Garmin Edge 850 and 550 Solar – What to expect and when

updated: 6 june 2025

Garmin Edge 550 and 850 are due in the first half of 2025, but what new features will they boast? Is it worth waiting to grab one at launch when, like the Edge 1050, it will likely be half-baked and full of bugs? Will it be worth the premium launch price? After all, the existing Edge 540 and 840 will become ever more discounted as the launch day approaches for the 850/550.

There have been no hardware leaks from Garmin so far, but new feature leaks have been reported. Even without leaks, the Edge 550 and 850 features should be relatively easy to predict.

I expect three new Edge models and only one surprise.

Product format

A quick recap on the existing Edge

The older Edge 540/840 represent Garmin’s mid-sized bike computers. However, unlike other Garmin products, they are not mid-range in terms of features, effectively being a smaller version of Edge 1040 and equally featured. Their slightly cheaper pricing is due to the smaller format and the lower battery life that inevitably results from a smaller battery in a smaller case.

The two are nearly identical, except 840 has a colour touchscreen. Both come with a solar option, which bumps the price and battery life.

Turning to the 2025 Edge models

We will see something similar with the Edge 550/850, but here are the surprises to watch out for:

1. Screen technology – Edge 1050 introduced a high-resolution LCD, similarly impressive-looking and bright as Garmin’s current crop of watches. The same screen technology will be passed on to the new Edges..or at least some of them.
2. A new case shape similar to the Edge 1050.
3. Solar LCD? – No. The Edge 1050 did not come with a Solar option. Its longer-batteried sibling is the older Edge 1040 Solar. We can assume that Garmin Solar tech will not work with the new LCD screen.

So…

The Garmin Edge 850 will be a smaller version of the Edge 1050, with no solar option—a colour touchscreen with buttons. Probably in the new shape (I hope not!).

There will also be a solar option, which must be linked with the old screen tech. We will have the Edge 550 and Edge 550 Solar—both with colour screens and button operation.

Problem: Garmin’s current firmware for the Edge 540 isn’t properly designed for button only use. Will Garmin double-down on this with two models that rely only on buttons? Hopefully the new UI will have improved button usage but don’t hold your breath.

Alternative Reality

Garmin’s watches, admittedly from a completely different internal division, introduced value models – Fenix E and Instinct E. The Edge 140 ‘value’ replacement never materialised as a replacement for the Edge 130+, so we might see Edge 150 re-emerge as a value option and/or as a small-format option. There’s a chance of this happening, for sure. It might even be called Edge E…but I doubt it.

If so, we might see this

• high end/large – Edge 1050 and Edge 1040 Solar
• mid-price, medium-sized –
  • Edge 850 hi-res, colour touchscreen, w/buttons;
  • Edge 550 TFT Colour touchscreen w/buttons, with a solar option.
• Lower price, smaller sized – Edge 150 colour w/buttons. (Edge E)

Effectively, this replaces the base Edge 5×0 model (non-touch, non-solar) with the Edge 150/E, leaving the Edge 550 available only with one of two premium options: a high-resolution LCD screen or solar.

This makes sense to me for several reasons.

1. The Edge 540 is a bit rubbish; its interface wasn’t designed for button-only usage (I endured one for several months). Why continue something that doesn’t work?
2. The Edge 130+ might not have been replaced by the Edge 140 due to flagging sales volumes. A small format, Edge E/150 with buttons and a colour screen makes sense in light of competitor offerings, but this still doesn’t address non-touchscreen usability.
3. Edge 150 would be a 4th SKU. Without it, Garmin would have had 4 SKUs last time with the solar options, but this time only 3 – Garmin NEVER seems to rationalise its range 🙂
4. Some use Edge 130+ for TTs and general racing, and the owners prefer the lighter model, which meets the need to display minimal race data.

Expected Features

New features leaked in May 2025 strongly suggest that Edge will have a renewed focus on MTB riders. This could mean a more robust hardware format will accompany the new features. Two new features are sure to come: 1) 5Hz data recording for increased accuracy when recording fast downhill sections, and 2) timing gates are initially focused at MTB, and you can manually assign multiple timing gates to a run.

The Edge 550/850 should receive most, if not all, of the new features that have recently been introduced in the Edge 1050. IE these

• The new speaker and the digital bell initiated by the touchscreen -Yes! Obviously, for touchscreen-only models, another reason why the 550 non-touch might not appear is that it lacks another feature the 150 would have
• 64Gb Memory – doubled from what we had to allow global onboard maps.
• Improved CPU
• Improved solar generation performance
• New ugly shape? Yes, sorry.
• New Groupride features – competitions, incident reporting and community hazards
• Road surface type data
• Garmin PAY
• wiFi map manager
• Possibly ad-hoc course creator
• New user interface
• Weight is likely to be slightly higher
• I believe Garmin uses a slightly newer GNSS chipset model with its watches. It still supports SatIQ, but Edge doesn’t need that, nor do you need anything but GPS for non-mountainous road cycling. So you’ll get the new GNSS chipset, but Garmin might not enable SatIQ for Edge. (Edit: Garmin uses a subtly different GPS chip for models that do not support SatIQ)
• Battery life will likely be similar or lower for Edge 850 but bumped for the models using the new solar tech.
  • 550: 20+ hours for GPS usage, 30+ hours for multiband GNSS usage with a 50% bump from solar.
  • 850: 20+ hours for GPS usage, 25+ hours for multiband GNSS usage

Hardware abilities permitting, I expect virtually identical features to the Edge 1050. Edge E would have fewer.

Pricing

With the Edge 1050/Edge 1040 Solar both at $700, expect unchanged pricing:

• Edge 550 base/Edge 150 E – $350-$300
• Edge 550 Solar – $400
• Edge 850 touch – $450
• Edge 850 Solar – $500
• Edge 1050/Edge 1040 Solar – $600

…or, at worst, a $50 bump.

Note: Edge 130 Plus is $200

The only real movement I see in pricing is at the lower end with the Edge E/Edge 150.

So. Should I wait or not?

You will likely save over $200 going for an older model. Even the ageing Edge 520 is pretty good. However, Garmin Edge devices come with usability annoyances. Edge 1050 was the first Edge for a decade or so to be easy to use. The only reason the ones from so long ago were easy to use was because they had far fewer features to deal with in the admittedly rudimentary menus.

So if Edge 550/850 get the current 1050 interface, that is worth waiting for. Why? A: How often do you use Garmin’s niche features? A: probably never. How often do you use the menus and interact with the device? A: Each ride. I believe usability (and durability) are two essential features that almost every reviewer overlooks.

The new shape tho. Why?