GPS tech (Garmin, Hammerhead, Wahoo, RWGPS, etc)

My old bolt did the same thing. I bought a hammerhead.

Endless cycle with Wahoo tech support

1. Have you deleted the maps you don’t need?
   
2. Do you have enough memory?
   
3. Can the device connect to the internet?
   
4. Try a factory reset
   
   

Go to 1

Found an Edge 520 Plus on the floor, and would like to get it working as a backup.
Did a route on it but at points it would stop and begin ‘loading’. Takes forever and ever to get to 100%. Like 30 minutes or something and while that’s happening the directions do not work and the screen is obscured by the loading animation.
What can I do to stop this?
I’ll try and update the software but what else could be the problem. Or is it just an older model that just won’t work super well.

Have you checked how much memory is being used by saved routes and activities? Could be worth clearing those off.

Any suggestions for a decent GPS for getting around town? Doesn't need to be fancy but does need to have good battery life. I use my Wahoo for about 10 hours a day at the moment. I'm getting pretty close to smashing my Wahoo Elemnt with a hammer, I just can't get it to reliably load any routes and customer service haven't replied to any of my emails about it. Factory reset and an update sorted it out for a bit but it's back to being shit again.

Got the maps back on the Wahoo ELEMNT

Factory reset
Again
Delete all maps again
Prune my routes a little
Only load U.K. & France back on
Bingo it bloody works

Re my HRM battery issue I finally resolved it by RTFM.

https://support.garmin.com/en-GB/?faq=5ZvEXLzx3r9lTszNbAV7t9

The key part I was missing was step 5 I.e. wait 60 seconds or more before replacing the battery. This allows the HRM to fully discharge and then it’s good to go again. Replaced battery searched for sensors and it paired instantly with the Garmin

Interesting. Ta

I wonder if it's worth trying that for this: https://www.lfgss.com/comments/16789089/

Climb!

Will be turning off this enhancement asap

yeah very annoying

It's worth a try, what's the worst that could happen?

Wahoo laid off about 16% of their staff. 80% drop in year on year sales (who'd have guessed, once the pandemic was over) and their management buyout was leveraged on sales continuing so they're in a hard place

Uh oh!

I was a big Wahoo fan - really loved my bolt v1 it seemed to constantly get new updates where you wouldn't feel left out when device ages (i've had this feeling with Garmin), and it felt like initially there was no bugs or problems everyone is experiencing these days like route syncing and stuff.

These days it seems they introduce new bug instead of a feature with every new update and they also don't fix the old ones which I've reported multiple times and I think are major usability flaws. But the layoffs seem to explain it.

Any recommendations for a route mapping service that works with Garmin Vivoactive 3 watch? Got a second hand one off ebay as my first foray into this sort of thing, turns out it doesn't support 'courses' uploaded to the Garmin connect app. Komoot's Garmin app seems to work, and I've also come across a Garmin app called dwMap. Just wanted to get peoples thoughts before paying for a subscription to komoot or something similar

I have one of those - can it even do navigation?

Apparently! There is a 'navigate' activity although I haven't figured out how to add locations/routes yet

I mainly got it for fitness tracking but hoping I can also use it for mapping as an alternative to my phone

I use dwMap on a different Garmin watch (forerunner 235) and I'm a big fan of the free version. It's just a breadcrumb trail rather than an actual map, but I've found it good enough to navigate fairly complicated trail runs that I've not done before. I've also used it when walking in a different country where I don't want pay for data on my phone to use that as a tracker.

At complicated junctions you'll sometimes end up going the wrong way, but it's easy to spot that pretty quickly.

Give it a go for sure, it's free after all.

I have a Vivoactive 3. The 'navigate' activity just gives you a compass-style pointer in the direction of one of your pre-saved locations.

I got as far installing a 'Maps4Garmin' app which does display a street map, but haven't actually used it!

Edit: Looks like that gives you a just-about scrollable/zoomable map, but no route/waypoint navigation.

TBH I think you're asking a lot for what is primarily a fitness tracker; GPS (and probably map redraws) burns through the battery very quickly.

Thanks both. Tried dwMap yesterday, it works on my watch but was a real faff to set up and I found it pretty hard to follow once I was moving. So yeah probably best just to use it for fitness tracking I think! I do really like the idea of not relying on my phone however, so I think I'll have a look on ebay for something more fit for purpose

Shameless plug for a couple of multisport watches I'm selling, both more than capable at most things you'd need.

https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/3833­70/#comment16845481

NM, did some googling.

Garmin 1040 have USB-C yet?

LMGTFY: Yes, https://the5krunner.com/2022/06/08/garmin-edge-1040-review-specifications/

Anyone using a Karoo 2 for longer distance off-road, off-grid kind of stuff? I think I'm over Wahoo since getting a Bolt V2 - When I got the original Bolt it was a huge improvement from Garmin in reliability, but this doesn't seem to be the case nowadays.
Karoo seems pretty good, but am confused whether it's possible to do very much offline - e.g. if I'm somewhere with no mobile data on my phone, is it then impossible to transfer a route from phone to the device?
I realise battery life is worse too, but think I can live with that as have hub dynamo charger, powerpacks, etc.
(to be honest most of my cycling is actually just around Kent, but I am off to more remote bits of Scotland later this year).

Answering my own question slightly, it seems you can't turn off auto re-routing which I'd imagine is a massive pain for the sort of riding I do.
Maybe I should look for an edge 1030 instead.
What are most people using for ultra-distance offroad stuff these days?

Garmin units have massively improved over the last few years, the 830, 1030 and 1040 are all really solid with good battery. If you're feeling flush then the 1040 solar has ridiculous battery.