Irritated Garmin Edge user lookin to commiserate

[pinkbikes]

I absolutely love mine. I'm just a big old data geek and enjoy looking at the stats in Training Centre.

Like Oakleaf I carry a paper map too if I'm somewhere I don't know well, but I have found the screen ok if I really need to find where I am. Just takes a bit of practice to get the right resolution and move around. Fortunately, some geek with too much time on his hands has put together a far better topographical map for Australia than the one that comes standard, so I will have the hiking trail to the top of Mt Barney (I'm hiking up it this coming weekend) if I take my 705. And some other lovely geek has mapped all of the MTB trails in south east Queensland and put them up for us to download, so when I am in the forest I can tell which trail I'm on too.

The only thing I seem to be having trouble with at the moment is that the altimeter is a little bit wonky the last few weeks. I am not sure why but every few rides it seems to throw up some pretty dodgy elevations. For example I ride a loop from home and back to home but the closing error is very large (like 30m). I seem to recall somebody talking about periodically recalibrating the barometric altimeter using satellite data (or vice versa?) but there is nothing in the manual about it and I can't remember where I saw it. Might have to ask Garmin for assistance since it is still under warranty.

I've never had a drama with the cadence sensor - didn't even realise they do drown! I had it on my MTB briefly in case of lost signal in the forest and needing the speed override, but I rarely if ever lose signal and I find cadence on the MTB so variable with the terrain as to be kind of useless from a stats point of view. So I put it on the roadie instead where I find measuring cadence much more useful. The only time I have ever got it good and wet was in the Mooloolaba Triathlon when it poured cats and dogs but it didn't seem to bother it at all.

[easterbird]

Garmin users. Check out SportTracks. It's great and there's a lot of info about the Garmin 'problem' at start up(elevation jump).Other Garmin stuff discussed. Sadie K, thanks for your help earlier...., I'm a convert now




Posted: Fri May 01, 2009 4:30 pm Post subject:
Question:

Garmin (barometric) devices specific notes?

Answer:

* There is a "noise" from the measurements, the value can toggle +/- 0.48 m on flats. Therefore one second recording gives inflated values. See this thread going into detail. It is established that Edge 305&705, Forerunner 305&405 do record the elevation in steps of approx. 0.481 meters. ALL elevation differences in the ORIGINAL record from one point to the next will be 0 OR a multiple of 0.481 meters. Due to this, notably grade values and graphs might be very inaccurate locally, however, they get reasonable if averaged over some time.
* Barometric changes may give absolute differences (so passing a certain point gives different values each time). The device auto calculates during the ride, but if the pressure changes fast enough, the device will not calibrate enough.
* Beware of the "kludge" when starting - the device syncs the barometric elevation to the GPS height then.
* An elevation "jump" may be observed with an Edge 305 at start of a record. This thread goes into details.
http://www.zonefivesoftware.com/Spor...pic.php?t=6121

[SadieKate]

Hah. Actually I really only use the Terraserver map plug-in, and the elevation correction plug-in for the Forerunner only. They say not to use elevation correction for the Edge models with barometric altimeter. What are your favorites?

Darn. Guess I have to type up the list myself. I've used all these at various times (and have both a Forerunner and an Edge)

Accumulated Summary
After Import
Apply Routes
BENBUN - Export CRS
CSV Export
Elevation Correction (set to use with non-barometic devices only)
GDAL
GPS2PowerTrack
Overlay
Sporttracks Garmin Device
Sporttracks Garmin GPS
Sporttracks Map Provider for Terraserver
Sporttracks World Weather Provider
Upload to GPSies.com
WB CSV Importer
Where in the World

Garmin users. Check out SportTracks. It's great and there's a lot of info about the Garmin 'problem' at start up(elevation jump).Other Garmin stuff discussed. Sadie K, thanks for your help earlier...., I'm a convert now

You're very welcome!

Wow, that elevation data info gave me a headache.