Garmin Edge 200 Review

Garmin Edge 200 Cycle Computer Review

The Edge 200 is Garmin’s entry level GPS cycling computer. It measures all of the essentials that a good cycling computer should measure, but training metrics are tracked using GPS instead of a cadence sensor. What this means is that you can use the Edge 200 on multiple bikes without the need to buy or swap around multiple sensors. The GPS sensor gives the Edge 200 a whole host of extra functionality over a regular cycling computer such as the ability to track your route as well as speed and distance, as well as the ability for you to race yourself on any of your past courses. You can also upload your training data to Garmin’s amazing Connect online portal to track your long term fitness.

The Garmin Edge 200 Cycle Computer

This Garmin Edge 200 Review is going to look at the functionality of the computer as well as how easy and reliable it is to use when cycling.

In The Box 

As the Edge 200 doesn’t need any kind of cycle sensor or heart rate monitor, everything that you need to get started is included in the box. The Edge 200 is supplied with two cycle mount kits in case you want to use the computer on more than one bike and each mount kit consists of two heavy duty rubber bands, a plastic mount and a rubber pad (for grip and to protect your bike). You are also given a mains charger (with different fittings), a USB cable and more quick start guides than you could ever need in a variety of different languages.

The Edge 200 Is Supplied with Everything You Need to Get Started

Setup

The first thing to do is charge the Edge 200. A full charge straight from the box took about two hours but according to the manual, you need to keep the unit charging for at least three hours in order to maximise the battery life. An Edge 200 will last about 14 hours on a full charge; which is more than enough recording power for a stage of the Tour de France or an IronMan cycle!

Charging the Edge 200 Normally Takes 3 Hours

Installing the cycle mount is quick and easy. All you have to do is to fix the plastic mount to the stem of your bike using two of the supplied rubber bands whilst keeping the rubber pad under the mount. If you have aero bars fitted then looping the rubber bands around the stem of the bike can be a little fiddly  due to access but should still be possible.

Fitting the bike mount takes a few minutes but is only a bit of a fiddle if you have aero bars fitted

If you like riding with aero bars that are fitted close together then you might struggle with having a cycle computer installed on the stem of your bike. The Edge 200 is one of the most compact units that I have seen but the controls are still situated at the side of the unit and so you may struggle to access the controls if your aero bars are very close together. A simple solution is to make a slight adjustment to your bars so that they are further apart, but if that is not an option then you might want to think about buying a GPS watch instead such as the Garmin Forerunner 910, Forerunner 610, Timex IronMan Global Trainer or Polar RCX5 as all of these are both wrist based and are cycle sensor compatible.

Once the bike mount kit has been fitted to your bike then the Edge 200 simple slots onto the mount by clipping it in at 90 degrees and then twisting it until it is facing you. This is a much better fixture then some other cycle computers that I have seen (such as the SatMap Active 10) as they tend to use ‘slide and clip’ mechanisms which can work loose or can be hard to detatch. I also really like the elastic band fixture method that Garmin have used with the Edge 200 as I have used cycle computers in the past where you have had to use an Alan Key to tighten a strip of material around the stem of your bike, which in turn holds the bike mount in place. This strip of material often works its way loose on long rides and takes a precious few minutes to tighten up again (If you have even remembered to bring the right Alen key!). The rubber band method of mounting the Edge 200 is simple and works fine to hold the light Edge 200 in place even on longer rides.

Pre  Ride Setup

Once the Unit is charged and fitted to your bike then there is no more setup needed to get started other than your Auto Pause, Auto Lap, Auto Scroll and Start Notice preference. Auto Pause is a setting that you can turn on or off so that the computer will automatically pause itself when you either drop below a certain speed or completely come to a stop. This is useful as if you are doing lots of city cycling or cycling where you will be doing a lot of starting and stopping, your average pace wont be artificially low and you wont have to keep remembering to stop or start the unit.

The Garmin Edge 200 Mounted On Bike

Auto Lap is simply a setting that you can change so that the computer automatically lap/splits at a desired distance interval. This is especially useful for interval training but an new feature of the Edge 200 is that you can also split/lap by position on a route. You can set a split/lap point when you are out riding (such as at landmarks)  and then the next time that you ride the same course you can try so hit those markers or landmarks faster than your previous course. If you have a regular training course that you ride often then this dynamic feature really comes into its own and makes training much more interesting then the usual static distance intervals that are a common feature of so many cycle computers.

You can change the speed at which the Edge 200 automatically scrolls through the various training statistics when you are out riding using the Auto Scroll setting on the settings menu. You can select from slow, medium and fast options or you can turn Auto Scroll off completely if you prefer keeping your eye on one statistic in particular.

The last preference that you can change before you ride is the start notice . If you have ever ridden off after a pit stop or a feed station without restarting your edge then this is  a great feature for you. You can set the Edge 200 so that it either alerts you once or multiple times if it thinks that you have ridden off without starting the timer again. I Always stick it on repeat just in case I don’t hear the first beep or I am concentrating on not being run over!

Riding With The Garmin Edge 200

Once the above four settings have been selected (or you can leave them all at their default ‘off’ option), then it is time to ride.

To place the Edge 200 into ride mode you hit the Ride button on the main menu and wait for a valid GPS signal to be found. Even when indoors, I have never had to wait longer then 8 seconds for the Edge 200 to find a signal and most of the time a signal is found almost instantaneously.

To start the stats recording you hit the start button and then just ride as normal. The default view displays current speed at the top of the screen, with cumulative distance and time in the middle of the screen and average speed at the bottom. You can change the last statistic so that another stat is displayed using the bottom left button.

Average Speed Page View

You can keep hitting the button until you see the stat that you want displaying on screen and you have average speed, ascent and calories burned to choose from.

Ascent Page View

The calories burned statistic is calculated using the weight information that you entered into the Edge when you first turned it on. This isn’t as accurate as using a computer or watch that uses a heart rate monitor to measure your calorie burn as the Edge has to use speed and distance as a proxy for a measure of intensity (not as good!). Still. it is a good guide measurement to have and is pretty accurate as long as the figure that you entered for body weight is more or less accurate.

Calorie Counter Page View

To lap/spit you have to either hit the bottom right button or wait for your pre set Auto Lap distance/marker to be passed.

You can pause the computer at any time by hitting the top right button or by slowing down enough so that your pre set Auto Pause setting kicks in. Once you have paused the Edge 200 you are given several options. Firstly, you are given the option to resume recording (fairly obvious what this option does) or you are given an option to save or discard your training session. If you save your training session then you can go back at any time and see all of your training stats for each individual lap or for the whole ride, whereas if you select the discard option then you can no longer go back at a point in the future to review that training session. Another advantage of saving your training session is that you can ride the same course another time and race against your past performance (more on this later)

The final option that you are given on the pause screen is an option called ‘back to start’ What this does is display a screen that shows your current compass heading and the direction that you need to take in order to find your way back to the beginning of your routes start. This is a useful feature on course with lots of long straight roads or if you have lots of access routes (in a city for example) but as the Edge 200 lacks the GPS mapping facility of the more expensive Edge cycle computers, this feature is not something that I can see myself using very often. It is however, nice to have! Another point to mention here is that if you chose to use the Back to Start feature, then the Edge 200 still records and tracks all of your training stats whilst you are cycling back to the beginning your route and the Back to Start page can be switched using the bottom left button so that you can see your training stats instead of your current compass heading.

Courses

Anyone that has run with a Garmin Forerunner 610 watch before will be familiar with the courses feature. What the Edge 200 lets you do is select one of your past training routes and then race against your past performance. The Edge tells you if you are on or off the course and when you are on track it displays a screen that has two virtual cyclists one above the other. One is the ‘current you’ and the other is the ‘past you’ and the computer then tells you how far or behind your virtual racing partner you actually are. You can also use the Edge 200 with third party GPX files such as the ones created on MapMyRide.com so that you can create some fresh courses.

MapMyRide Export Route

You can then download either your own courses or those of other riders to the Edge 300 in .GPX format and then ride the route to see how you are progressing in terms of percentage completeness.

Download .gpx course files and load them onto the Edge 200

Garmin Connect

Once your ride is over, it is time to plug the Edge 200 into your computer and upload your training data to Garmin’s online training portal, Garmin Connect. Without going into too much details, the Garmin Connect portal is the most popular and feature rich online training portal out of all the online training portals. Although the Nike Running portal has some cool features like the heat map (a map that lets you see all of the popular running routes), virtual trophies and motivational videos, the usefulness of the portal is limited by the Nike GPS watches poor range of recorded training metrics. Similarly, the Suunto MovesCount portal is very feature rich and very social as you can create member groups and events, but it is no where near as popular as the Garmin Connect Portal.

To upload your training data from the Edge to the portal, you first have to create an account on the Garmin Connect website and download a small piece of software (8mb) that acts as the bridge between the Edge and the Connect site. Once the software has been installed, you can upload either all or some of your training sessions to the portal.

Garmin Connect Upload

Once uploaded you can then analyse every aspect of your past training sessions in incredible detail, including the following metrics:

• Distance
• Time, moving time, total elapsed time
• Speed, average speed, average moving speed, max speed,
• Elevation, elevation gain, elevation loss, max elevation, minimum elevation
• lap speed, lap distance, lap time

Edge 200 Garmin Connect training session details page

Edge 200 Garmin Connect training session charts