The folks at Garmin must have been spiked with a common-sense potion.
The new Garmin Edge 520 was announced last week, and with it, the news that we’ve probably all been waiting for – Garmin and Strava finally jumped into bed together!
For the first time, it will be possible to quickly and simply select multiple Strava segments and use that data on your Garmin to race against either your own personal best, or the current KOM.
New Edge 520 – with Strava Segments!
Here’s the great news.
Existing Edge 510, 810 and Edge 1000 users will also get the update that allows this piece of digital magic to happen.
So, it looks like I finally get a valid excuse to upgrade my trusty old Edge 800.
Previously, if you wanted to get Strava segments on your Garmin, you had to first use a third party tool to extract the data for each specific segment, then load them as new mini “courses” into your Garmin. There’s a more detailed guide here.
This worked, but you still had to manually select each course as you approached the segment you wanted to ride. It was useful to be able to ride against other riders in this virtual way, but a bit long winded to set up.
Garmin update to include Strava segments
If you’re currently using the workaround method described above, here’s what the new update will give you :
- Easily sync your selected Strava segments to your device (but – you’ll need to be a Strava premium member too get this functionality).
- Choose whether to sync your own data, or the current KOM, if you’re feeling brave.
- Get onscreen notification when you’re approaching one of your chosen segments
- Notification when the segment begins and ends.
- Virtual partner style updates in real time, comparing your position with the ghost data.
Anything else?
I think this is a smart move by both Garmin and Strava.
Smart in that they’ll both benefit from the cooperation, but ultimately because it’s what everybody wanted in the first place. There’s a huge lesson to be learned here, in terms of customer insight and being flexible (and brave) enough to do what people want. Like partnering with Strava instead of inventing Garmin segments.
I predict that the new Edge 520 will become the best selling bike GPS unit Garmin will ever have released.
And I also think that Strava are about to get a massive influx of premium members because of the new ability to sync segments.
It’s a match made in hill-climbing heaven.
Congratulations to Garmin for finally seeing sense.
Nobody wanted Garmin segments anyway.
Really Garmin, what were you thinking?
A new wave of innovation (and listening to customers) at Garmin?
Just last week, Garmin came out with the new Varia bike radar system.
And now, Strava sync.
Anyone else excited by this?
I have a Garmin Edge 1000 and can only use Strave Segments if i subscribe to Strava the way the articles i have read and not just this one btw is that it is free and included but it would appear not to be the case.
http://gniza.org/segments/ already provides the key functionality for Edge devices which support Garmin segments (i.e.: 510, 520, 810, 1000). You don’t get the fancy Strava graphics though.
I have a Garmin Edge Touring and nobody has mentioned this. Is it a follow-on from 510 or 520 or a stand alone Model and will it have this functionality.
The Garmin Edge Touring was a short lived device because it doesn’t have ANT+ nor Bluetooth. It’s an 800 without the ANT+. I was considering getting one but I want to track my cadence and have on map nav.