Garmin 305 altimeter stopped working properly

fishyweb

Went out for a ride in the drizzle this morning. The alitmeter in my Edge 305 stopped working properly about half way into the ride, recording altitude changes in big steps rather than the gradual increments as it normally does i.e. seemed to get a lot less sensitive. My guess is that some moisture got into the holes on the back of the unit and caused this problem.

Anyone else had this problem? Can anyone reassure me that it will be fine again by the time it has dried properly for my next ride?

pingpong

doubt that;
They are suposed to be water resistant

kettrinboy

they are supposed to be water resistant but i got caught in a heavy downpour once and the altimeter went haywire but on drying it out ie giving it a good shake it was fine, ive never had it happen with drizzle though

richa

They are supposed to be waterproof to 1m submersion under water (IPX7). How heavy was the downpour :shock:

fishyweb

Pleased to say that it worked fine when I used it on the bike this morning, so I'm very certain that it was the drizzle that screwed it up on Saturday. I guess the water resistance is not all it should be!

owenlars

The small holes on the back are where, I think, it gets access to atmospheric pressure, if these get wet then the barometer gets a dodgy pressure reading and the altitude calculation goes tech. You may have also noticed the little beeps it emits from time to time sound somewhat strangulated in the rain, these come out from the same holes.

Mine does this when it gets wet and is fine when it dries. It is waterproof, it just finds it difficult to read atmospheric pressure under water.

White Line

Surely the elevation isn't calculated using a barometer. Think of the difference a change in temperature would make. :? Elevation mapping would be much more logical.

IanLD

Mine did this today too. Worked fine until I hit the heavy rain on the Stewarton road and then recorded very little variance in the altitude until it gradually dropped down. With the amount of spray coming off the front wheel, I'm not surprised it played up, but I would have thought the GPS could have taken over reading the altittude.

Don't know what a 705 is like, but at the price I'll be keeping my 305 for a few years yet.

owenlars

It's pressure wot does it for certain (GPS is sued as well but GPS altimeter is not very accurate. So I'm afraid it does change with pressure at the rate of 32 feet per millibar. (If you fly you have to change the pressure setting depending on what the pressure is and whether you are measuring altitude (height above sea level) or elevation (height above the local land)