Losing patience with Edge 305...

Jaeger

My Garmin Edge 305 has been pretty reliable, but has started to occasionally turn off randomly, lock up, not turn on and (today's malfunction, which I was particularly happy to discover at the start of a sportive!) the battery was on 1 bar despite charging yesterday evening til it said full!

Do others have these problems? I have heard reports of them being a bit temperamental but was wondering to what extent. I am beginning to wonder how much of an upgrade it really is over my Polar CS100 if I end up worrying whether it'll even turn on every time...!!!

fast as fupp

Jaeger wrote:

My Garmin Edge 305 has been pretty reliable, but has started to occasionally turn off randomly, lock up, not turn on and (today's malfunction, which I was particularly happy to discover at the start of a sportive!) the battery was on 1 bar despite charging yesterday evening til it said full!

Do others have these problems? I have heard reports of them being a bit temperamental but was wondering to what extent. I am beginning to wonder how much of an upgrade it really is over my Polar CS100 if I end up worrying whether it'll even turn on every time...!!!

have you tried upgrading the firmware?

Jaeger

Is this the software installed on the device?

Doobz

send it back to garmin and for £50 they send you a brand new one

fast as fupp

Jaeger wrote:

Is this the software installed on the device?

yes

oldwelshman

Doobz wrote:

send it back to garmin and for £50 they send you a brand new one

+1.
I am on my third.
Unfortunately the first was out of warranty so had to pay £50, the next was withing 12months so just got new one.
They had same problem, switching off going over bumps.
This is nothing to do with firmware it is to do with the crappy design internally.
They have a spring contact to connect the power from the battery to the unit and this goes faulty.
I opened mine to try to clean them but it did not work.
You can also try eleastic band wrapped round unit.

ForumNewbie

I've had a Garmin Edge 205 for over 2 years now and today it went blank for the first time - after 29 miles. It did warn me earlier in the ride that the batteries were low, but nothing I could do, but hope it would last the whole ride which it didn't. Amazing how many times I automatically glanced down over the next few miles only to see a balnk screen. My own fault really as I should have charged it up last night.

Fully charged it usually lasts 7 or 8 hours before it warns that batteries are low.

1878

I treated myself to a 305 last year and found it to be a cracking device let down by a battery that wouldn't go for more than 3hrs on a full charge. Not seeing the point of a device that wouldn't even last for half of a good day's riding I sent it back only to discover the replacement was just as bad. Sent back and refunded after that.

Now I just use my Garmin Etrex which I got for walking, with a handlebar mount. Much bigger and ungainly-looking but will give me all the basic speed, time and distance info (obviously missing the heartrate/cadence and other bike-specific stuff).

Steve.

popette

looks like I'm going to have to do this too - mine started turning itself on bumpy roads yesterday and did it again today. £65 to replace now though. I would love to pay more to upgrade to 705 but this isn't possible apparently.

schlepcycling

I'm also on my second and like other people the first was out of warranty when I sent it back so it cost me £57 to replace. Now my 'new' one has started playing up, just last week after charging it wouldn't turn on so I had do a hard reset. On the very next ride it stopped recording heart rate so I assume the battery in the chest strap had gone so I replaced it with no joy, I tried another replacement battery still no joy. Luckily I had the new chest strap that came with my replacement head unit so I'm using that....god knows what I'll do when the battery goes in that one. Also the bike mounts are rubbish the little clicky strip breaks off really easily. I'd love to pay to upgrade to a 705 too but Garmin won't let me

1878

Is the 705 any better though? In terms of reliability I mean, I understand the extra functionality and want one so much it hurts :-)

antfly

Had a 305 for 3 years,almost, with only minor problems.I presume you know to press lap and mode buttons together for a few seconds if it won`t turn on.It`s a good idea to check it comes on after charging or after connecting to a pc.Also,if charging from a pc and the pc switches off it seems to drain the battery.When it gets full up it does funny things so delete history.Of course it might just be broken.

oldwelshman

popette wrote:

looks like I'm going to have to do this too - mine started turning itself on bumpy roads yesterday and did it again today. £65 to replace now though. I would love to pay more to upgrade to 705 but this isn't possible apparently.

You have same issue I had
Funny thing is when you turn it back on, the trip is saved but the time reset so I had av speed fo 600mph for a 60 mile ride!!!
Also be careful to back up your data if you need it, twice when I plugged unit in to charge and upload data, it wiped history out!!!
Garmin do not allow upgrade to 705 I also asked.
I suspect they have the same crappy internal power connector design though.
I cannot believe the desigin considerring the use it is going to be put to, like going over bumps and hitting pot holes

Jaeger

Hmmmmm, obviously some sort of design error then. :roll:

It is ok most of the time, but obviously when it 'goes' it's a real PITA.

How long was the turn around on a replacement? Did it require sending to the US? Don't want it missing for too long with a fair few sportives coming up.

popette

10 days they quoted to me - know what you mean about fitting it around sportives. I'm going to have to do a sportive on Sunday and then send it back first thing monday so I can get it back in time for the next sportive.

flyer

I have had the 305 for just over a year and no problems, however fully charged it only lasts about 4 hours.

I don't think you can turn the screen off whilst riding?

That said its a good bit if kit and does what it says on the tin!

Flyer

guilliano

If it helps the battery on my 605 lasts about 14 hours...... worth the upgrade in its own right just for that

oldwelshman

Sent mine to Southampton, replacement received withing a week so good service, just crap design
If you want to use it for sportive, stick it in your pocket as it is less likely to switch off, at least you get the data at the end of the ride, if it turns off it gets messed up.

kettrinboy

ive had my edge 305 since Nov 2006 and done 13000 miles on it , i havnt had it switch off once over bumpy terrain not even over really rough stuff on the MTB,but about 6 months ago it went through a stage of draining its battery overnight even though it was switched off, it did this about 5 or 6 times which was bloody annoying when i,d got up to start a ride early and then had to recharge it, but then it just cured itself and has been fine since, other than that it hasnt missed a beat so i must have got a good un compared to some

twonks

My and the OH have had 305's for about 2 yrs now.

Neither has failed whilst out on the terrain, although they both refuse to turn on occasionally. A quick holding down of the buttons to reset it works a treat though.

What is more annoying is turning it on after a full charge to find it is flat.

Apparently once charged to full it is advisable to turn the unit on then off again to make sure it is truly off and not draining the battery.

Doing it like this means I haven't had any battery incidents since.

Never goes off over bouncy terrain or in down pours either.

All in all, I'd still consider the 305 to be a wonderfull bit of kit.

popette

Have any of you heard the stuff on radio five live these past two days about all items bought in EU having 2 year guarantee?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/victoriaderb ... ion_y.html

I bought my garmin from Halfords - wonder if it's worth taking it back there with this document.