Garmin Edge 500 problems

[DooDah]

Hi All,

My family kindly bought me a Garmin Edge 500 with cadence sensor for my birthday. So I went about setting it up including the cadence meter and the associated 2 magnets (one on the crank arm and another on the rear wheel spoke°. So went out for a ride today and for most of the time the unit just kept saying "Auto-pause" and then "Auto-resume" thousands of times and beeping like mad. It only actually recorded 29km of the 56 that I did.

On my return home I realised that the spoke magnet actually produces speed and distance data as well as cadence and it overrides the GPS data. Also I had not aligned the magnet with the line on the GSC10 accurately enough. Would this cause this problem? Also, what is the point of the GSC10 giving this data over the GPS, I may as well have bought a cheaper non GPS computer. Or is it the main unit is faulty (a quick google search showed people had the same problem). Any advice would be greatly received.

It doesn't help that it was my maiden metric 50km ride

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

Hi All,

My family kindly bought me a Garmin Edge 500 with cadence sensor for my birthday. So I went about setting it up including the cadence meter and the associated 2 magnets (one on the crank arm and another on the rear wheel spoke°. So went out for a ride today and for most of the time the unit just kept saying "Auto-pause" and then "Auto-resume" thousands of times and beeping like mad. It only actually recorded 29km of the 56 that I did.

Check your Auto-Pause setting and change it to something realistic. Mine for example pauses <3mph mainly as 3mph is never a speed I do so it's distinct.

On my return home I realised that the spoke magnet actually produces speed and distance data as well as cadence and it overrides the GPS data. Also I had not aligned the magnet with the line on the GSC10 accurately enough. Would this cause this problem?

Yes

Also, what is the point of the GSC10 giving this data over the GPS, I may as well have bought a cheaper non GPS computer. Or is it the main unit is faulty (a quick google search showed people had the same problem). Any advice would be greatly received.

GPS can be interrupted by things like trees/buildings/tunnels,having actual hardware removes the issue(if setup right ) and also allows the garmin to be used indoors.

Garmin units by design aren't speedometers,they are navigation aids with a splash of cycling specificity(ANT+ /SPD/CAD/HRM/PWR) whether via 500's breadcrumb or 800/810's routable mapping.

It doesn't help that it was my maiden metric 50km ride

You're not the first or last person to do it.

 

[DooDah]

My auto-pause is set as "when stopped". I guess I am surprised that Garmin does not allow the GPS to be used and when the signal is lost the hardware kicks in. You would have thought that for 200 quid this would be given. Also, if the hardware was not working properly, surely the GPS would then kick in?

You're not the first or last person to do it

I know, but it was still annoying!

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

My auto-pause is set as "when stopped". I guess I am surprised that Garmin does not allow the GPS to be used and when the signal is lost the hardware kicks in. You would have thought that for 200 quid this would be given. Also, if the hardware was not working properly, surely the GPS would then kick in?

I know, but it was still annoying!

That's probably why it was auto-pausing sporadically(trying to use GPS but occasionally finding the GSC10). My 800 can do 27mph with the bike leaning against a wall Give auto-pause a value and fix the gsc10/magnet issue.

Garmin units work in priority. If you have the GSC10 or other ANT+ sensor paired it will by preference take data from this,as it will be the most accurate and overall reliable way. All it really wants to do is track where you have been/going/will be going

It makes sense when you think about it.

 

[DooDah]

Many thanks for the info. To be sure I have positioned the spoke magnet correctly, and I will try again tomorrow. I will then remove the spoke magnet (presumably it is that giving the speed and distance) and see if the unit works just on GPS. I live in an area where there are few built up places

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

Don't quite understand why you would remove the spoke magnet. But whatever floats your goat.

 

[the_mikey]

Just a point about GPS, it's not that accurate. Even when cycling along at 35km/h my gps speed can be reported as 22km/h, and trees, tall buildings, tunnels, radio interference and the whim of the US government can all upset the GPS device. But that said, if accuracy isn't really that important to you the Edge500 works happily stand alone, and most of the time the data produced in this way is more than adequate.

 

[DooDah]

Many thanks for the info. To be sure I have positioned the spoke magnet correctly, and I will try again tomorrow. I will then remove the spoke magnet (presumably it is that giving the speed and distance) and see if the unit works just on GPS. I live in an area where there are few built up places

Just to make sure that it was the mis-alignment issue of the magnet and not a problem with the main unit.

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

New toy paranoia

 

[DooDah]

New toy paranoia

Yeah, you are almost certainly right, I think I have a bit of OCD when it comes to things working right.

 

[Garz]

I removed my speed/cadence sensor after replacing batteries and aligning I gave up in the end. I had a good years worth of cadence data gathered to know what my leg speed is and after a while it's just another function that's nice to have but not essential. I still use the HRM.