Garmin Megathread-Ask your questions here-See post 1 on how to search thread

HuntingDrog · 09-08-2010 11:00am

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

That's nuts. It's still showing your pace, so GPS is definitely working. Similar to Shels problem, I reckon your watch memory is full, so you may need to clear it out. I usually have mine set up to remove the activity from the watch once it has uploaded to the computer. Right click Garmin Ant Agent, Device Settings, Automatically erase data from my device after transfer.

To clear yours, go to [History] [Delete] [All activities] or [old activities].
That's my best guess!

Hi KC, I've a 305. Is there anyway to automatically erase the activity from the 305 once uploaded to the PC? tks

BTW-this thread is great!

Krusty_Clown · 09-08-2010 4:06pm

dare2be wrote: »

Just a quick one on intervals on a Forerunner 310xt

I have set up an interval session of 5x1km with 30secs rest and have ticked for a warm up and cool down session. When i start the warm up lap i am asked to hit the lap button but then a message comes up saying that i haven't input a distance.

Anyone know how to set up warm up and cool down session properly?

Thanks

Are you pressing [Start] and then pressing [Lap] when you are actually finished your warm-up or cool-down session (at which point it should automatically transition to the intervals. Have you entered a distance for your intervals? If it's not working, go back to first principles, and see if you can get an interval session working without warm-up and cool-down.

You could alternatively try and set up a custom workout (310xt only).

Krusty_Clown · 09-08-2010 4:13pm

HuntingDrog wrote: »

Hi KC, I've a 305. Is there anyway to automatically erase the activity from the 305 once uploaded to the PC? tks
BTW-this thread is great!

It doesn't appear so, but I don't have a 305 so I couldn't be certain. Maybe someone else might know?

Best option seems to be (on the watch):
[History][Sport][Delete] then choose:
Keep 1 Month / Keep 3 Months / Delete All.

HuntingDrog · 10-08-2010 12:49pm

tks Krusty

claralara · 10-08-2010 3:39pm

Hi guys! I’m sure one of you can help me here. A friend of mine has to buy a birthday present for her boyfriend. He’s a typical man and buys whatever he wants or needs whenever he wants or needs it (unlike women who want things and leave about a million hints for someone else to buy it for them...haha). Anyway he’s a triathlete and starting to get into the longer distance running so I suggested a Garmin and she’s going to go with that. Neither of us however have a clue what to get or where to get it from. She’s looking at a 405 or 405CX on amazon at the minute. Can anyone offer any advice?

Thanks in advance!

C

Krusty_Clown · 10-08-2010 3:54pm

Well, the 405/405cx are practically the same watch. The cx comes with an additional wrist strap (soft/flexible), a different way of calculating calories and a more expensive price tag.

The 405/cx is a decent watch, but isn't very useful for triathlons. It's fine on the bike and the run, but is only rated IPX7 (1 meter of water for 15 minutes) so isn't suitable for the swim portion of a triathlon.

310xt is waterproof, and is more suitable for multi-eventing, though I understand that most people still wouldn't wear in on their wrist for a triathlon, due to drag, and poor accuracy (though some do keep it in their swim hat). It also carries a more expensive price tag, but a significantly longer battery life too.

If money's not really important, I'd go with the 310xt. If money's tight, i'd go with the 405 or the 305 (older, cheaper, much bigger!), but on the understanding that it can't really be used in a useful manner in the swim portion of a triathlon.

I'd also check out prices on ebay.com, which are substantially cheaper.

claralara · 10-08-2010 7:35pm

Thanks a million, she's referred to you as a legend and a fountain of knowledge!! I think she's going to go with the 405/cx. We decided the clock on the wall in the pool is good enough for him and if he's going open water he can learn to read the sun!

opus · 10-08-2010 7:41pm

Spotted some strangeness in Garmin Connect, this evening I did a 3x2mile tempo run which was brisk (for me

) so had my heart rate high enough. When I uploaded it to Garmin Connect, the summary says my average HR was 155 while the max was 188 but when I look at the HR graph the max I can see is 181 so where does the 188 come from I wonder

Not that it matters that much I guess but was just wondering.

Btw there are some very handy 16 week marathon training plans available at Runner's World which I've found very useful as the watch takes care of telling you what you should be doing pretty much every day, as well I've learnt to obey it now so running at the planned pace around Berlin should be no problem

Krusty_Clown · 10-08-2010 8:21pm

Opus, it's probably because you can't zoom in on the graph enough to see it. This is when the dirty deed happened:

<Trackpoint>
            <Time>2010-08-10T17:37:34.000Z</Time>
            <DistanceMeters>6183.85009765625</DistanceMeters>
            <HeartRateBpm>
              <Value>188</Value>
            </HeartRateBpm>
            <Extensions>
              <ns3:TPX>
                <ns3:Speed>4.150000095367432</ns3:Speed>
              </ns3:TPX>
            </Extensions>
          </Trackpoint>

Sosa · 10-08-2010 9:22pm

Hey Krusty,
I ran my advanced interval workout this evening,worked a treat.
It had the ave pace on view aswell...ideal...thanks.

Krusty_Clown · 10-08-2010 9:55pm

Sosa wrote: »

Hey Krusty,
I ran my advanced interval workout this evening,worked a treat.
It had the ave pace on view aswell...ideal...thanks.

No worries. That's why Garmin pays me all this money. :P

xebec · 10-08-2010 10:19pm

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Opus, it's probably because you can't zoom in on the graph enough to see it. This is when the dirty deed happened:

<Trackpoint>
            <Time>2010-08-10T17:37:34.000Z</Time>
            <DistanceMeters>6183.85009765625</DistanceMeters>
            <HeartRateBpm>
              <Value>188</Value>
            </HeartRateBpm>
            <Extensions>
              <ns3:TPX>
                <ns3:Speed>4.150000095367432</ns3:Speed>
              </ns3:TPX>
            </Extensions>
          </Trackpoint>

Wow, interesting to see the XML there... Wouldn't have expected them to record Zulu time, but makes sense I guess... And that's a lot of decimal points recorded on the Distance and Speed tags. Opus, do you have your watch tracking in KM or miles?

opus · 11-08-2010 5:59am

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Opus, it's probably because you can't zoom in on the graph enough to see it. This is when the dirty deed happened:

Thanks Krusty, didn't think of delving into the datafile itself, mind you probably won't either in the future

xebec wrote: »

Wow, interesting to see the XML there... Wouldn't have expected them to record Zulu time, but makes sense I guess... And that's a lot of decimal points recorded on the Distance and Speed tags. Opus, do you have your watch tracking in KM or miles?

KM for me cause I started running on a gym threadmill so don't have a good mental image of times/distances expressed in miles.

Krusty_Clown · 11-08-2010 10:06am

opus wrote: »

Thanks Krusty, didn't think of delving into the datafile itself, mind you probably won't either in the future

That's reserved for a particular type of nerd. The uber-nerd.

spanx · 11-08-2010 7:46pm

Hi.
My 405 was delivered today but I bought it without HRM by mistake (stupid unclear pixmania website).

I could go through the hassle of returning it but as I'd be hit for shipping I might just accept my losses and buy the HRM separately.

Can I just ask is it definitely possible to pair a HRM to a 405 that was bought without one? And is this the one I should go for?

Cheers

Krusty_Clown · 11-08-2010 9:33pm

Yes, you can pair a HRM, and yes that one will work fine (it's the same one I use with my 405). I wouldn't however recommend it. I find it really dodgy. This one is cheaper and seems to give much more accurate readings.

spanx · 11-08-2010 9:47pm

Cool, thanks for that Krusty_Clown

toomuchdetail · 11-08-2010 9:47pm

GPS related question Krusty :
Have 405 works well enough , downloaded sportstracker to my phone -and there is a difference in GPS distance
tonight I did 15k on the Garmin but the GPS on the phone was 15.4k not a lot of difference but is there a logical reason . -if you go into XML type answers I tend to glaze over:) a guess would be that the tolerance +/- on each would mean if you have one at the high end and one at the low end you could get greater differences.

Krusty_Clown · 11-08-2010 10:08pm

I can only hazard a guess, but I would say it's probably down to the way your phone calculates trackpoints/distance covered. It's not purpose built for this kind of thing, so some level of error is to be expected. Best thing to do is take them both over a known distance (preferably straight line) and see how they fare. I would say the Garmin is more accurate as long as you used it properly (i.e. waited for a decent satellite connection before starting your workout).

opus · 12-08-2010 10:33am

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

That's reserved for a particular type of nerd. The uber-nerd.

Part of my working life (many years ago) involved decoding billing records from a telephone exchange for mobiles by hand so I've a bit of an aversion to raw data files ever since! Mind you the XML format is a bit easier to deal with compared to hexadecimal numbers but even so I'll still avoid it.

wellboss · 12-08-2010 11:51am

Hi Guys,

I have scanned the previous pages and didnt see any relating to my question so sorry if it has already come up and I missed it.

Last night I did a pretty hilly 5km race. My friend had a GPS and I had a footpod for my suunto. When i got to the 5km mark my watch read 4.67km, now i know the footpods are'nt the most accurate because of changing stride lengths and so on but it's never ever out by 330m on such a short course. My friends GPS read 4.98 so pretty much bang on.

What I am wondering is, do GPS watches take into account the changing gradient of the running surface?. I presume they do and it's probably my footpod thats at fault but just said that I would ask as iv never seen this big of a difference before.

Thanks

Krusty_Clown · 12-08-2010 1:29pm

Was it the IMRA race? If so, my watch read 4.05 miles.
I don't believe the Garmin takes gradient into account (i.,e. running the hypotenuse) so what you're getting from a GPS watch is the overhead view (like mapmyrun) of the distance.

But... given that the hypotenuse is going to be longer than flat edge of the triangle, your foot-pod based watch should be reading longer than the Garmin. Take for example a 260m climb, with an incline of 5 degrees:

Obviously this is an extreme example, as it's uphill only, and your race no doubt featured an up and a down, but your down should in theory also represent a hypotenuse, and should also represent a longer distance. also worth observing that the difference in the above examples is only 12 metres.

I'd say the difference is down to poor calibration of the foot-pod or stride length, or else my logic is completely flawed. Very possible.

wellboss · 12-08-2010 5:44pm

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Was it the IMRA race? If so, my watch read 4.05 miles.
I don't believe the Garmin takes gradient into account (i.,e. running the hypotenuse) so what you're getting from a GPS watch is the overhead view (like mapmyrun) of the distance.

But... given that the hypotenuse is going to be longer than flat edge of the triangle, your foot-pod based watch should be reading longer than the Garmin. Take for example a 260m climb, with an incline of 5 degrees:

Obviously this is an extreme example, as it's uphill only, and your race no doubt featured an up and a down, but your down should in theory also represent a hypotenuse, and should also represent a longer distance. also worth observing that the difference in the above examples is only 12 metres.

I'd say the difference is down to poor calibration of the foot-pod or stride length, or else my logic is completely flawed. Very possible.

Thanks for the reply, yeah i was thinking that my footpod should be longer alright.

I was also thinking along the same lines as you with regard the GPS not recording the hypotenuse but instead recording the flat edge. But as the examlpe shows it's only 12m in the difference over nearly 3km.

Nope not IMRA, it was a road race in mayo, I set a PB on a hilly course that really shouldnt be giving too many PB's especially not the time I got anyway, unless I am alot fitter than I think I am, but 2 GPS watches were pretty much bang on the correct distance. I think my only solution is to go and measure it in a car or on a bike.

At the end of the day it doesnt really matter, but it's interesting to know that the GPS does not take into consideration inclines:cool:

Krusty_Clown · 12-08-2010 9:20pm

wellboss wrote: »

At the end of the day it doesnt really matter, but it's interesting to know that the GPS does not take into consideration inclines:cool:

Would you rather be out by 12m, or 330? :cool:

keano007 · 12-08-2010 10:10pm

Hey lads apologies if this question has been asked already but I have been thinking about buying a garmin, haven't decided between the 405 or the 310xt yet!

Anyway my question is, I'm going to new York in september and I'm wondering If I find a garmin over there for "cheaper" than Ireland would there be any implications in using one bought in America over here?

plodder · 12-08-2010 10:37pm

keano007 wrote: »

Hey lads apologies if this question has been asked already but I have been thinking about buying a garmin, haven't decided between the 405 or the 310xt yet!

Anyway my question is, I'm going to new York in september and I'm wondering If I find a garmin over there for "cheaper" than Ireland would there be any implications in using one bought in America over here?

The worst that could happen is that the mains charger you get doesn't work over here. But, you could buy one for €10-15 or else just charge it off a computer. It could be the case that you get a charger that works everywhere anyway. Bottom line is, there's nothing much to worry about.

robinph · 13-08-2010 7:41am

The mains charger is only a USB port anyway, and I think that the one which came with my 405 had both UK and US attachments for it.

Only slight issue is that you should take it out of the box before walking through Dublin airport because of the very, very, very slight risk of them wanting to charge you import duties if you get stopped on the way in.

BeepBeep67 · 13-08-2010 8:22am

I've used my Garmin on 4 continents and Robinph has the other one covered - so no issues.

Krusty_Clown · 13-08-2010 9:54am

keano007 wrote: »

Hey lads apologies if this question has been asked already but I have been thinking about buying a garmin, haven't decided between the 405 or the 310xt yet!

Anyway my question is, I'm going to new York in september and I'm wondering If I find a garmin over there for "cheaper" than Ireland would there be any implications in using one bought in America over here?

The guys advice above is spot on. I don't think the US SKU comes with a different attachment for euro plugs, but to be honest, that's a €2 purchase anyway (and I always charge mine off of USB anyway).

For fear of repeating myself again (and again, and again), if you are visiting someone you know in NY, please consider checking out the prices on Amazon.com/eBay.com, as you could buy and have the watch waiting for you at your destination, far cheaper than you will find anywhere else. For example: Forerunner 405 bought from Garmin through amazon, would set you back €183 (€207 inc HRM). If looking at eBay items, check to see if it's a factory refurb (which should be cheaper, but will likely have a shorter warranty period).

BigAl81 · 13-08-2010 10:30am

Hey hey,

I've a Garmin 305, and love it. I had Nike+ before and the accuracy was very hit and miss.

I only found out about split times yesterday, and I didn't see it mentioned on this thread so in case anyone else is new to the watch, go into the menu and turn on Auto Lap (I set mine to 1KM).

Each time you finish a kilometre, a little window pops up on the watch and tells you your pace for that K, and at the end you get the splits on the website.

Run with splits (see left of screen, half way down)
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/44263372

Run without splits
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/41411184

The splits are great as you can see what are your slow sections and look to improve on those.

Apologies if this is really obvious, but it was news to me!!

Go Team!

PS: For anyone in the Lucan area, the run mapped above is amazing, but keep it more of a secret than I did ;o)

PPS: Only 8 days till GaelForce... eek!

robinph · 13-08-2010 11:52am

BeepBeep67 wrote: »

I've used my Garmin on 4 continents and Robinph has the other one covered - so no issues.

I've not yet tested it out in the Antarctic though, not really into the xc skiing, and I suspect the GPS would have difficulty there.

BigAl81 wrote: »

PS: For anyone in the Lucan area, the run mapped above is amazing, but keep it more of a secret than I did ;o)

Agreed, that trail is good for running round. Was living very near there for years before I discovered it myself.

JosDel · 13-08-2010 3:52pm

In the BHAA race on Wednesday my garmin 205 clocked me as running 1.90 miles as opposed to 1.86, I would then take it the extra distance is from running out of lane 1..?

Krusty_Clown · 13-08-2010 4:07pm

JosDel wrote: »

In the BHAA race on Wednesday my garmin 205 clocked me as running 1.90 miles as opposed to 1.86, I would then take it the extra distance is from running out of lane 1..?

Not necessarily. A Garmin will rarely measure to that level of precision, particularly on a track. That's around a 2% discrepancy. That's as good as it is going to get.

JosDel · 13-08-2010 4:16pm

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Not necessarily. A Garmin will rarely measure to that level of precision, particularly on a track. That's around a 2% discrepancy. That's as good as it is going to get.

Thanks KC

nerraw1111 · 13-08-2010 4:31pm

Is it possible to delete sections off a route on Garmin Connect?

For example, numerous times I've accidentally pressed start on my watch after a race/run, so a 10km run turns into a 50 mile run as the Garmin is still going in my pocket on the car journey home.

No biggie but means calculating distance/elevation myself which is a bit tedious

plodder · 13-08-2010 6:04pm

robinph wrote: »

The mains charger is only a USB port anyway, and I think that the one which came with my 405 had both UK and US attachments for it.

Did you buy it in Europe or the US, because there's a US version, a Europe version and a Pacific(?) version. Presumably, if you go to a bricks and mortar store in the US, then you'll get the US version, which possibly doesn't include the European plug adapters.

Krusty_Clown · 13-08-2010 6:10pm

nerraw1111 wrote: »

Is it possible to delete sections off a route on Garmin Connect?

For example, numerous times I've accidentally pressed start on my watch after a race/run, so a 10km run turns into a 50 mile run as the Garmin is still going in my pocket on the car journey home.

No biggie but means calculating distance/elevation myself which is a bit tedious

Yes, but you're not going to like it. If you have the watch set up for laps, and the bit you want to delete is in a separate lap, then:
1. Export the file from Garmin Connect, as a TCX file
2. Import the file into Garmin Training Centre (you do have it installed, don't you?)
3. Highlight the lap, or laps you want to delete, and press the delete button.
4. Export the workout from Garmin Training Centre (again as a History/TCX file)
5. Delete the old activity from Garmin Connect (This step may not be necessary, I'm not sure).
6. Manually import the new workout/history file.

If the stuff that you want to delete isn't in a seperate lap, you're going to need to go into the XML using your favorite editor, and hack out the stuff that shouldn't be there. So, do as above, but instead of importing the file into GTC, open it up in a text editor (or even better, an XML editor). Look for where the date/time changes, and delete the rest of the track-points, making sure that you preserve the matching open/closing tags. Then import!

robinph · 13-08-2010 8:30pm

plodder wrote: »

Did you buy it in Europe or the US, because there's a US version, a Europe version and a Pacific(?) version. Presumably, if you go to a bricks and mortar store in the US, then you'll get the US version, which possibly doesn't include the European plug adapters.

I've got so many USB mains plugs I don't know which plug came with which gadget now, but I think it was a US plug where the pins folded down and the UK one slotted on top of it. Think I got it from Amazon UK, but not certain.

The biggest difference between the US/ UK/ EU/ Pacific versions will be the selection of languages they stick in the paperwork included.

Macanri · 13-08-2010 9:34pm

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Yes, but you're not going to like it. If you have the watch set up for laps, and the bit you want to delete is in a separate lap, then:
1. Export the file from Garmin Connect, as a TCX file
2. Import the file into Garmin Training Centre (you do have it installed, don't you?)
3. Highlight the lap, or laps you want to delete, and press the delete button.
4. Export the workout from Garmin Training Centre (again as a History/TCX file)
5. Delete the old activity from Garmin Connect (This step may not be necessary, I'm not sure).
6. Manually import the new workout/history file.

If the stuff that you want to delete isn't in a seperate lap, you're going to need to go into the XML using your favorite editor, and hack out the stuff that shouldn't be there. So, do as above, but instead of importing the file into GTC, open it up in a text editor (or even better, an XML editor). Look for where the date/time changes, and delete the rest of the track-points, making sure that you preserve the matching open/closing tags. Then import!

Good man Krusty - Do you speak english also??

Only kidding, I can't blame you for my intelligence, or lack of it!:o

Krusty_Clown · 14-08-2010 8:40am

Macanri wrote: »

Good man Krusty - Do you speak english also?? Only kidding, I can't blame you for my intelligence, or lack of it!:o

English is my third language, after Garmin and bullsh1t.:D

nerraw1111 · 14-08-2010 9:13am

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Yes, but you're not going to like it. If you have the watch set up for laps, and the bit you want to delete is in a separate lap, then:
1. Export the file from Garmin Connect, as a TCX file
2. Import the file into Garmin Training Centre (you do have it installed, don't you?)
3. Highlight the lap, or laps you want to delete, and press the delete button.
4. Export the workout from Garmin Training Centre (again as a History/TCX file)
5. Delete the old activity from Garmin Connect (This step may not be necessary, I'm not sure).
6. Manually import the new workout/history file.

If the stuff that you want to delete isn't in a seperate lap, you're going to need to go into the XML using your favorite editor, and hack out the stuff that shouldn't be there. So, do as above, but instead of importing the file into GTC, open it up in a text editor (or even better, an XML editor). Look for where the date/time changes, and delete the rest of the track-points, making sure that you preserve the matching open/closing tags. Then import!

Cheers Krusty, super stuff. It's all laps so will just need to chop off the laps.

yop · 14-08-2010 10:53pm

Any way of displaying your "avg time per km"

I rely big time on "how as your last km" on my runs so that I can go slower or speed up, how is this done on the 305? Do I use the kmph as my guide?

Krusty_Clown · 14-08-2010 11:59pm

Not exactly sure what you mean.
Time per kilometer is essentialy pace - The amount of time it takes you to complete a kilometer. Whereas km per hour is the number of kms you complete in an hour. So perhaps if you switch the watch to pace instead of speed, you'll get what you want?

You can get the watch to display:
Average pace - which is your overall time per km for the entire session
Pace for current km - Need to have the watch setup to record laps of 1km
Pace for previous km - Not as useful, but again need to have the watch setup to record laps of 1km

shels4ever · 15-08-2010 11:39am

Just wondered if you use the Auto lap function on the garmin and then hit the lap button also does this reset your auto lap point also?

gerard65 · 15-08-2010 12:39pm

shels4ever wrote: »

Just wondered if you use the Auto lap function on the garmin and then hit the lap button also does this reset your auto lap point also?

If you have autolap on for 1 mile intervals it will still register every mile on the mile no matter how many times you press the lap button in between.

BeepBeep67 · 15-08-2010 1:32pm

^ I don't find that, if I'm doing 600's for example, I'll set the auto lap to .6k so i'll hear it beep then check for my 75 sec recovery and hit lap again - it then resets and starts the 600 over again.

g0g · 15-08-2010 8:38pm

Firstly. thanks to whoever suggested about the autolap thingy - think I'd seen it somewhere else before but never figured how to turn it on!

Ok, now my question is in relation to multi-sport events - specifically Gaelforce West. I have a 305 with HRM and am trying to figure out how to use it properly. Ideally what I'd like is one single upload at the end of the day with my full race. Today I tried out going for a run followed by a cycle. I thought I did the right thing for multisport - I did the run as "running", pressed stop when I got home, maybe took a couple of minutes to get ready for the cycle, then held down MODE to change to Cycling and when I left the house I pressed start again. Yet at the end of it all it was treated as two separate activites when I uploaded to Garmin Connect. I was thinking maybe if I had left the clock running right through it might have kept it all together, but then sure that's mad because you're including the transition times when maybe the clock isn't on! Any advice appreciated, and I'm hoping it doesn't involved editing files or using other software!

yop · 15-08-2010 8:44pm

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Not exactly sure what you mean.
Time per kilometer is essentialy pace - The amount of time it takes you to complete a kilometer. Whereas km per hour is the number of kms you complete in an hour. So perhaps if you switch the watch to pace instead of speed, you'll get what you want?

You can get the watch to display:
Average pace - which is your overall time per km for the entire session
Pace for current km - Need to have the watch setup to record laps of 1km
Pace for previous km - Not as useful, but again need to have the watch setup to record laps of 1km

Ah, I didnt spot the pace for current KM, thats what I am on about. I want to try and keep Gaelforce (on the sections which I can run) to about 6min per KM so this will be my "guide"

Thanks

Krusty_Clown · 15-08-2010 8:48pm

yop wrote: »

Ah, I didnt spot the pace for current KM, thats what I am on about. I want to try and keep Gaelforce (on the sections which I can run) to about 6min per KM so this will be my "guide"

Set the watch to auto-lap every kilometer (you'll need to have the watch set to metric) and then have one of your data fields set to Pace-Lap. That will show you your average pace for the current kilometer you are running. Good luck with Gaelforce!

RacoonQueen · 15-08-2010 8:48pm

shels4ever wrote: »

Just wondered if you use the Auto lap function on the garmin and then hit the lap button also does this reset your auto lap point also?

On the 405, if I pressed the lap button at say 4.35 miles it wouldn't beep itself again till 5.35 miles.

Garmin Megathread-Ask your questions here-See post 1 on how to search thread

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