GARMIN EDGE 540 SOLAR: Quick Tour & First Rides

In this video, JOM of the Gravel Cyclist crew unboxes the all-new Garmin 540 Solar, covers many of the features of the device, along with some metrics, course and video from his early real-world ride experiences. None of the device's eBike features are covered in this video.

Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
1:03 Inside the Box
2:13 Buttons
2:46 Garmin Battery Interface
3:14 Garmin 540 Size Comparison
3:43 Power On
3:59 Initial Setup
4:46 Pairing Sensors
5:12 Activity Profiles
8:53 Riding Experience
9:42 Riding a Course
10:37 Closing
11:09 General Madness

Continued from Above:
"With superior navigation, planning and training that adapts to you and your goals, the Edge 540 and 840 series will help improve your performance with every ride. Edge 540 and 540 Solar are built with buttons, while Edge 840 and 840 Solar can be used with either the touchscreen display or button controls."

"Get up to 26 hours of battery life in intense mode and up to 42 hours using battery saver mode from Edge 540 and 840. Power Glass™ solar charging on the Edge 540 Solar and 840 Solar increases battery life to up to 60 hours in battery saver mode or up to 32 hours in intense mode. Gain an extra 25 minutes per hour from solar charging in battery saver mode during daytime rides."

* Compare your cycling ability to the demands of a specific course so you can focus your training in the right areas.

* View daily suggested workouts and training prompts on screen. Get personalized coaching that adapts to your current training load and recovery, while preparing you for an upcoming race or event — so you’re ready when you arrive at the start line.

* See remaining ascent and grade when climbing so you can gauge your effort with the ClimbPro ascent planner. It’s now available on every ride — no course required; view on your Edge® device or while ride planning in the Garmin Connect™ app on your compatible smartphone.

Navigation suited for Road, Trail or Gravel:

* Enjoy superior accuracy with multi-band GNSS technology that provides enhanced positioning accuracy.

* Ride like a local, whatever your bike type, with improved ride type-specific maps that highlight popular roads and trails plus searchable points of interest.

* Simplified setup and a streamlined interface make it quick and easy to access the information, courses and tools you need and even adjust data fields right from the Edge® device or from your paired smartphone.

Pricing:
- Edge 540 Solar and Edge 840 Solar have suggested retail prices of $449.99 and
$549.99, respectively.
- The non-solar Edge 540 has a suggested retail price of $349.99, while the non-solar Edge 840 has a suggested retail price of $449.99. Sensor bundles for each device are also available.

Links of Interest:

Amazon Affiliation Link:

[bcm]

not sure if I am ready to retire the 830 yet but do enjoy the updated Garmin UI and solar function. Also, the 1040 (with and w/o solar) continue to drop in price. Thanks for the video as always.

[hansschotterradler]

These keep on getting better and better...
Eventually they will come with an infotainment system and you'll be able to watch the Gravel Cyclist while riding along.

[teunluijbregts]

Thanks for the info 🙏
Based on that I think I’ll wait for the obnoxious European prices to go down. €499 for a base mid tier nav unit is simply not good enough value for me.

[Turia]

How do you connect it to your garmin venu (or other smartwatch)? And, do you then use the smartwatch or the edge to start a workout?

[Ecoroof]

Great review thank you. I've been using my Fenix 6Pro for the last few months which works way better than I thought it would on a bike. About time I upgraded. Which one to go for???? Excuse me if this is a stupid question but how did you change screens with the shift button without changing gear?

[mbtravel]

Hi, can you use your connected phone to configure the settings using the Garmin app?

[shalakabooyaka]

Does this solar charge while not using it if its in the sun or is it more of a battery extender when in use? Trying to pic a computer for long term touring.

[nickkambitis]

Does this garmin have auto backlight nighttime stay on? My 520plus doesn’t have this feature so if I’m on a night ride I have to go into settings and select backlight ‘on’, all the time. My garmin 800 did this automatically.

[Tomzzzzzz]

Just upgraded from a 520 to the 540 but not liking it so far.

My biggest pain point (besides the hard to press buttons and non-intuitive interface) is that the 540 does not automatically power down after disconnecting from the charging cable.

With my 520, once I removed it from charging it gave me a 15-second auto power off countdown and then turned itself off.

With the 540 lacking this Auto Power Down feature requires me to perform an additional 3-clicks of hard to press buttons to power it down. WHY?

This is so annoying. From what I've discovered online, this feature was removed starting with the 530 and users were pissed off then. Now it's carried forward to the 540.

Why would Garmin not include an auto power down feature after charging? If I take a turned OFF device and plug it to charge (which it then turns on) and then its completely charged and removed from the charger, it should return to its OFF state. That is only LOGICAL.

I can see how lacking this feature its possible to forget to power it down manually and then wake up the next day with a dead device that remained on all night.

[adammillsindustries.]

Do I pay £100 more for 1040?
Isn’t 1040 same but bigger?

[vmxd]

when my 530 will die on me, will get 540 solar.. 🤟

[alexkerpe]

buy expensive and can trow away after a year when the battery dies.
never again garmin
now just using an old phones gps funktion with a free software.does the job, can change batery, load maps without extra costs. serves much better purpose.