Best GPS computers for mountain biking: find your way and record your rides - MBR

If you’re a fan of a physical map and know how to take a bearing, that’s pretty awesome, but tricky navigation or structured training plans can call for some digital assistance. The best mountain bike GPS trackers are feature-rich with digital mapping, performance measurements, terrain details and more. The ease of use and the amount of details that the device can display are what make it more mountain bike friendly. We’ve tried and tested various GPS computers and watches to distill down to the best of the best. We’ve also got a huge library of routes to download and try out, so what are you waiting for? Just get out and ride! 1. Garmin Edge 530 Feature rich mountain bike computer at an affordable price. Display: 2.6 inch colour display with 246×322 pixels resolution | Weight: 75.8g | Battery: Rechargeable (micro USB) Lithium ion with 20 hour-rated life | Dimensions: 82 x 50 x 20 mm | Rating: 8/10 Reasons to buy: Mapping is clear and simple, new, faster processor, mtb-friendly features Reasons to avoid: Fiddly to set up, map browsing is a button-pressing marathon With all the advanced features but without a touch screen, Garmin Edge 530 sits between Edge 130 and Edge 830. Battery life is around 20 hours in standard operation and can be doubled in battery-saving mode. There’s also an option to buy a Garmin battery pack add-on which promises more than double the battery life again for the more remote rides. Whilst being smaller than the likes of Hammerhead Karoo, the display is crisp and clear, even in low light conditions with backlight turned off thanks to the 246×322 pixel display. The out-of-box setup might be slightly time consuming, but otherwise, Garmin Edge 530 is pretty much ‘set and forget’ in its application, which bodes well for the users. The mapping has improved from Edge 520 Plus and is fast and simple to use. Turn-by-turn navigation is available up to street level on the device and like previous Edge models, you can route-to-start, use the color-coded map and the audio cues for simple, wrong-turn-free navigation. The lack of touchscreen does mean a lot of button presses for map browsing but you get used to it pretty quickly. Bike Alarm feature ensures that your bike doesn’t go missing when you’re out of the line of sight from your bike by sounding a loud alarm to notify you if any movement is detected, along with a phone notification. A few really interesting MTB relevant features include ClimbPro, Find My Edge and measurements of Grit and Flow. ClimbPro warns about any upcoming climbs, along with its key metrics like distance, gradient, ascent, etc. Mid-climb, you’ll be notified with what’s left ahead of you. Find My Edge helps find the device in case you lose it mid-descent or in a crash with the help of an alarm, as well as with exact coordinates of where the bluetooth connection was lost so that you can be redirected to that point. …Continue reading »