Garmin Launches New, Brighter Edge 550 & 850 Alongside Updated Rally Power Meter Pedals

Rally Power Meter pedals get the updates that make sense while the Garmin Edge 850 and 550 are bright but there’s a hidden cost.

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(Photo Garmin)

We don’t have a best power meters guide but if we did Garmin Rally pedals would certainly make the list and a Garmin Edge unit sits at the very top of our best bike computers guide. Today Garmin is updating both with the brand new Garmin Edge 850 and 550 plus the Garmin Rally 110 and 210 power meter pedals. There’s a lot to unpack so let’s dive in.

You can recharge the new Garmin Rally 110 and 210

This is the easier product to understand. The current Garmin Rally pedals are offered as either SPD-SL, Look compatible, or two bolt SPD pedals. Inside of the chosen pedal body are replaceable batteries and a power meter.

The power meter itself communicates power measured in watts via Bluetooth or ANT+. It’s accurate to +/- 1% and if you’ve got a dual pedal system then there’s a whole host of cycling dynamics data showing power balance and where in the pedal stroke you apply power. If you need to swap pedal bodies it’s fairly simple with a removal of the retention bolt and a few pieces.

Most of that isn’t changing. The big difference is that removable batteries are disappearing. This brings the Garmin pedals into line with the competition and the new pedals are offering 90-hours of runtime with a magnetic charger that attaches to the spindle. Fifteen minutes of charge gives 12-hours of ride time and there’s also a travel mode to make sure you don’t arrive with dead batteries.

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The pedal bodies are also slightly different. Perhaps not a big deal but the current carbon composite road pedals get a bit of an update to “an all-new, carbon polymer design, while the XC off-road pedals have an all-metal build” with the new metal SPD body claimed to reduce stack height. Unfortunately no information is currently being given covering stack height or Q-factor.

On the inside there are also some differences to the power measurement. Although the previous design offered +/- 1% what was unspoken was that the data wasn’t read fast often enough to accurately account for oval chainrings. It’s still officially +/- 1% but oval chain rings are now supported so there’s definitely an increased measurement rate.

On top of that change there’s a new metric for Force data. Garmin gives no information about this however it’s an emerging aspect of power measurement. Right now watts are measured as a function of direct force combined with cadence. Force data breaks those two apart for potential insights into how hard you are actually pushing on the pedal. This ability is undoubtedly tied to the increased measurement speed but we’ll have to start experimenting as we work on the full review to come.

For now it’s important to note that Garmin is bucking some recent trends with pricing on the new Rally 110/210 pedals. There is only a modest price increase of $100 with the pedals available at $749.99 for a single pedal system, upgradable later if you ever decide to, and $1199.99 for a dual pedal system.

All models are available today at the Garmin website.

Garmin Edge 850 and 550 bring the 1050 treatment downmarket

When the Garmin Edge 1050 came to market it brought a variety of improvements that a year later are almost all forgotten. Part of that is that things like road hazards and various group ride features eventually went to older models through software updates. Another part of it is that the updates just didn’t leave the same kind of lasting impression as the absolutely brilliant screen.

A year later what you need to know about the Garmin Edge 1050 is that it’s the best screen on the market. It’s even slightly better than the Hammerhead Karoo but, like the Karoo, the updated Garmin screen takes a massive hammer to battery life. The Edge 1040 offered 35-hours of battery life while the 1050 offers only 20-hours.

Now to be fair that screen does also come with an updated processor and new styling. The processor doesn’t help with battery life either but it was starting to become necessary.

Which brings us to the Garmin Edge 850 and 550. These two units take the new processor, all the features, and the screen from the 1050 but offer it in a pair of smaller units. It’s the same vivid colors and high-resolution on the new units but the panel is shorter at 2.7”(up slightly from 2.6”) corner to corner.

Of course that new panel, and new processor, again comes with drastically reduced battery life. While the previous models offered 26-hours for the non-solar models, that’s reduced to less than half at 12-hours of runtime. As before there is also a battery saver mode that turns off the screen between interactions (such as upcoming turns) to offer as much as 36-hours.

Those specs are the same between the two new models. Like the 540 and 840 before the big differentiator in these two is that the 850 offers a touch screen and buttons while the 550 is buttons only. There are some other updates though.

On the software side Garmin actually touts a variety of features on the new Garmin Edge 850 and 550 but the vast majority already exist in the current units. That includes Garmin Cycling Coach plans in Garmin Connect that adapt based on specific event requirements, smart fueling that provides alerts based on needs of a ride, GroupRide data comparison, and Gear Ratio Analysis when paired with electronic shifting.

What’s truly new on both units starts with something that comes over from the Garmin Edge MTB. Because riders on trails need greater resolution to understand descent lines, the Edge MTB offered 5 Hz GPS recording. Now it comes to both the new Garmin Edge 850 and Edge 550.

The other brand new feature is weather related. Right now there’s a weather report on various units but this is a whole new level of detail. Connect to your phone and it’s now possible to monitor weather in real time with both weather radar and wind direction overlays. No more surprises when deciding if it’s time to cut things short or finish the loop.

In addition to the buttons, the Garmin Edge 850 is getting a few features the 550 doesn’t have. Two that you’ve seen before are the bike bell from the Edge 1050 and the on-device course creator that the Edge 840, 1040, and 1050 all had. Likely that course creator needs no introduction but the bike bell means more than just alerting other path users. It also means there’s a real speaker. If you, or riding partners, hate the beeps of other bike computers this will give a lot more variety and nuance to the alerts.

The last feature to come down from the Edge 1050 to the new Garmin Edge 850 is the Garmin Pay system. If you are familiar with Apple pay or Google Pay, this is the same but it’s on your bike computer. It’s handy so you don’t have to get your phone out or if your phone dies mid-ride.

Unfortunately these updates are also coming with a larger price update than that of the pedals. Actually it’s the same $100 but that means it’s a larger percentage. Both units are available today with the new pricing set at $499.99 for the Garmin Edge 550 and $599.99 for the Garmin Edge 850. For more information and purchase visit the Garmin website.