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

TheRoadRunner

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

This thread has become pretty massive, so it'd probably be useful to show people how to search it effectively:

Steps:

1. Using your browser, go to google.ie
2. In the search window, type the following: site:boards.ie Garmin Megathread <insert search terms here>
3. Hopefully browse results, like this.

Howdy, having some problems with recent uploads to Garmin connect from my forerunner 405. I've tried a couple of things and done a bit of online searching but nothing too extensive so I'm being a bit lazy wondering if anybody has had similar problems ?

Basically I can see all my run info except the map is missing. I've had a look into my connect preferences and can't see an option to turn map viewing on or off. Maybe there is some sort of limit on the number of maps one can store on the connect website ????

Krusty_Clown

I don't think there are any limitations.. PM me a link to one of your training runs, and I'll have a look.

shels4ever

Its the same for all my older runs too, only uploaded a load of them last week and cleared my garmin, any form last year dont have the map now.

TheRoadRunner

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

I don't think there are any limitations.. PM me a link to one of your training runs, and I'll have a look.

I was actually just going to PM this query to you but thought that would have been really really lazy. I've just sent you the link.

Krusty_Clown

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!

donothoponpop

There's a load of runners who use Garmin and other GPS devices, and a whole load of them don't know the workings of many of the features. Since we have a few posters here who know a thing or two about Garmin issues, it might be an idea to contain them all in this thread, for the benefit of all.

Thanks to Krusty, Robinph, RayCun, and others, who always seem happy to answer Garmin questions!

TheRoadRunner

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

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.

As far as I can recall I did a recent delete but will do another now an see if it makes any difference tomorrow. If I have no joy I'll email the Garmin helpdesk and will report back

Krusty_Clown

TheRoadRunner wrote: »

As far as I can recall I did a recent delete but will do another now an see if it makes any difference tomorrow. If I have no joy I'll email the Garmin helpdesk and will report back

If that doesn't work, try a factory reset. Hold the start/stop and Lap buttons at the same time for around 10 seconds. That'll clear out any data, and reset the watch back to default. But it sounds like the problem may be related to a memory full type situation. The watch really only holds around 20 hours of exercise data.

robinph

It will hold a lot more than 20hours worth of overall exercise data, but only the most recent 20 hours or so worth will have any track points kept in the watch. Any older workouts will then only be stored on the watch with the basic lap data saying how far and fast you went, but not the where.

I don't think the delete all activities from the watch option will do anything about the lack of maps, it does delete all the data though, the maps may just be getting lost if your not uploading from the watch to the computer regularly enough though.

BeepBeep67

How many use their Garmin's to their full potential, how many know what the full potential of their Garmin's are?
I suspect most point at a satellite, stick on a HRM and just run (that's me btw).
Would be good to have a top 10+ most useful features section as many will not RTFM and get into a comfort zone once they (me) figure out how to get basic data.

christeb

I was going to send KC a PM today actually.

Dearest KC (and everyone else) - Godfather of Garmins, please help.

The HR strap shows up intermittentely on the watch, the little icon shows a heart then shows an "X". Thye battery has recently been replaced - any ideas?

robinph

BeepBeep67 wrote: »

... RTFM ...

There was a manual?

Anything made of paper that comes in my boxes of gadgetry is classed as packaging.

RayCun

BeepBeep67 wrote: »

How many use their Garmin's to their full potential, how many know what the full potential of their Garmin's are?
I suspect most point at a satellite, stick on a HRM and just run (that's me btw).
Would be good to have a top 10+ most useful features section as many will not RTFM and get into a comfort zone once they (me) figure out how to get basic data.

Yeah, I was amused to see donothoponpop mention me above, because the most complicated thing I've done with my Garmin is turn on AutoLap. I couldn't even get the HRM to work!

Krusty_Clown

robinph wrote: »

I don't think the delete all activities from the watch option will do anything about the lack of maps, it does delete all the data though, the maps may just be getting lost if your not uploading from the watch to the computer regularly enough though.

Yep exactly. It won't restore the missing maps, as the trackpoints have been abandoned (sorry tRR), but if it is the root of the problem, it will mean that future activities will have trackpoints/maps.

Krusty_Clown

christeb wrote: »

I was going to send KC a PM today actually.

Dearest KC (and everyone else) - Godfather of Garmins, please help.

The HR strap shows up intermittentely on the watch, the little icon shows a heart then shows an "X". Thye battery has recently been replaced - any ideas?

Buy a Polar Heart rate monitor?!
I made the mistake of buying the 'luxury' HRM strap after leaving my last HRM strap in Barcelona, and this one has been nothing shy of a disaster. This one will frequently record heart rates of 238+ in the middle of a run. I had grown used to the HR spikes at the start of the run, and learned to live with the quirk, but sadly, with this HRM any data recorded is pretty meaningless (even worse, it is erroneous).

In your case it sounds like it is losing the ANT+ connection to the watch. Since replacing the battery, did you re-'pair' the HRM to the watch? Might be an idea to pair the two devices again.

mitresize5

this thread is a great idea because I usually get little bits of info off the many other ones that pop up every now and then.

I have a problem at the moment with my HRM. I went for a lsr run yesterday and it measured my Max HR at 210 .... zone 6 (didnt know there was one)

I had noticed it was reading very high recently (ie ... heart rate much higher than perceived effort)

Anyone had similar problems?

plodder

christeb wrote: »

I was going to send KC a PM today actually.

Dearest KC (and everyone else) - Godfather of Garmins, please help.

The HR strap shows up intermittentely on the watch, the little icon shows a heart then shows an "X". Thye battery has recently been replaced - any ideas?

The battery might not be sitting properly in its holder. Take it out, and reseat it, and make sure it fits snugly.

Krusty_Clown

mitresize5 wrote: »

this thread is a great idea because I usually get little bits of info off the many other ones that pop up every now and then.

I have a problem at the moment with my HRM. I went for a lsr run yesterday and it measured my Max HR at 210 .... zone 6 (didnt know there was one)

I had noticed it was reading very high recently (ie ... heart rate much higher than perceived effort)

Anyone had similar problems?

Have you changed your clothing recently? A new type of technical top?
Do you have a link to Garmin Connect?

nerraw1111

Some of my maps are missing too on my most recent runs. It shows everything else except the maps. But oddly, it shows the maps of the most recent runs.

I thought it was a website problem

robinph

To the people with missing maps, how often do you go between uploading the data to your PC?

A random selection of my very old maps are still appearing on connect.garmin.com OK, I don't think it's a website issue.

Krusty_Clown

Uploading to Garmin Training Centre / Garmin Connect wont clear the data from your watch, unless you have specified that it should do so, in the Garmin Ant Agent settings:
Right click Garmin Ant Agent, [Device Settings], [Automatically erase data from my device after transfer].

Once the watch memory is full, it will wrap, so newer activities will have trackpoints (map data) recorded, and older activities will lose their trackpoints, but maintain the summary info (distance/average pace), which is why they might be appearing in Garmin Connect without any map data (do newer activities appear correctly?).

I have found that the best option is to upload to Garmin Training Centre (as a backup) and Garmin connect at the same time, and delete the activity from the watch automatically afterwards.

Peterx

Great idea for a thread..

I used my garmin over the course of 9 days from the 16th - 25th July recording start and finish points for daily cycles. I came home, ran for a week recording runs and then tried to download the info. Only the runs from the 26th July onwards downloaded. Checking the history on the watch there is no history of the spins from the 16th - 25th.
Anyway, is there any way to find those activities or get them back? The only thing I can think of is that I changed the setting from biking back to running on the 26th.

cheers,
peter

If the cycles are findable is it possible to stitch together the 9 days cycle maps to show the overall route on one map?

cheers agin!

Krusty_Clown

When you say 'starting and finish points' what do you mean exactly?
Do you reset the activity after finishing each one (i.e. hold the lap button for 5+ seconds)? This creates a logical break between activities, otherwise they'll flow from one to the other (and give you some very strabge readings).

Typically, the ANT agent (assuming it's a 405?) will upload any activities first to your laptop before transferring them to Garmin Connect, so it's worth checking your hard drive to see if they might be there (search for *.TCX). but if your runs uploaded successfully, I would imagine they are gone. You'll just have the cover the route again!

As I mentioned previously, the watch will hold approximately 20 hours of activities. After that, it starts deleting the older activities in order to replace them with newer data.

Yes, you can merge/stick together activities, but not in Garmin Connect (or other Garmin tools). I'll describe this at some stage..

nerraw1111

Cheers Krusty.

That makes sense re watch overwriting old activities. Hadn't cleared the history in a while.

Peterx

Thanks Krusty.
Every morning I reset the watch (405, yes held the button for 5 seconds) for a new activity and then started the watch, I let it run for about 10 minutes once an hour to get it to roughly show my route for that day. When we got to the day's end I'd stop it.
Because of it's useless battery time I couldn't let it run continuously as we were on the go for more then 6 hours. 8-10 hours my backside...
I did try to upload the files from my laptop via a dodgy internet connection and it failed so hopefully they are still sitting on the laptop. Cheers for the help!
The watch still has plenty of sessions on it from before the 16th July, just the holiday ones are missing.

Krusty_Clown

Peterx wrote: »

Thanks Krusty.
Every morning I reset the watch (405, yes held the button for 5 seconds) for a new activity and then started the watch, I let it run for about 10 minutes once an hour to get it to roughly show my route for that day. When we got to the day's end I'd stop it.
Because of it's useless battery time I couldn't let it run continuously as we were on the go for more then 6 hours. 8-10 hours my backside...
I did try to upload the files from my laptop via a dodgy internet connection and it failed so hopefully they are still sitting on the laptop. Cheers for the help!

Well, that's a little more promising. There's a good chance they're still on the laptop, so you can import them manually into Garmin Connect. But you won't be able to stitch together tracklogs for sections you didn't actually record, right?! If you use Sportstracks though (I think) you can edit the route and draw/edit the track free-hand, so you could draw in the missing sections. Not sure what use that would be to you though.

BeepBeep67

Out of interest has anyone tried charging a Garmin with the portable USB chargers - I see Tesco's and a few others are selling Duracell ones.
Might be an option when on long over night activities or an option to re charge during a break when on a day long cycle?

robinph

I've certainly charged mine from powered USB hubs before, when they were not connected to any PC, and pretty sure I've charged it from a battery pack with a USB port adapter fitted to it as well. I've lent that to someone else this week though so can't confirm right now.

Krusty_Clown

A buddy has recommended this one: Sanyo Eneloop, but I have not tried it. It seems like a good idea.

BeepBeep67

I think this is the one in Tesco's.

http://www.officeshop.ie/storefront/Duracell-Instant-Power-Charger-75057443-P-124504
In theory if it has USB out it should work!

robinph

BeepBeep67 wrote: »

In theory if has USB out it should work!

Yep, the only USB charged devices that I've encountered that don't actually charge via any powered USB port are some Creative ZEN mp3 players. But that was due to Creative not following the USB standard in order to try and sell more of their own more expensive chargers.

The 405 only actually connects via two pins to charge it, so once there is enough juice coming from whatever powered USB source it will charge.

opus

BeepBeep67 wrote: »

How many use their Garmin's to their full potential, how many know what the full potential of their Garmin's are?
I suspect most point at a satellite, stick on a HRM and just run (that's me btw).
Would be good to have a top 10+ most useful features section as many will not RTFM and get into a comfort zone once they (me) figure out how to get basic data.

I've got a full 16 week marathon training schedule from Runner's World downloaded onto mine which I've been trying to follow fairly religiously to prepare for Berlin in Sept, currently on week nine. It's worked pretty much flawlessly so have I have to say, haven't seen any bugs pop up & my Garmin connect calendar is nicely filling up.

Hopefully will let let me improve my time from the Cork marathon a bit anyway.

Peterx

BeepBeep67 wrote: »

Out of interest has anyone tried charging a Garmin with the portable USB chargers - I see Tesco's and a few others are selling Duracell ones.
Might be an option when on long over night activities or an option to re charge during a break when on a day long cycle?

Yep,

Used a thing called a freeloader, you charge it's battery up via a computer before you go and in my case it recharged the 405 every day for 8 days. It has two solar panels so you can charge the freeloader (geddit?) on the go on sunny days too. €42 in Great Outdoors for Dublincentric folk. If using it on a long days cycle you'd only have to bring the battery and could leave the panels at home. It can't charge and store sunlight at the same time though.
http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/travelpower/b1a6/?cpg=froogle

I'm sure there's other better links to it..

mloc123

Anyone know if...

When using the speed/cadence sensor on the bike will speed be calculated from gps or from the sensor?

Krusty_Clown

mloc123 wrote: »

When using the speed/cadence sensor on the bike will speed be calculated from gps or from the sensor?

https://forums.garmin.com/showthread.php?t=3356
Your questions answered and more..

TheRoadRunner

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

If that doesn't work, try a factory reset.

For the record I deleted all activities and maps are still missing. I also did a factory reset and they are still missing (2 different activities). This all sttarted going weird a while back when I updated the ANT software (I may be clutching at straws). I going to do a reinstall to see if that helps

Sosa

ok lads and lasses...heres one for ye.

I did an interval workout tonight,8*2mins with 90s recovery all set up on the garmin.
No problem setting up or anything,its just that all i can see while running is the clock counting back from 2mins and how many reps i am doing.
I need to see what pace i am doing the reps at...its to easy to overcook it and its pointless if you do that.

Help !

Peterx

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/43023680

tonight's session. Garmin all over the place, lap 7 short for no reason and the overlaid loops also all over the place. What's that all about, I need to have faith in my techno toys. Bring back jones counters

@ sosa: when doing 8x2mins I set up the training screen with laptime, lap distance and current pace. I don't use the garmin interval thingy at all. this works for me anyway.

W.B. Yeats

Folks

Have a few requirements but no idea how to satisfy them really

Don't run with a watch- need something to measure time
Distance: have limited idea of how far I run based on signs in parks etc and a few drives. Want to get a good idea of how far my run on any given day is
Would like something that I could use to map out a run before hand

Do I need a Garmin or some other such advice? If so what type of Garmin/other device and how much should I expect to pay

What are the other features and benefits of these devices? I'm in training for the 10 mile and Half- do I need to be bothering about Heart Rate?

Thanks for your help

Sosa

Peterx wrote: »

@ sosa: when doing 8x2mins I set up the training screen with laptime, lap distance and current pace. I don't use the garmin interval thingy at all. this works for me anyway.

Surely that defeats the purpose of the interval options then ?
How do you gauge your recovery time then ? or do you just stop the lap at 2 mins and then guess the rec ?

Murraythree

GPS Watch with Heart Rate Monitor for sale in Lidls on 9th August. Is it worth the money? :rolleyes:

http://www.lidl.ie/ie/home.nsf/pages/c.o.20100809.p.GPS_Watch_with_Heart_Rate_Monitor

Sosa

Peterx wrote: »

@ sosa: when doing 8x2mins I set up the training screen with laptime, lap distance and current pace. I don't use the garmin interval thingy at all. this works for me anyway.

Does that not defeat the purpose of the intervals option on the garmin then ?
How do you time recoveries...you must just guess ?

Krusty said something about setting it up on garmin connect first....

xebec

The first part of my run tonight: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/43030353

Figured after a first mile of 3:57 and 2 miles at 10:00 that something was going wrong, so reset the workout and no problems after that. I've had signal problems around here before but never that bad, and the buildings aren't even that tall - only 3/4 stories...

No real question, just pointing out how badly it can go wrong sometimes!

robinph

@xebec: The red line came up before the map there and I thought it was the elevation profile of your run.

TheRoadRunner

xebec wrote: »

Figured after a first mile of 3:57 and 2 miles at 10:00 that something was going wrong,

You have got to post those times in the best of '10 thread . A sub 4 minute mile in training niiiiiiiiiiiicccccccceeeeeeeee

xebec

TheRoadRunner wrote: »

You have got to post those times in the best of '10 thread . A sub 4 minute mile in training niiiiiiiiiiiicccccccceeeeeeeee

Aww can I?! I'll even put an asterisk beside it

RayCun

W.B. Yeats wrote: »

Don't run with a watch- need something to measure time
Distance: have limited idea of how far I run based on signs in parks etc and a few drives....Would like something that I could use to map out a run before hand...Do I need a Garmin or some other such advice? If so what type of Garmin/other device and how much should I expect to pay...What are the other features and benefits of these devices? I'm in training for the 10 mile and Half- do I need to be bothering about Heart Rate?

Cheapest option - stopwatch and mapmyrun. Use mapmyrun to plan your route, and a stopwatch to see how long it takes. Easy, inexpensive, nothing wrong with it.

Next cheapest - watch & pedometer, like Nike+. The watch will tell you how long your run took, the pedometer will tell you roughly how far you ran. You have to recalibrate them every now and again (by running a known distance), but you might find this handier than mapmyrun.

Next cheapest - watch with HRM, such as this. Won't tell you your distance, but will tell you how hard you're working. I don't use a HRM, and I think it's overkill when you're starting off, but they're useful as you get more serious about your running.

Finally - watch with GPS. Will tell you how long you've been running for, what distance you've run, and how fast you're running (and lots of other things too if you poke around). Great yokes. But they cost about 150 quid.

Murraythree wrote: »

GPS Watch with Heart Rate Monitor for sale in Lidls on 9th August. Is it worth the money? :rolleyes:

Isn't this where we came in? As Krusty said, why would you pay 140 quid for a no-name knockoff when for 150 you can get a well-known brand with a good record?

TheRoadRunner

xebec wrote: »

Aww can I?! I'll even put an asterisk beside it

ha ha. The auld fellahs will use this as revenge against me. Bloody technology

Peterx

Sosa wrote: »

Surely that defeats the purpose of the interval options then ?
How do you gauge your recovery time then ? or do you just stop the lap at 2 mins and then guess the rec ?

every time i hit lap the laptime (and lap distance) starts again from zero so after my scheduled recovery I go again. The total activity time keeps running away in the backround but that's irrelevant to me.

Krusty_Clown

TheRoadRunner wrote: »

For the record I deleted all activities and maps are still missing. I also did a factory reset and they are still missing (2 different activities). This all sttarted going weird a while back when I updated the ANT software (I may be clutching at straws). I going to do a reinstall to see if that helps

You mean for new activities, or for the activities you have already uploaded to Garmin Connect? If my assumption is correct, you have lost (irretrievably) all of the map data for older runs. You won't get the maps back for those activities. But for new activities (since you wiped the watch) it should record trackpoints.

Krusty_Clown

Peterx wrote: »

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/43023680

tonight's session. Garmin all over the place, lap 7 short for no reason and the overlaid loops also all over the place. What's that all about, I need to have faith in my techno toys. Bring back jones counters

@ sosa: when doing 8x2mins I set up the training screen with laptime, lap distance and current pace. I don't use the garmin interval thingy at all. this works for me anyway.

That is bad. Did you wait for a good satellite signal before you began, or did you just launch into it? Jones' counters are great, but have you tried running with one attached to your wrist? You really need to attach another one to the other wrist, just to keep the weight balanced correctly.