Garmin warning!

[Thorn]

Fascinating. I have had a 305 for two years and a 705 for the last couple of months. I had problems with the 305 not charging from the USB cable (actually discharging), but not the shut off problem.

When I saw this posting I did a double take to make sure you were referring to the Edge. Several years ago (as in just about when hand held GPS units became consumer affordable) we had a Garmin that took regular batteries that had the problem. People shimmed their battery connectors with foil. Heck, the batteries could dislodge while hiking.

I'm sorry for those that have the problem (and glad {knock on wood} my units don't exhibit the problem), but I'm really surprised given the historical track record Garmin has had with battery pick-ups that they wouldn't have solved it when the released a unit designed to bumped down the road. Sad....it really is a neat product....most of the time...

[OakLeaf]

wow, that's too bad. My 705's not that old, but no problems so far that weren't related to firmware bugs (since fixed).

I did have a little of that behavior out of my Forerunner 301, only when I attached it to my stem by clamping the wrist strap down really tightly (because the only bike mount I had, fit the old small diameter bars). I assumed that I was slightly deforming the case and causing either the battery or the display to lose contact. Even then, it would not lose data from the ride before it shut off.

Also, all Edge models are rated IPX7 water resistant (submersible to 1m for 30 minutes). If they're getting drowned without even being submerged, that should be a warranty issue as well.

I hope Garmin isn't getting too big too fast

[bluebug32]

My 305 was damaged (my fault) and I ended up sending it back for the $99 replacement. Yes, the 30 min. wait on the phone was annoying, but I found customer service to be very nice and my replacement showed up a week later.

Is the 705 as bad with this problem too? I've heard a few things that make me think it's better to wait a bit before upgrading.

[LBTC]

DH and I have the ancient Forerunner 301. We both experience occasional dropouts - HR disappears or spikes, Satellite signal drops, but never the auto shutoff. Unfortunately, that changes the averages for us, so that's kind of annoying....

We both just strap the unit to the handlebar with the wrist strap - I found it would fall out of the handlebar mount when I used it as a HRM in the house on the trainer so I've never used the mount in the real world.

After having the units for a couple of years I was quite surprised to learn that I should be doing firmware upgrades from time to time. I found it by accident, but now I check it once in awhile...

I hope you find some satisfaction - the data these things provides is really great in so many ways!

Hugs and butterflies,
~T~

[melissam]

I've had my Garmin Edge 305 for a little over a year, and it only spontaneously turned off on me once. It was during the Crater Lake Century, and I assume it was after I didn't avoid a decent sized pothole on a descent.

Now the calorie calculation is a complete mystery to me! Sometimes there's obvious errors, like the ride where I burned over 66,000 calories according to my Garmin. Oh, that was the Crater Lake Ride, so I wonder if it has anything to do with the auto-shutoff "feature."

The calorie calculations from this weekend make me a little suspicious. On Saturday, I had a nice, 56 mile ride over flats and rolling hills. 2587 feet of elevation gain and 2194 calories burned. On Sunday, I had the Ride from He!! -- up Mt. Hamilton, then thru Mines Road to Livermore, where I baked in the heat and was beggin' for my mommy. 6616 feet of elevation gain with only 2993 calories burned. WHAT?!? Only 800 more calories burned than the pleasure cruise on Saturday?! I seriously doubt it.

[Running Mommy]

Hmmm.. never had the random shut off. But occasionaly mine will lose the satelite in a wide open area. The problems I have are it not tracking speed correctly. One day I was going 38 mph up a heinus hill, but coming down the other side I was only going 7mph...
So it does have "issues" sometimes, but so far it's always stayed on..

Huh???

edit to add that when I'm at Interbike next month I will corner their reps on this... Maybe even print this thread out and hand it to them.. Maybe seeing this will get their attention. As a company I doubt they would like seeing this bad press on an Enthusiast forum such as this...

[SadieKate]

I've had my Garmin Edge 305 for a little over a year, and it only spontaneously turned off on me once. It was during the Crater Lake Century, and I assume it was after I didn't avoid a decent sized pothole on a descent.

Mine did too but I discovered it on the climb after the Phantom Ship Overlook rest stop (when Keith was trying to keep up with the two "Devil Women"). It was working when I arrived at the rest stop but that was one of the longest rest stops I've ever taken so I assumed it had shut down to save power.

Poor Keith. Just had to keep up with the wimmen. He was going backwards by the time you two burned him up so it was easy to pass him.

[melissam]

Mine did too but I discovered it on the climb after the Phantom Ship Overlook rest stop (when Keith was trying to keep up with the two "Devil Women"). It was working when I arrived at the rest stop but that was one of the longest rest stops I've ever taken so I assumed it had shut down to save power.

Poor Keith. Just had to keep up with the wimmen. He was going backwards by the time you two burned him up so it was easy to pass him.

Ah yes, my new nickname: Demon Woman. I like it!

But SK, you're too modest: you didn't pass him, you rescued him. You even gave him a lot of your limited supply of water. Me? At that point, it was every man (or demon woman) for him/herself! I started to head back to check on Keith, but saw that you had it under control, so I continued up to what I had hoped would be a water stop.

Keith was fun to hang with, though. And he had that beautiful Merlin Cielo...

There. Have I thoroughly hijacked this thread, or what?

[SadieKate]

Ah yes, my new nickname: Demon Woman. I like it!

But SK, you're too modest: you didn't pass him, you rescued him. You even gave him a lot of your limited supply of water. Me? At that point, it was every man (or demon woman) for him/herself! I started to head back to check on Keith, but saw that you had it under control, so I continued up to what I had hoped would be a water stop.

Oh no. I'm talking about later after I'd rescued him and after we descended to the Phantom Shop and after all of us, even Bubba, talked to him about electrolytes at the rest stop. He still tried to keep up with you and Kim on that last climb. Silly boy. Slow learner, but nice guy. He yelled hello at me later when I was waiting at the falls for poor crash-damaged Bubba to get over that last climb not knowing the rest of you had found some lovely shade with LeeBob.

Hijack off. Maybe.

[Popoki_Nui]

Interesting thread. I have a Garmin 60Cx that does (did) the same thing...random shut-offs due to vibration when I have it mounted on my bike. I don't use mine for training but for geocaching, so lost data isn't an issue, but it *is* annoying just the same.
I bent out the battery contacts inside the battery bay without taking the case apart. Also added a thin piece of foam to the inside of the battery cover to press on the batteries and keep them in place. Seems to be working fine now.

[Geonz]

This confirms my suspicion that they're Not Ready for Prime Time. I hate buying beta versions - especially when there's no reason to believe they're actually every going to acknowledge, much less address, the bugs.

It's Paper Maps for Me in the Meantime.

[melissam]

Oh no. I'm talking about later after I'd rescued him and after we descended to the Phantom Shop and after all of us, even Bubba, talked to him about electrolytes at the rest stop. He still tried to keep up with you and Kim on that last climb. Silly boy. Slow learner, but nice guy. He yelled hello at me later when I was waiting at the falls for poor crash-damaged Bubba to get over that last climb not knowing the rest of you had found some lovely shade with LeeBob.

Oh, I didn't realize that Keith made a second attempt at following us up the hill. (I was too busy focusing on keeping the pedals turning and the sweat out of my eyes.)

And that LeeBob -- he finds the BEST places to hang out!

This confirms my suspicion that they're Not Ready for Prime Time. I hate buying beta versions - especially when there's no reason to believe they're actually every going to acknowledge, much less address, the bugs.

It's Paper Maps for Me in the Meantime.

Sue,

It's not all bad! I don't regret buying my Garmin, because to me, the good far outweighs the bad.

- Melissa

[BabyBlueNTulsa]

http://www.compuplus.com/i-Garmin-Ed...bs95ld22391fb9

$383 Garmin 705 w/Heart monitor!

I've had my 705 (THIS 705 from the above link) for a month now and haven't experienced any problems ...knock on wood!

I love this toy!! So much fun.. I went adventuring last weekend and found a 16% hill. I decided to make a day of it and hit all the hills I could. LOL

I rode a personal best this past month with my Garmin. 518 miles in 30 days.

[avi4]

i am new

That's almost enough to make me want to buy a Garmin Edge 705 as bike computer! Wink
Until now, my Garmin eTrex GPS has been enough, but I have access to some pretty high tech geology modelling software to play with (into which I can import my GPS data and make 3D models of the terrain I've been riding

[bluebug32]

Not to hijack the thread, but does anyone know how to sync the data from the 305 so that the same data appears on Sport Tracks? The calorie counts, elevation, grades, etc. usually read differently between Garmin and the Training Center and Sport Tracks, which I don't understand because the info. is downloaded into Sport Tracks directly from the 305.