There was a time when a cycling computer told you how fast you were going, how far you’d ridden and, if you were feeling particularly fancy, what your average speed was. Garmin has moved things on a little since then.
The latest Edge range can plan a ride, find quieter roads, talk you through a climb, keep an eye on your training, connect to your eBike and even point out where the next café is. The Edge 1060, Edge Explore 3 Plus and Edge Explore 3 all share plenty of Garmin DNA, but they’re aimed at slightly different riders. One is packed with serious training technology, another adds voice control to Garmin’s adventure-focused platform, and one keeps things wonderfully straightforward. Here’s what makes each of them worth a closer look.
Garmin Edge 1060
The Garmin Edge 1060 is what happens when a cycling computer decides that displaying speed and distance simply isn’t enough anymore. It brings together Garmin’s advanced navigation, training and performance technology with a vivid colour touchscreen, physical controls and, rather brilliantly, a microphone and speaker.
That means it can help plan your route, coach your training, talk you through an upcoming climb and respond to supported voice commands without you having to prod at the screen every five minutes. There’s an enormous amount going on underneath, but Garmin has managed to package it into something that still feels like a riding companion rather than a small laptop strapped to your handlebars.
Explore Garmin 1060///
Hands Free Voice Control
Talking to your bike computer might sound slightly ridiculous right up until the first time you use it. The Edge 1060’s built-in microphone allows supported navigation, ride information and device functions to be accessed using voice commands, so you can keep your hands on the bars and your attention on the road.
There’s a speaker built in too, providing audible navigation instructions, workout prompts and supported messaging. Your riding mates may ignore you when you ask where the next café is. Your Garmin has considerably better manners.
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Garmin Coach and Advanced Training
Recording a ride is easy. Knowing what to do with all that data afterwards is where things get interesting. Garmin Coach can build personalised training plans around your progress, recovery and upcoming goals, while Daily Suggested Workouts provide recommendations based on what you’ve actually been doing rather than what you promised yourself you’d do.
Training Status and real-time stamina then help make sense of how your body is coping. It won’t stop you attacking the first climb far too enthusiastically, but at least you’ll have the numbers to explain exactly where it all went wrong.
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Power Guide and Climb Pro
Power Guide helps take some of the guesswork out of pacing by providing recommended power targets based on the demands of your course and compatible rider data. On a long ride, that can mean the difference between arriving strongly and spending the final hour negotiating with your legs.
ClimbPro takes over when the road points upwards, showing gradient, elevation and how much climbing remains. Sadly, Garmin still hasn’t found a setting that removes the hill entirely. We checked.
Garmin Edge Explore 3
The best rides don’t always need a training plan, a power target or an alarming number of graphs waiting for you afterwards. Sometimes you just want to get on the bike, head somewhere interesting and know you’ll be able to find your way home again.
That’s where the Garmin Edge Explore 3 fits rather nicely. Detailed cycling maps, intelligent route planning and a bright touchscreen make discovering new roads and trails straightforward, while ClimbPro, Up Ahead, eBike integration and connected safety features add genuinely useful information without making the whole thing feel unnecessarily complicated. It’s clever where it needs to be and stays out of the way when it doesn’t.
Discover Edge Explore 3///
Bike Specific Mapping
A car sat-nav might technically get you to the same destination, but there’s a reasonable chance it’ll send you somewhere you’d rather not ride. The Edge Explore 3 thinks like a cycling computer instead, using bike-specific mapping to find roads and trails that better suit the type of riding you’re doing.
Free Flow Routing can look for routes with fewer junctions and interruptions, while Trendline Popularity Routing uses the experience of other Garmin riders to uncover established cycling roads and trails. It’s like borrowing the local club rider who knows every back road, except this one doesn’t drop you on the first climb.
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E-Bike Smart Range Routing
Pair the Edge Explore 3 with a compatible Bosch, Shimano or other supported eBike system and suddenly your motor and cycling computer start sharing some genuinely useful information.
Battery status, assistance level and remaining range can be displayed directly on the Edge, while supported smart range routing helps you understand how far that remaining charge could realistically take you. Particularly helpful when “one more loop” starts looking suspiciously like “ring someone for a lift home”.
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Up Ahead and Detailed Course Previews
Before heading out, the Explore 3 can show you distance, elevation, estimated ride time, road surfaces and supported hazards, giving you a much better idea of whether your “quick spin” is actually about to become a fairly substantial afternoon.
During the ride, Up Ahead can keep selected cafés, water stops, toilets and other useful locations visible along your course. Garmin may have built it for navigation. Cyclists will inevitably use it to construct increasingly elaborate café routes.
Garmin Edge Explore 3 Plus
Some rides start with a meticulously planned GPX file. Others start with “I wonder where that road goes?” The Garmin Edge Explore 3 Plus is particularly good at the second kind.
It puts navigation and exploration right at the centre of things, combining detailed cycling maps and intelligent routing with a responsive colour touchscreen, built-in microphone and speaker. There are plenty of fitness and connected features underneath too, but the real appeal is how easy Garmin has made it to head somewhere unfamiliar without spending half the ride wondering if you’ve just taken the wrong turning.
Discover Edge Explore 3 Plus///
Intelligent Route Planning
Give the Explore 3 Plus an idea of how long you want to ride, what bike you’re using and how much climbing you fancy, and Garmin can start putting together suitable options.
Trendline Popularity Routing uses routes ridden by other Garmin cyclists, while Free Flow Routing looks for roads and trails with fewer stops and interruptions. It’s ideal for those days when you want a new route but don’t particularly want to spend the previous evening building one metre by metre.
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E-Bike Smart Range Routing
For eBike riders, the Explore 3 Plus becomes even more useful. Pair it with a supported Bosch, Shimano or other compatible system and it can display battery status, assistance level and remaining range directly on the Garmin.
Compatible smart range routing can then take that information into account when helping you plan a ride. Handy when you’ve been enjoying Turbo mode perhaps a little more enthusiastically than your battery would have preferred.
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Voice Control and Integrated Speaker
The Explore 3 Plus lets you interact with supported functions using voice commands, which becomes considerably more useful once you’re actually riding rather than standing beside the bike looking at a specification sheet.
The built-in speaker can provide audible turn instructions, hazard alerts and supported messages as you ride. Less staring at the screen, fewer missed junctions and significantly less stopping at the roadside pretending you definitely meant to come this way.
Three Garmins. Three Ways To Ride.
Which Garmin Suits You?
Garmin’s latest Edge range covers a lot of ground, from simple exploration through to serious training and performance analysis. The Edge Explore 3 keeps navigation easy and approachable, the Explore 3 Plus adds useful voice control and extra connected features, while the Edge 1060 brings everything together for riders who want the most complete experience.
Whichever model suits your riding, the idea is much the same: spend less time worrying about where you’re going, what the numbers mean or how much battery you’ve got left, and more time actually enjoying the ride. Garmin handles the clever stuff. You just need to decide where you’re heading next.