Kudos to what Garmin is about to do with the Edge 1030. (Sep 2019)
Rather than pushing out a justifiable Edge 1040 that shares the features and new hardware bits of the Edge 530/830, they are feature-filling the existing Edge 1030. OK, you won’t get the Sony chip but “is that a bad thing?”
It’s no secret what’s going to be in the new firmware update as you can get it NOW on beta (here). That list is probably not quite complete and I’ll add some bits here and save you some wear and tear on your right index finger…
- Training Load Focus. Low Aerobic, High Aerobic, and Anaerobic stats – YEP
- Workout benefit labels – LOVE IT
- Heat acclimation and Altitude acclimatisation – NICE
- Respiration Rate – HANDY
- updated Firstbeat RECOVERY TIME tools – YAY
- ClimbPro – latest shaded version – SWEET
- Critical Power Curve tracking has been added to the My Stats menu – SURPRISINGLY USEFUL
- Nutrition/Hydration tracking alerts – HMM
- Training Plan Page Improvements – Que?
- Workout Comparison Graph. Provides live feedback while executing a workout.
- Widget Management. Disable and re-order items in the widget loop
- Bike Theft Alarm*. While armed, get alerted when your Edge device moves (and run quick)
- Find My Edge*. Help find a misplaced Edge by making it beep or showing its last known location on your phone.
- Grit/Flow** – Enable it on a road ride and see what happens
- Jump Metrics** – Ditto
- Added a new Popular data field category and generally improved the data field category order
- Updated screen creation and editing flow – You sure did…more, please
- Ability to swap data fields while in the timer loop on long-press instead of edit only (additional tap required)
- Updated battery icon to be more visible in some places
- Incident detection setting is now active per profile instead of globally
- Added ability to hide data screens without deleting them
- Reordered settings to match the Edge 830, mainly splitting the growing number of settings into Safety & Tracking (Incident Detection, Get Assistance, Contacts, GroupTrack, Bike Alarm) and Connected Features (Phone, WiFi, Device Transfers)
Must Read: Garmin Edge 1030 Plus Review
* Complete functionality requires an upcoming Garmin Connect Mobile release
** Mountain Bike Profile Only
Opinion
There is some great stuff there for loyal Edge 1030 users who will be delighted that their purchase remains at the top of the Edge pile for another year or so. The Edge 1030plus will come in (edit) June 2020 though but the good news there will be that it will contain EVEN MORE EXCITING STUFF…not sure what yet, of course (Sony GNSS chip ;-), faster hardware plus mystery headline feature )
Tip: Let somebody else do the beta testing. Wait for the release to land automatically on your Edge 1030.
