I purchased this to help train for a 100 mile MTB race. I have used it on gravel and road rides so far. I was able to easily connect with a heart rate monitor. The owners manual was of limited help in setting up. Mostly relied on U tube videos to set up. I am pleased with this GPS but since I do not understand and alot of the functions and fields , I am sure I am not gaining all that it has to offer. I am 63 with 8 years of college but I own a flip phone and am technology challenged.
I have had many heart rate monitors over the years. Polar, and Garmin. This heart rate monitor is worth the extra money in terms of of performance. I have a swim Garmin HRM which is very similar but this one is more confortable. I have optical HRM but I prefer the chest strap because it uses electrical impulses to measure heart rate which is capable to detect Atrial Fibrillation; not so with optical technology. The storage is handy if you are doing a sport where you receiving device is out of range. At the end of the activity it downloads your heart rate data for the session. You have to make sure the device is connected to you HRM before you start the activity for this to work. The Bluetooth/ANT functionality works well also.
Bought my 1040 Solar with a black Friday sale. Got a good deal on it. Been using it since. So far so good.
I cannot say anything bad about it. It navigates just find, I created a few test rides then went out and rode the routes. Navigated just fine with no guess work as to which way to go. Large screen with little pictures that pop p when it is time to make a turn.
Blue tooth to phone just fine. One must download the Garmin Express app to phone plus I have Garmin Express on my home computer.
I only have to plug it in for charging about once a week but I store it on the window sill in the sun light.
I say if you can work it into your budget, go for it.
With the accuracy of modern GPS computers the speed sensor might be considered obsolete but I still like using them for one reason. I ride enough bike paths and roads with heavy tree coverage that block GPS signals so I get inaccurate readings without it, call me crazy but I like looking at my current speed and knowing it is correct, there is a slight time delay but that is easy to get used to. The Speed Sensor 2 definitely gives me accurate readings that are verified when I pass the digital street signs that display your speed, the auto-sizing feature is a really nice touch as well.
