Garmin 305 loosing satellite signal

Bobby04

Just wondering if anyone else has experienced their 305 suddenly loosing signal with no apparent reason? This happened to me last Sunday morning at about 8:30am during my LSR in wide open countryside, on a very bright and clear morning. So no obvious reason like cloud cover, trees, buildings etc. for it to loose signal. This happened me once before as well a couple of months back under very similar (and therefore ideal) conditions. After that first incident I upgraded the firmware just in case it had any relevence.
I'm now very worried this could happen again during DCM, as I found it extremely upsetting from a pacing point of view. On both occasions that this has happened me I had to resort to switching off the watch and back on again to regain a "connection". It simply wouldn't establish a signal again by itself even after answering no to the "have you gone indoors" prompt. I've tried to Google this but just find the expected mentions of trees, buildings etc.

Krusty_Clown

Maybe someone re-booted the satellites?
I've experienced similar problems recently on my 405 (I didn't find a solution, and it hasn't happened since). you're definitely showing signs of over-reliance on the GPS though. You wont be able to just stop in DCM. Time to get yourself a backup plan - a pace band and a stop-watch.

average_runner

whats a pace band?

ekevosu

http://www.marathonguide.com/fitnesscalcs/PaceBandCreator.cfm

cut it out, cover it in selotape on both sides and attach to your wrist.

happy_73

Make sure you update to the latest firmware.

S

gerard65

I've noticed a few (minor) problems with my 205 over the last week. Slow to lock the signal, the odd pacing blip etc. As krusty says, maybe a satellite needs a rebooting, or could be something to do with sun flares.

Bobby04

I resolved on Sunday that I would organise a backup eg. pace strap as mentioned. The stopwatch keeps ticking away regardless, so no need for an extra watch I think.
As I said the firmware is already up to date since the first episode.
I included the time just in case anyone else had a similar problem at that time last Sunday - I thought Obama's troops may have shut down the system for a bit
So while I may be no closer to knowing what caused the problem, I at least got a valuable lesson to have backup on race day. Thanks for the input everyone.

Krusty_Clown

But what if your Garmin runs out of battery power, or worse, you accidentally drop it down a drain? <joke>. I'm definitely bringing a seperate stop-watch to Dublin, as there's just too much at risk if I get the pacing wrong.