Garmin sensor not working, repair or replace

clayboy

Hello all,

My garmin speed/cadence sensor has stopped working correctly, it will not pair to the the garmin 800 and is not picking up the wheel/crank movement.

Changed battery, still not working.

At £40 a go, do garmin repair these? or do I jusy buy a new one.

Cheer's, Nick.

smoggysteve

Have you tried pressing the reset button on the side until it flashes green red? This should indicate if its getting power. Then try moving the magnets on the pedal and wheel to see if they are being picked up - there correct distance should make the lights flash again for the respective sensor. If this is all good then go into your garmins setup and select it to pair up with a cadence sensor again. This very thing has happened when replacing the battery and my 500 has failed to see it initially.

peat

bin it.

Mine went up the swanny after about 6mths, garmin were very good and replaced it FOC promptly.

The replacement lasted 4 weeks before it started mucking up my ride data by stopping of it's own accord. I tried everything on both occasions to get it to work and it did, intermittently. I got fed up of it ruining my ride data, so i removed it from the bike and put it back in the box, where it has stayed.

dowtcha

Below unit is 16.99 and +ant compatible if you can't get the garmin working

http://www.decathlon.co.uk/ant-speed-ra ... 81211.html

binsted

Garmin do not repair them, I am on my 3rd under warranty. Mass produced for a few pounds (or probably pence) so you can be lucky or otherwise. If this one breaks outside warranty period it will not be replaced.

The one annoying thing is that even though Garmin give you a new sensor they do not give you 12 month warranty on it, just the time outstanding on the 800 warranty. This to me speaks volumes of their confidence in them.

wardieboy

I had the same trouble and ended up buying a Wahoo sensor form wiggle to pair with my garmin 500. It has been flawless, would recommend.

clayboy

thank you for the replies.

Think I will just replace it with a different make.

Cheer's, nick.

sungod

how old is it?

< 2 years, make a warranty claim

gavt0333

So having just opened mine up and repaired it, I would say it's probably not worth it unless you have a) good experience of electronic equipment maintenance, b) also the tools for this including a 20-30W soldering iron and also c) you are willing to have something that is no longer weather-proof. I opened it and re-soldered new magnetic reed switches onto the circuit board, which are the things operated by the magnets on the wheel and crank-arm. To do this I had to saw open the whole body and arm, resolder both switches and then superglue the whole apparatus together. It works fine, although I couldn't risk it outside, but in all honesty it was quite a hassle and probably doesn't make sense when you can get the Decathlon one for £16.99.

TBH I am really disappointed in Garmin for the amateur nature of these sensors when the rest of their kit is really fairly robust and long-lasting. I actually have a total of 6 Garmin GPS units for different uses and they have all been excellent, with none being sent back under warranty or clapping out on me.

The speed sensors are a whole different kettle of fish. Turns out the really very flimsy electronics inside have absolutely no protection from being knocked about and will fail almost immediately given a hard enough knock, mine having hit the magnet on the wheel a few times when the sensor slipped round slightly on the chainstay. The reed switches are very vulnerable things and I have now wrapped some tape around the new one I have installed to give some impact protection. I hope this will prevent the same thing happening again in future although only time will tell. These units are way over-priced both for what they are and the frequency with which they go wrong. I have ordered one from Decathlon so we shall see if this fairs any better. :roll: