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

Mr Freeze wrote: »

Can you change how often the Garmin 305 "pings" the satellite making it more accurate?

The 2 lads I run with, their Garmins (305 and 405) always measure the same distance, and my 305 is usually measuring anything from 80m to 100m longer than theirs, even though I am running side by side with them.

Hi Mr. Freeze, the Garmin doesn't ping the satellite; it just 'listens' for data (time-stamps) sent out by the satellites. This distinction is important, as the next bit will make more sense:
The way Garmin's work is to 'listen' for data from the satellites every second, and based on the information it receives, calculate distance and pace. All three watches will do this the same way, however, the 405 likely has a newer version of the GPS chip mounted on the circuit board, so is likely to be more accurate (and find satellites quicker). So it is impossible to change anything that will increase the accuracy of your watch, versus the other two watches. There is a setting on the 305 watches, called 'Smart Recording' or something like that. What this setting does is 'store' more data-points (one every second instead of one every 4 seconds) but this will not affect the overall accuracy of your run (it will improve the accuracy of the mapping, when you upload your run to a computer).

The only possibility is that you may be running older firmware on your watch, so make sure you are running the latest firmware (watch software and GPS chipset). If you upload a workout to Garmin Connect, the firmware versions should be displayed in the bottom left of the activity page. If you compare it to your friend's 305 firmware, you can figure out if it's due an update.

Finally (depending on how long your run was) 10m - 100m is entirely within the acceptable error range for a GPS watch, particularly older models like the 305 (which was designed and released more than 7 years ago). In fact I'd go so far as to say that 10m is pretty decent, while 100m wouldn't be unexpected!

Mr Freeze wrote: »

EDIT. not sure about my GPS chipset version, might try updating that this evening.

The chipset version is the version of hardware that is in your watch. You are stuck with it. Can't be changed without buying a new watch, The 305 watch has a chipset from 2006 or before. The newer chips in Garmin watches are faster to lock and probably have other improvements too.

Help please... my friend is doing the Waterford marathon at the weekend and his 410 is gone kaputt... it was working fine on Saturday and then the screen just went blank. We tried a hard reset which didn't really work, the Garmin bit flashed up and then it showed the correct time and said Bezel locked and then goes blank again. When you plug it in, it says charging -1%... ever come across this before or what might be a solution??
Thanks in advance

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

How old is it? The symptoms make it sound kind of like a battery issue. When charging, is it stuck on 1%? Unfortunately, if it is a battery issue, there is no easy fix. I'd be advising your friend to borrow a watch for the race, just in case.

Thanks Krusty, it's just over a year old (out of guarantee). When you press the two buttons, it springs to life - the Garmin symbol comes up but then when you release the buttons it goes blank again. The watch charged up to 100% now so don't think it's a battery problem

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Have you tried a master reset? e.g. you specifically need to [Release Start/Stop and continue to hold Lap/Reset] until you see the [Do you really want erase all user data?] message? If not, you're just performing a system reset, rather than a master reset.

Note: A master reset will result in the loss of all user data.

Tried that with no luck - the question Do you really want to erase all user data never pops up, but there is life in the watch (garmin symbol comes up and then the correct time), until you let go of the button, it goes blank. And the battery is ok. Could it be a software issue? Or is there any other way of re-booting the watch?
Tks!

Mr Freeze wrote: »

Ran a 5km road race last night, watch measured 5.11, mate of mine, who also has a 305 measured 5.03 (same firware versions as me), and the lad with the 405 measured 5.07. I will just accept that the difference is margin of error, and get on with it might get a newer watch next year.

Yep, I'd just go with margin of error.

Mr Freeze wrote: »

I do have one last question though, see the garmin data from last nights run (http://connect.garmin.com/activity/333312801), specifically the timings graph, there are spikes at every km saying a pace of 00:00:00 min / km, as if I stopped.

Any idea what could be the cause of that? I have Auto Lap setup for every one km.

I have seen the same thing on some of my runs where the dip to 0:00/km coincides with the completion of each lap. I reckon there's nothing to be done for it and it only happens rarely so no big deal (for me anyways!)
The negative spike only lasts a fraction of a second and should be negligible on your overall data.

Anyone (KC?!) know if there is a way of displaying battery power on a 410 more prominently? I'm always forgetting to check it through the date/time screen, and have been caught out with low battery a few times.

Ideally I'd like to have battery power as the screen that shows when the watch is in power save mode.

Peckham wrote: »

Anyone (KC?!) know if there is a way of displaying battery power on a 410 more prominently? I'm always forgetting to check it through the date/time screen, and have been caught out with low battery a few times.

Ideally I'd like to have battery power as the screen that shows when the watch is in power save mode.

I don't believe you can adjust the content that is displayed when in powersave mode. If you unlock the watch and tap the bezel, it should give you the % remaining, but that's about it. Bit of an over-sight in my opinion. Seems to be the same on the other watches. I was hoping to get 'Battery remaining' added as a data field on my 910 (as it has 4 screens x 4 data fields, so plenty of space for one more), but the creative people in Garmin don't seem to be very creative.

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Hard reset again?!

Did many times Same result can't get beyond english menu screen

Vinnie222 wrote: »

Did many times Same result can't get beyond english menu screen

Is the problem that you cannot select the language, or that the watch is frozen at this point? Have you tried unlocking the bezel?

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Hi Bean flicker, looks like a pretty good deal (though a new one will typically set you back around €150 from Amazon.co.uk). So if you think a saving of 33% (€50) for a new vs refurbished unit is worth it, then go for it.

Some points worth mentioning:

1. You could get a brand new Forerunner 10 for around the same money (doesn't have the same level of functionality, but if all you want is distance, time speed etc., might be a viable alternative).
2. Make sure the warranty is a full year (as advertised). If the warranty were only 3 months, I would not consider it great value. As you can see from some of the posts above, Forerunners can be problematic.
3. The seller has '0' feedback. Be wary!

Thanks Krusty, appreciate it.

Yeah just noticed the '0' feedback after I posted plus he only has two items and lists himself as a shop so think I'll stay clear....

I'm really liking the 410 but its at £147 currently on amazon and I've tried the usual suspects i.e ebay, adverts etc

Any other sites you could recommend that are reliable and solely deal with these gps running watches?

Cheers

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Is the problem that you cannot select the language, or that the watch is frozen at this point? Have you tried unlocking the bezel?

Bezel is unlocked ... Yeah can't select the language

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Have you tried tapping the bezel to select the language (rather than hitting the start/stop button)? It could be that the start/stop button is broken/jammed.
Is he/she getting the [Do you really want erase all user data?] message when performing a hard reset?

He's able to erase all user data but as you said the start/stop button could be jammed or broken He's going to send it back to garmin

huskerdu wrote: »

Am I missing anything obvious?

Possibly! Have you enabled pairing on the watch?

Hi , I'm in the market for a new garmin, and can't decide between the 310xt and the 410. The fact that I'm only going to use it for running has me leaning towards the 410, but the touch bezel ( or lack of ) has me leaning towards the 310xt. At the mo, amazon has them both priced roughly the same.

Thanks for any input.

Mr.W