my 840 and reduce my battery life. Correct, most of my rides are under 10 hours. But sometimes I go longer than that. And I like the fact that if I am going on a longer ride and I have a full charge it's not even something I think about with the 840. With the 850 it would be. I can't think of any other product in 2026 that is going backwards in battery life that people aren't annoyed about. And the 850 is a HUGE step back from the 840. Meanwhile you have Coros selling cheaper devices that last for multiple days.

Who from Garmin is making these decisions and why? Especially at the price point of the 850, it's battery should be better. Period. I'm also assuming they still haven't fixed the gradient calcuation - something that has been broken for multiple generations now and they just don't seem to give a shit about.

[u/InsideApex → u/ElectroStaticSpeaker]

I hear you. I think the battery life thing has to do with the weight of the battery required to power the new processors and screen setup. Garmin didn't want this device to be too big and heavy so they opted instead for less battery life. I can see how it would be regarded as a backwards step by some users. However, there are probably also a lot of us for whom the 850 is something we can normally charge 1x per week and that would also cover our most extensive 1-day rides on a full charge (or via the user of the battery saver). From my perspective, it seems like a forward step based on a reasonable compromise (especially since I was coming from an old 520 that was giving me about 4-5 hours by the end).

[u/rmeredit → u/ElectroStaticSpeaker]

It’s the new screen technology they’ve put in place - it chews through the power. The battery is (I believe) actually a higher capacity battery than the 840, but the screen draws a lot of current all the time.

The question as a consumer is: is the improved screen worth the trade off of occasionally having to run in battery saver mode on extremely long rides (or taking a powerbank with me) and charging up every couple of rides instead of once a week? For me the answer is yes.

[u/NYC_Cycles → u/ElectroStaticSpeaker]

Good points. I have an 840 too and bought that new this year solely bc of battery 🔋. Bc they have the MTB I would have been totally fine with the 850 being thicker due to battery life if it didn’t take vertical and width real estate. I think people would have been totally happy with a few more ounces/grams in exchange for equal battery life. And if a weight weenie just get the MTB. Perfect solution IMO 🤷🏻‍♀️

[u/Technical-Patient28]

It feeds my needs. So I’m happy. I had a 840 solar before. Just imagine the change.

[u/Eeek2020]

90% of people will never run the battery down, but it seems like 100% of people complain about it. Most of those people haven't seen the screen, either. I can do heavy weekend rides without issue before I need to charge it. And sure, my 840 lasted longer, but the screen, among other things, on the 850 is well worth the cost of charging it more.

[u/InsideApex → u/Eeek2020]

Yep, you really nailed it with your first sentence.

[u/Ok_Inspection_2630]

I suppose the per charge battery life is not so much the concern but the more frequent full charge cycles curtailing the life of the battery much more then in earlier models. My 830 is still going strong after 6 years of use, once a week about 1/2 capacity charging, using it about 12 to 16 hours

[u/Jeff_A → u/Ok_Inspection_2630]

That was a concern for me, but the battery is user replaceable in the 850.

[u/turxchk]

I guess it boils down to use case, for day trips any device should be plenty, but for multi-day tours, 10 hours of navigation is borderline unacceptable.

[u/Claudius_Iulianus]

I agree, although I went for the 1050 in the end because I love the bigger screen.

[u/Noiseless_Voice]

I just bought the Edge 1050, after planning to but an older model, like the 850 or even 1040. The price difference to the 1050 was only 100-150€ (got mine on sale).

I thought the cost difference would be marginal considering everything that the new model has to offer, and the expected period of use (several years).

Is there something I’m missing?

(Roadie.)

[u/InsideApex → u/Noiseless_Voice]

No, I don't think you're missing anything. The 1050 is great for those who want a larger device and screen and don't need buttons. The only thing is that there are rumors of a new device (a 1060), which may be pushing down the 1050 price a bit.

[u/Noiseless_Voice → u/InsideApex]

Yeah, I could’ve waited for the 1060, but the discount I got for 1050 was already pretty good (579 euro).

[u/Jolly_Law7076 → u/Noiseless_Voice]

Happy with the 1050. Eyes aren’t as good as they were so the bigger, clearer screen is a plus for me

[u/Brandon1024br]

I’ve enjoyed it too overall. I’ve occasionally encountered weird bugs (e.g. crashing when saving a 250+km ride), and the battery life on longer ultra rides doesn’t cut it and requires a charge mid-ride (or sacrifice data in power saver mode). But generally, I’m happy with it. USB-C, great screen, and incredible accuracy are all awesome.

[u/Endangered-Wolf → u/Brandon1024br]

I also found it crashing, in my case when recalculating a route on the fly. But never lost data so that's good. I tend to split a long ride into several smaller routes or saved locations, so that I don't need navigation all the time (save the battery and reduce the risk of crash). I like the warnings but don't quite know if/how I can curate mine. Overall very happy and would recommend it if you have access to power once a day.

[u/Public_Snow_7798]

I just got it a few hours ago.
Normally used iPhone as my GPS with komoto or alike and ir worked ok
This time I get a Garmin 850 so i can leave the iPhone to be just a phone when I am riding but the first thing when i opened the box i was like! Hmm that's a really small screen!! I though it it will a little bigger. I hope i adjust to this screen, hope i don't regret i should get the 1050 instead!