Garmin: big feature bump for Edge 540, 840 and 1040
Yesterday Garmin announced its flagship bike computer – Edge 1050. That was a big hardware bump and contained new feature goodies, some linked to the new bits of hardware and some not. All the ‘some not’ new features are being rolled down to last gen Garmin Edges namely Edge 540 (more limited), 840 and 1040. Currently, it’s all in public beta and you, being a wonderful member of the public can enrol here: https://connect.garmin.com/signin/ > 
> select Edge> Join Beta> Agree.
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Limitations
- Some features are limited by Edge 540 hardware and cannot work on that device.
- Some features such as the speaker need, err, a speaker and Edge 540/840/1040 don’t have a speaker…they have a beeper.
Full Details
full beta details: Edge 540/840
full beta details: Edge 1040
New Features:
- Group Ride Awards and Climb Competitions:
- **Climb Competitions**: Similar to Strava live segments, allowing real-time competition during group rides, with awards for the fastest climbers.
- **Awards**: Various awards based on performance, sensor data, and other metrics are distributed at the end of group rides.
- Group Ride Incident Detection
- **Crash Alerts**: Example – If a group rider crashes during a group ride, all participants receive an alert, including the location and directions to the fallen rider.
- Road Hazard Support
- **Hazard Reporting**: Report hazards like potholes or animals on the road. These reports are shared in real-time(ish) with other Garmin users in the area.
- Surface Type Support
- **Surface Warnings**: Receive an alert when the road surface type is about to change, e.g., from paved to unpaved.
- Wi-Fi Map Management
- **Direct Downloads**: Maps are downloaded and updated over the air without a PC/MAC connection. (Not Edge 540)
- Garmin Share Support
- **Course and Data Sharing**: Transfer of courses, workouts, and locations between Edge devices using Bluetooth. This feature will be soon expanded to Garmin watches
- Improved Course Creator
- **Multi-Point Courses**: Create multi-point courses on the device,(not Edge 540 which presumably needs a touchscreen)
- Power Guide Enhancements
- **Wind and Stamina Adjustments**: The Power Guide includes wind conditions and stamina.
- Improved Gradient Responsiveness
- **Faster Gradient Updates**: Gradient information is more quickly updated (essentially a bug fix)
- Misc
- QR Code for Strava setup
- India maps
- SRAM gear presets
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I’m stuck with an 830 which doesn’t seem to get any updates anymore.
It’s disappointing.
It would be nice if Garmin would allow users to change the font sizes on all the Edge units. Especially in the workout screen and segment (Strava) screen.
I was thinking about this only the other day.
of course if would affect how the screens render if there is wordwrap, so it’s not a minor thing to do
i think one of the reasons that the garmin menus ont look so nice is the font. maybe if there were font options as well?
(neither will happen!)
Earlier this year, they actually started rolling out exactly such a feature on the wearables side. It’s under System > Display > Large Fonts.
Thus, it wouldn’t surprise me to see it on the Edge units eventually too.
awesme thanks for the heads up (I think ronald meant Font pitch/size and I meant whooly different fonts like comic sans)
I did cover the wearable thing last year for 965 but had forgotten
https://the5krunner.com/2023/11/01/garmin-forerunner-naps-and-new-body-battery-added-to-many-models-ready-to-release/