A dividing line if you will, and as such we see a slate of new features taking advantage of that UI redesign, as well as a handful of features being killed off. Still, because of a complete re-design of the user interface, it effectively represents a break from the past. The Edge 1040 is largely an evolutionary upgrade rather than a revolutionary one. If you found this review useful, you can use the links at the bottom, or consider becoming a DCR Supporter which makes the site ad-free, while also getting access to a mostly weekly video series behind the scenes of the DCR Cave. Once this unit goes back, I’ll go out and get my own for any future testing needs. And as regular readers know, if something is crap, I’m gonna tell it brutally like it is – no matter the brand (as Garmin saw just a few weeks ago). This review is not sponsored (nor does any company get to preview my review), furthermore I don’t take any advertiser money from any companies I review. All of which ultimately culminates in this review based on real-world usage and not just reading a specs sheet).Īs usual, this unit is a media loaner, and it’ll go back to Garmin shortly. I’ve been using the Edge 1040 Solar for a while now, putting it through its paces on everything from everyday rides to epic rides, indoor training to commutes. All while also laying the groundwork for more cycling-specific dynamic training plans that we saw introduced and hinted at on the Forerunner 255/955 last week.

These include their new Power Guide function that creates race/training day plans/targets specific to a given course, while also adding in features that help identify your cycling ability and how that matches up to a given course’s demands. However, beyond that are the slate of new features we see anytime Garmin adds a new device.

Beyond that the company has added a slate of long-asked for upgrades, including things like USB-C support, metal mounting back/tabs, and dramatically faster route calculation and destination searching.

With Garmin’s introduction of the Edge 1040 Series they’ve become the first GPS bike computer to not only add solar panels to it, but also add multiband GNSS, dramatically increasing the accuracy of the GPS tracks – especially in tougher conditions.

Edge saves battery mode takes off