Garmin Edge® Explore 2, Easy-To-Use GPS Cycling Navigator, eBike

12 reviews for Garmin Edge® Explore 2, Easy-To-Use GPS Cycling Navigator, eBike

1. 

   Brit C Power – 25 December 2024

   Stunning Value for money
   very good display and easy to use and setup. Setting up to my phone was a breeeze. Navigation feature works really well and you seem to be getting 1050 performance for a fraction of the cost, GPS seems very accurate. I cant believe the price.

2. 

   Ivan Gonzalez – 25 December 2024

   It’s the 1040 without the bells and whistles
   If you already know what kind of structured plans are and don’t need so many metrics, then this is a better, affordable option. Screen is very large and benefits from a lot of the features offered in the 2023 series of Garmin devices. Coming from a 530, I never used some of the more sophisticated functions. It provides all the metrics that matter on any ride, navigation is a huge upgrade from what I had before and the on-device music player is nice. The only feature I miss is the inability to add my etap gears, but something I’m okay with not having. Battery life is great, usually lasts for a out 4-5 rides (each of about 40-50m distances). Works great with varia lights too.

3. 

   cc – 25 December 2024

   very good product
   Had the Garmin 530, did not like screen size, functionality and to many problems. Got the Garmin Explorer 2, bigger screen, does what’s needed plus. Easy to read operate and touch screen. So far I’ve used it for over 300 miles on my bike, free riding and trails, able to monitor all travels, performance stats and alerts. As well keeping others in the loop with live track

4. 

   penguin44 – 25 December 2024

   Gets better with time
   Despite my initial disappointment with this item (see below), I decided to try it for a few more days before returning it and ended up keeping it. Here’s why.I tried to use it in a dense city and was expecting Google maps-like navigation. That isn’t what this is for and if that’s what you need, use Google maps. This device needs a relatively good view of the sky, and doesn’t update your position as much as a phone does (it seems).I decided to trust it to navigate a ~35 mile ride outside of the city. I designed the route on gpx.studio and uploaded it to the device through the garmin connect website. It’s a little buggy but I got it to work. From there it becomes available on my phone, then syncs to the unit. On this ride, navigation was much better. Still took some getting used to, but it was functional.My recommendation is to spend some time learning how to use this thing, and learning how it gives instructions. Updating from 2 to 4 stars; I like it, and don’t ride without it now.—Original Review—I’ve been serious about cycling for about a year now and after riding with some friends who had bike computers and seeing how much easier it was to do long, complex rides, decided it was time to get one. I compared options from wahoo, hammerhead, and garmin, and ultimately settled on this one.I mostly wanted a computer to help me navigate, don’t really care about advanced fitness tracking. The reviews I found said this was great for navigation. With a large screen and plenty of ways to search for desitnations, it seemed good. Upon receiving the unit I took it out for a quick 5 mile ride. The fitness tracking features worked well; it was neat to see my (GPS-estimated) speed, total distance, time, and a trace of my route.The issues started when I tried to do some navigation. There are a few ways to configure the device in terms of routing. You can choose short routes, easy routes, and routes based on popularity (from data garmin collects). I live in a large bike friendly city on the east coast in the US, and the edge explore 2 had a lot of problems even picking a route to get me where I wanted to go. In one instance, it told me to cross a river using a bridge, cross the street, the take the bridge back over to where I started, albeit on the other side of the road. I could have just crossed the road.In general, the navigation lags behind my actual position significantly enough that I missed turns. This especially matters when riding in a city where turns come up fast and cars are not patient. It also gave me a few directions to go the wrong way down one-way streets and to ride in very pedestrian-heavy areas. I kept missing turns because of the lag and got so frustrated with it that I gave up trying to navigate with it and found my own way home.Though I was able to tune the route planning algorithm to give me more desirable routes, its abysmal live navigation renders them ineffective. When you inevitably miss a turn, it will try to reroute you back onto the course it already has, rather than adjust the entire route accordingly as google maps would. I understand that this is more appropriate for the computational abilities of the device, but its still annoying.The final straw for me came when I tried to update the maps using my computer. I thought that this might solve some of the navigation issues I was having. I downloaded the software from the garmin website, plugged in the edge explore 2, and found a 6GB map update ready for installation. Perfect. Except…I made numerous attempts to install the update and all of them failed with a non-descriptive error message. At this point I had no interest in coddling this device any more and decided to return it.——I do want to speak briefly about the ecosystem around this device for those that are still considering it. You can install an app on your phone, which your rides sync to over bluetooth. The app will then estimate how many calories you burn per day and stuff. Neat if you’re into it. I was mostly interested in the ability to create a route on the app (or garmin connect website) and load it onto the computer. The route designer worked just okay, both on mobile and web. What surprised me, though, was the inability to export routes from garmin connect. This includes both routes ridden and routes planned. As someone who likes to play with data myself, I was disappointed that I could not export a .gpx file or something.One last comment, because I had this question and could not find the answer anywhere. Yes this unit has a compass screen, but it only displays heading. There is no magnetometer. So if you get confused by “ride to trail” instructions and don’t know which way to head when starting your ride, you might get frustrated with this unit as I did. If you want a true digital compass, go for the edge 530 or edge 830.

5. 

   ron arnott – 25 December 2024

   Quick connection
   The set up and sync was easier and faster than any Garmin I’ve used.

6. 

   The Stouts – 25 December 2024

   Pretty good, but . . .
   I’ve had Garmin devices since the ’90s so when my Lezyne Mega XL started misbehaving, I tried the Edge Explorer 2. I didn’t need the extensive fitness stuff in the more expensive Garmin devices. I wanted it to track and log my rides and do some navigation when I was exploring a new area so the Explorer 2 seemed to fit the need.The first thing I ran into was that there are only 3 available profiles – Road, Off Road and indoor. It turns out you can’t add more profiles. You are limited to 3. I ride a tandem with my wife and have road, gravel and mountain bikes. You can rename them and you can tweak the “Indoor” profile to show the screens you want, but if you have more than three riding scenarios you have to get creative with your ride notes.The second problem is that when the unit Auto Sleeps, the altimeter quits working. Several users on the Garmin forums have complained about this, but as of September 18, 2024 Garmin hasn’t fixed this. I was really frustrated because I would be 5 – 10 miles into a ride and realize the elevation wasn’t changing and I had 0 for Ascent and Descent. Now that I know that is a problem, I won’t turn the unit on until I am read to roll plus I went into the profiles and turn Auto Sleep OFF, but I have several rides with elevation profiles like Holland even though I live in Colorado 😉

7. 

   Alain – 25 December 2024

   Very useful.
   Have only done a few rides with it, but love it so far. Can create a ride on my phone in the Garmin app, but prefer to do it in Komoot instead, then send to the Explore 2 unit via Garmin Connect on the phone. This part I wish was a little bit more straightforward, currently it can take minutes before the ride shows up on Explore 2. Perhaps a relatively slow Bluetooth connection is the unavoidable bottleneck, or maybe I just haven’t figured how to trigger the sync faster. But it works, and I really appreciate the super long battery life on the Explore (have done two several hour rides and battery still at 70%). It’s nice to save the phone battery, cuz using that for Komoot navigation drains it in a couple of hours. Also the navigation user experience on this Garmin Edge Explore 2 is so much better — the automatic rerouting for one is quite seamless, plus it’s nice to get real time information about climbs and other stats while still getting directions.

8. 

   Fernando – 25 December 2024

   El garmin Perfecto para mtb

9. 

   Alex Dirlis – 25 December 2024

   I purchased this bike computer for the primary purpose of it being a navigational tool. I’m a recreational cyclist who also enjoys doing long distance rides (e.g. 100km plus). I don’t particularly care for tracking more advanced metrics (for individuals interested in that, the Garmin 540, 840 or 1040 or Wahoo/Karoo bike computers would be better).I found setup and synching with my phone to be a relatively easy process. I find navigating the interface also to be fairly intuitive if you are comfortable with technology (for those who aren’t, it may not be as intuitive).I’ve enjoyed the navigation features, real time rerouting when I’ve missed a turn and the battery life is more than adequate for the riding I do (for true bike packers…something with solar power charging abilities would be better).I appreciate the feature that allows you to find water stations, coffee shops, bicycle shops, etc… very handy if you get lost. I also like the live event tracking and crash detection so my wife can follow my rides and know if I’m ok.Overall, I’m very pleased with this bike computer and look forward to using it in the years to come.

10. 

    GQ – 25 December 2024

    Touchscreen works very well even with gloves.Size offers much more flexibility than Edge 520 and swipe allows quick access to multiple screens (laps, upcoming climb(s), …)Interface with Garmin Varia radar and Android phone is seamless

11. 

    Vicreo – 25 December 2024

    Fácil de usar, trae mapas de México, solo los tienes que descargar los conectando lo a una pc y seleccionar los, compatible con censores ant, fácil de navegar, este es para uso de excursión o viejas, no puedes cargar entrenamientos como los otros de alta gama, clime pro es una gran ayuda en las subidas, la batería le dura de 14 a 15 horas, lo puedes usar y cargando al mismo tiempo con un powerbank, puedes controlar lámpara garmim y radares también, ajustas el nivel de luz a tu gusto, y cuanto tiempo dura la luz de la pantalla encendida, en el día la pantalla es vien visible y no se refleja con el sol, se ve muy bien.

12. 

    Tom – 25 December 2024

    I used this whole bike touring across Europe for 3 months. Good interface, decent display with color. The maps and GPS work and the battery would last me 3-4 days while riding 9+ hours a day. The little clip dongle with the elastics that keeps the GPS bolted to the bike was surprisingly good and has remained tough and solid after all these months. Worth every penny for the good maps and navigation.