The Garmin Edge 810 has been a constant companion since February: for nine months and nearly 4,000 miles.

It’s an excellent training tool in its own right, with a large, intuitive touchscreen which presents a wealth of customisable data and turn-by-turn navigation.

The Edge 810 was launched back in January alongside the Edge 510 – the 810 offers navigation, while the 510 doesn’t. The new computers get an upgraded interface and, as well as using the existing ANT+ protocol to connect with heart rate monitors, power meters, cadence sensors and the like, Garmin have added Bluetooth connectivity to link, in our case, the Edge 810 to a smart phone and, in turn, introduce a number of interesting features, including live tracking.

But there’s obvious room for improvement with the screen resolution and the 810’s Bluetooth capability seems to only scratch the surface, with the current features innovative but not ground breaking and, in some situations, of limited use.

Make no mistake, the Edge 810 is a powerful computer: it gives you all the data you’ll ever need and the navigation means the world is your oyster (if you have the relevant maps), but it feels like a stepping stone for a more interactive successor and so is likely to be of limited upgrade appeal to existing Edge 800 users.

You can now also read about Garmin’s newer flagship computer, the Garmin Edge 1000.