Edge 800 useless for anything it's designed for...

sdalby

Hi,

I saved up for a while to buy an Edge 800 having read pretty much all raving reviews on the technical training and navigation abilities of the device.

Having used it since christmas I must say, I'm very disappointed.

Each time I attempt to use the 800 it causes nothing but trouble. On general use, I let it find signal about 10 minutes before my journey. Even when I have full signal, I cycle away, go past a tree and loses reception, and then I have to stop for another 5 minutes for it to find the satellites again. Today, I had full signal, and yet it didn't pick up where I was or measure the speed or distance travelled. On the odd occasion that it seems to have worked reasonably, I upload the activity to Garmin Connect and find that the route on the map looks like it's been drawn by a 3 year old trying to trace the roads. i.e. a straight line looks like a sine wave, the overlay is inches away from the road I was actually on etc.

Do I have a bad one? Or is this just how it is? It has already had a hard reset which was recommended, but that doesn't seem to have done anything. It will be going back to the shop tomorrow for a new one. And if the new one is the same, then i will be getting a refund. I'm not paying £300+ for something that doesn't do what it is made to do.

Briggo

Thanks for telling us that you're taking it back to the shop.

This thread is done.

sdalby

Do I have a bad one? Or is this just how it is?

Well I was hoping for a bit more response than that t**tface above. He obviously can't read as there was 2 questions in the post.

Briggo

sdalby wrote:

Do I have a bad one? Or is this just how it is?

Well I was hoping for a bit more response than that t**tface above. He obviously can't read as there was 2 questions in the post.

You'll find out when you get your new one won't you.

Stu Coops

Briggo wrote:

sdalby wrote:

Do I have a bad one? Or is this just how it is?

Well I was hoping for a bit more response than that t**tface above. He obviously can't read as there was 2 questions in the post.

You'll find out when you get your new one won't you.

So rather than be helpful you'd rather be sarcastic when the OP was basically asking if anyone else was having issues, if you got nothing constructive to add to help then don't post it's people like you who give forums a bad name.

ddraver

Mine doesnt do that...

Briggo

Stu Coops wrote:

Briggo wrote:

sdalby wrote:

Do I have a bad one? Or is this just how it is?

Well I was hoping for a bit more response than that t**tface above. He obviously can't read as there was 2 questions in the post.

You'll find out when you get your new one won't you.

So rather than be helpful you'd rather be sarcastic when the OP was basically asking if anyone else was having issues, if you got nothing constructive to add to help then don't post it's people like you who give forums a bad name.

I aim to please, perhaps it's not the unit perhaps the location is the cause but we don't know that as it was just an unconstructive rant.

If the unit doesn't record or receive signal and quite simply doesnt work common sense should prevail and tell you something isn't quite right, unit or location. If it was the norm garmins reputation would be in tatters.

Think about it.

batmo

I have an Edge 800 and it works very well within my expectations of what a mapping GPS should do. There is some loss of signal in tree cover (strangely, it seems not to be the densest cover but where the leaves are medium density but low over the trail) but as far as I know every 'leisure' type GPS has these issues (I can't say about professional or military units).

I use the free Basecamp software rather than Garmin connect and I have the GB Discoverer OS based mapping. I find that the logged route correlates pretty well with roads and even bridleways on the maps. Most of the places where it doesn't match are where the cartographer has had to sacrifice spot-on accuracy in favour of clarity. One of my reasons for choosing the Edge 800 was the ability to use OS mapping, I've never used the base map on a ride and it does seem, well... basic!

If you press Menu-spanner-system-GPS-veiw satellites you will get to a screen that shows your current grid ref, a diagram of the satellites overhead, a bar chart of the signal strength from each one and the GPS accuracy in feet. It would be worth a check on this to see how many sats the unit is receiving signals from, the more the merrier of course.

Good luck!

njee20

My 705 isn't like that at all, I'd only assume the 800 is no different, sounds like a dodgy one.

pilch

^^^ very much this, had my 705 coming up to 3 years now, never missed a beat (pun?)- apart form when the hr strap got a bit gummed up, then it just needed a clean, brilliant bit of kit, I would think the op's 800 is a duffer by the sound of it, plenty of friends have the 800 with no issues...

apreading

I turn my 800 on when I mount it on the bike, by the time I have put my helmet on and looked down it has found a GPS location. It has NEVER (yet) lost signal on road or moutain biking in thick forest.

Must be something wrong with yours.

nferrar

Have you tried updating the firmware (if there's an update available)? Other than that yeah take it back and get a replacement, it shouldn't be doing what you report. That said Garmin won't win any awards for user-friendliness or decent software...

The Rookie

Not Garmin, but where I work every GPS unit I have tried is slow to locate postion and often takes a few minutes, never had this issue when leaving from home, so some issues can be location specific. In that case i get no spiking once it has locked on OK.

Suspect an issue with that particular devise.

diddyfunk

none of these issues with mine

signal within 30 seconds and never lost signal on any rides

me thinks its a problem with the unit

good luck

Benjo74

diddyfunk wrote:

none of these issues with mine

signal within 30 seconds and never lost signal on any rides

me thinks its a problem with the unit

good luck

Same with me. I've been very pleased with mine. Hopefully a replacement will sort it for you.

camerauk

Another satisfied user here as well
Unit locks on within a few seconds although it will take a little longer when you travel to a different location than when it was last turned off but under 30 secs for mine
as said before suspect unit is at fault and i'm sure a replacement will work fine

stubs

Where did it come from I have heard that some are set to look for southern hemisphere satellites and you have to manually set your zone. My Garmin Dakota came set for Australian timezone and I had to go into settings and do it manually.

bails87

Mine doesn't do anything mentioned in the OP either. It occasionally takes a couple of minutes to get reception, but it's normally quick and then once I'm on a ride it's fine.

Lagrange

I've got an adventurer - probably the same chip and I use the OS Maps. Where I live receprion is none too good and so I get some issues and occasionally the track does not exactly co-incide with the os map when you upload the route. Check the memory - I have to empty mine every couple of weeks or I have problems.