Bike computers are incredibly useful tools for tracking and guiding your bike rides, whether you stick to pavement or adventure on the trails. Garmin offers a full range of bike computers, but thankfully, there are fewer options than you’ll find in Garmin’s watch and fitness tracker lineup. Still, there are plenty of choices for a range of budgets and needs, so you can make sure to find the Garmin bike computer that’s best for you.
All of Garmin’s head units provide at least basic ride and performance data, along with mapping and navigation tools. However, depending on your chosen model, the display type, size, specific features, and price will, naturally, vary.
Best Garmin bike computer overall
Garmin Edge 1050
Feature-rich with a vibrant display
The Garmin Edge 1050 is a premium cycling computer with a bright, responsive touchscreen. It offers plenty of safety features like road hazard alerts and an electronic bell, along with useful navigation tools and Garmin’s robust training platform.
- Plenty of safety features
- Bright, vibrant, and responsive touchscreen display
- Built-in speaker with electronic bell
- Useful navigation tools
- Battery life dips from the bright display
- Pricey
Garmin’s latest bike computer is a seriously impressive device with a long list of features, making it my favorite bike computer across any brand.
Garmin’s latest bike computer is a seriously impressive device with a long list of features, making it my favorite bike computer across any brand. To start, Garmin finally addressed one of the most common complaints about Garmin bike computers: the outdated display technology. The latest Garmin bike computer features a vibrant and bright liquid crystal display that looks much more modern. The touchscreen is very snappy and responsive, making it feel rather like a smartphone.
Beyond looks, the Edge 1050 is also packed with useful features. It offers a built-in speaker that functions as a loud bell and notifies you of hazards on the road thanks to crowdsourced information, much like Waze does. There’s also an Incident Detection feature and the ability to be notified if a member of your group ride has an incident.
The Edge 1050 offers highly accurate multi-band GNSS for precise location, mapping, speed, and distance data during your rides. The large display makes it easy to use for navigation, with turn-by-turn directions and easy access to routes.
The only downside is the bright display does impact battery life, but it still provides 20 hours of battery life in demanding situations (Multi-GNSS Multi-Band, all the sensors, LiveTrack enabled, map page on constant display, and course following). At $700, it’s an expensive bike computer, but it’s hard to beat for serious cyclists looking for a feature-rich, precise tool.
Best Garmin bike computer for battery life
Garmin Edge 1040 Solar
Long battery life with solar charging
The Garmin Edge 1040 Solar is an advanced bike computer with solar charging capabilities to extend battery life. It offers a robust list of features for navigation, performance, and safety with a massive display that makes it easy to see information during your rides.
- Excellent battery life with solar charging
- Comes with lots of accessories
- Large display is easy to read in all conditions
- Lots of performance and navigation features
- Solar charging is only beneficial in specific situations
- Display looks a bit outdated
For some, lengthy battery life is more important than a vibrant, fancy display. The Edge 1040 Solar sits just above the Edge 1050 in terms of price but offers more than double the battery life when used in sunny locations. The display is a transflective TFT touchscreen built with Garmin’s Power Glass. In combination with two solar panels above and below the display, the device gets roughly 40 hours of life in somewhat demanding use cases with minimal solar charging. Sunny rides would fare even better, promising up to 50 hours of life.
Read our review
The Edge 1040 Solar offers useful navigation tools, including turn-by-turn direction and the ability to sync routes from Strava and other platforms easily. It also warns you if you’re coming up to a busy road or tight turn, even if you aren’t following a route. Like the Edge 1050, it features multi-band GNSS for highly accurate location data and the ability to pair heart rate sensors and power meters.
As expected from a top-tier Garmin bike computer, you’ll have access to a robust list of performance and training tools. That includes stamina insights, so you can get an idea of what sort of pace you can maintain on your route and training status to help gauge if you are over or under-training. You will get on-device daily suggested workouts and can even add an event to get adaptive training tools. It’s a pricey tool, but it’s worth it for those serious about performance.
Best Garmin bike computer for most people
Garmin Edge 540
A balance of features and price
The Garmin Edge 540 is a mid-tier bike computer with a color display and button-only controls. It offers plenty of navigation tools, adaptive coaching, and multi-band GNSS for accurate data on your rides.
- Plenty of navigation tools
- Compatible with adaptive training
- Works with additional sensors
- Accurate location data
The Edge 540 sits roughly in the middle of the Garmin bike computer lineup. It offers a balance of price and features that is ideal for most riders. It provides a lot more data than the smaller Edge 130 Plus, with full recovery and training load covered. You’ll have plenty of metrics for your ride, including power compatibility and indoor bike trainer control. It offers multi-band GNSS for accurate location data, and the color display supports navigation with turn-by-turn routing and re-routing.
The smartphone connectivity provides LiveTrack, phone notifications, and much more, while connectivity includes Wi-Fi for updates and syncing without a phone connection. Plus, there’s Bluetooth and ANT+ for connectivity to other sensors, adding to the tools you can take advantage of. It provides up to 26 hours of battery life, which is plenty long for most people.
The biggest downside for some is that the Edge 540 doesn’t have a touchscreen. It’s button control only, which is one of the big differences between this unit and the more expensive models. The 2.6-inch display is also smaller than the other options, though it still offers enough real estate to easily see the map and your stats during rides.
If you want even more battery life, you can opt for the
Edge 540 Solar
, which provides an extra eight hours of life in the right conditions.
Best budget Garmin bike computer
Garmin Edge 130 Plus
Basic but capable
The Garmin Edge 130 Plus sits at the entry point to Garmin’s bike computer lineup. It is compact and lightweight, with a monochrome MIP display. Though the features are paired down compared to more expensive offerings, it offers all the necessary ride stats and training features for cyclists who don’t need anything fancy.
- Compact and lightweight
- Navigation with turn prompts
- ClimbPro feature for hilly areas
- Plenty of connectivity options
- Monochrome, non-touchscreen display
- Limited mapping tools
The Garmin Edge 130 Plus is Garmin’s entry-level bike computer. It’s a compact and light unit that gives you the essential details about your ride. It has a GPS and altimeter, so it offers route tracking and some navigation. However, it isn’t multi-band, so it won’t be quite as precise as more expensive models. Like the Edge 540, the Edge 130 Plus is button-controlled only, though it has a monochrome screen.
There’s no mapping on the device, so it’s a breadcrumb trail only from imported routes, with notifications of when to turn. It will route back to the start, but there’s no re-routing offered when you venture off course. The altimeter means that ClimbPro is offered, showing a visual graph of the hill you’re climbing and how much further there is to go.
The Edge 1030 Plus connects to your smartphone, enabling data syncing with Garmin Connect, LiveTrack, and phone notifications. It’s also compatible with a wide range of sensors using ANT+ or Bluetooth and supports indoor trainer control. It’s quite paired down from Garmin’s other models but provides all the basics, making it a worthwhile tool for all sorts of riders.
FAQ
Q: Does a cycling computer need Bluetooth and ANT+ connectivity?
A bike computer doesn’t necessarily need Bluetooth or ANT+ connectivity, but those features will allow you to pair additional sensors like heart rate monitors, cadence sensors, and power meters. Additionally, Bluetooth connectivity will allow you to pair your phone with the device to sync your data and get phone notifications. While you can certainly do without those connectivity options, they do add some nice features and functionality.
Q: What are the alternatives to a bike computer?
Not everyone wants or needs a standalone bike computer. If that’s the case, you can get lots of bike computer features on your phone. A phone mount and cycling app can offer navigation tools, safety features, and basic data collection, though without the accuracy of a standalone unit.
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