Garmin 800 with new cadence/speed sensor constantly pausing

prhymeate

I recently replaced my GSC10 speed/cadence sensor with the newer model that goes on the hub. For some reason it is constantly auto pausing/resuming and I was wondering if anyone else had experienced the same issue? The batteries are new so that shouldn't be a problem, it's set to auto pause at 4mph or lower yet it will pause at any speed. Is there anything else to try before I back it up and reset it?

buckmulligan

Sounds like a signal drop-out issue to me.

Are you using this on the turbo trainer? If so, I'd try holding the head unit closer to the hub and see if the problem persists.

prhymeate

I'm not using it on a trainer, just my regular bike.

slowbike

Speed sensor on the front or back wheel?

thomasmorris

I swapped to the new senors (paired to a 500 though). Mine drops out a lot outside. I think it's on rough road mostly as the vibrations messes with the accelerometer.

I got it as I thought it would be easier to swap between bikes, which it is. However, it dropped out so much that I stopped using it outdoors and rely on GPS signal.

I use it on the trainer now, where I get the odd drop out, but I think that is interference with WiFI because I got it with the old style sensors too. I also use it on the TT bike (generally smoother roads).

I've not noticed teh same problem with the cadence sensor, but then that doesn't auto pause so maybe I'm just not realising when it's dropping out.

super_davo

I get this with mine, Garmin 800 too and sensor on the front wheel. It does it every time I go over certain bridges, and randomly elsewhere. Bizarrely there are 3 different bridges I cross over the same road (A12) miles apart and the same thing happens on all three. I've put it down to something blocking or interfering with the signal. Doesn't seem to affect the data much when I upload, just quite annoying!

prhymeate

Slowbike wrote:

Speed sensor on the front or back wheel?

It's on the rear wheel.

I haven't noticed that it's at certain points in a ride yet, I've only been out three times with it. It's not so annoying if I turn off the notification noise... but I like to have that on if I'm using maps because it alerts me of an upcoming turning.
It can't be due to vibrations surely? I mean wouldn't that have cropped up on day one of them testing the product before release? The roads I'm riding on aren't especially bad.

slowbike

I dunno - the new cadence sensor I've got works a treat ... the speed sensor worked once and last time I tried I couldn't get it to work (on my turbo) - must try it again really

ayjaycee

When you say that the batteries are new, is that because they came with the unit and it is new (ie. and therefore unused so the batteries must be the same) or that you replaced the originals yourself with new ones. If the former, suggest you try new batteries before anything else - I have got the same speed and cadence sensors and although, I have never actually used (nor fitted) the speed sensor, the cadence sensor gave me issues with my Edge 500 almost straight out of the box - basically, it kept freezing about 10 min into a ride and needed restarting. Anyway, I changed the original batteries supplied by Garmin, re-paired it and have never had problems since. If you do go down that route, suggest you don't buy batteries on the high street as they can cost a fortune - if I remember correctly (BUT check), they are CR2032s and can be had at £2 for 10 off ebay.

prhymeate

ayjaycee wrote:

When you say that the batteries are new, is that because they came with the unit and it is new (ie. and therefore unused so the batteries must be the same) or that you replaced the originals yourself with new ones. If the former, suggest you try new batteries before anything else - I have got the same speed and cadence sensors and although, I have never actually used (nor fitted) the speed sensor, the cadence sensor gave me issues with my Edge 500 almost straight out of the box - basically, it kept freezing about 10 min into a ride and needed restarting. Anyway, I changed the original batteries supplied by Garmin, re-paired it and have never had problems since. If you do go down that route, suggest you don't buy batteries on the high street as they can cost a fortune - if I remember correctly (BUT check), they are CR2032s and can be had at £2 for 10 off ebay.

Thanks, maybe I'll try that. The unit is brand new so I just assumed the batteries would be fine.

Sutton_Rider

I used to use my 800 with just the cadence sensor with no problems, but I added the speed sensor a couple of months ago and its doing just what your is. I'll maybe take mine off as I only put it on so as I could use it on the turbo. (its on the back wheel). Could be yet more Garmin crap.

prhymeate

It seems to be quite a common issue... Does anyone know what the margin of error is when just using the gps for speed? I guess I could just remove it and only use the cadence sensor if it's pretty accurate. I paid for both though so might return it for just the cadence sensor if that's the case.

When using the old sensor I manually set the wheel size, is it possible that the new sensor doesn't need that info and that it confusing the readings from the accelerometer in the new one? Maybe I'll set it to auto on my next ride and see what happens

captain_chaos

Mine does it too but looking at the data in Strava I never see any gaps so I have almost given up and almost am not bothered

I say almost because it shouldn't drop out but as I say - no apparent data impact

prhymeate

Captain Chaos wrote:

Mine does it too but looking at the data in Strava I never see any gaps so I have almost given up and almost am not bothered

I say almost because it shouldn't drop out but as I say - no apparent data impact

Yea, my data seems fine. It's mainly annoying me because of the constant beeping and I'd like to keep the notification on for upcoming turns when using route guidance. At the moment, I'm pretty tempted to return it and buy the older model if I can find it anywhere at a reasonable price.

pastryboy

I think your data will be fine because you're still logging GPS points and it will just fill in the gaps based on time/location like when you go through a tunnel.

I think the auto pause is common. Mine has been good as gold indoors but outdoors would auto pause from time to time.

prhymeate

To be honest I'm kinda suprised it seems like a common issue and that generally, people seem ok with it. It's driving me nuts.

slowbike

Instant GPS speed is rubbish unless you're in a clear sky area .. quite a bit of my commute has overhanging trees - the computer always shows slow speed along those sections and once the trees clear the reported speed picks up - despite the fact that I'm going at the same speed (same gear, same cadence!).
Doesn't affect strava too much though - as most of the segments start/end in clear sky areas where the GPS accuracy seems a bit better ...

thomasmorris

Instant GPS speed is OK in in clear skies, but can jump around 1-2 kph. Over a ride it averages out to be pretty accurate.

Under tree cover it can be out by 10 kph.

For me:
MTB: sensor causes auto pauses over all rough ground, so is pretty pointless. However GPS speed under trees can cause auto pausing too, but is the lesser of two evils. I'm not too fussed about knowing instant or even average speed on MTB though. I just turn off auto pause so don't get the bleeping, and so it records all my HR data.

Road bike: sensor works OK majority of time, but on worse surfaces the auto pausing becomes annoying. I'm not too bothered about instantaneous speed, just power, so I do without the sensor. GPS is good enough for average speed and trip distance, which I like on my ride summary page.

TT bike: I need an accurate instantaneous speed for AeroLab calculations, so use the sensor. The roads I TT on are usually better, but I can get a couple of drop outs a ride. I then need to go in and fix the data for aerolab analysis.

Strava: strava irons out the auto pauses as it just take GPS points and uses the distance between them to calculate speed. If you auto pause and drop a recording point, it just takes the speed from between the two GPS points either side.

Turbo trainer: i need a sensor here as you obviously can't use GPS! I don't get many dropouts. The ones I do get are due t WiFi and I used to get the odd drop out with the magnet.

I'm only using the sensor for two of the applications I was planning (TT bike and turbo). So that's disappointing. But previously the magnet sensor was zip tied to a single bike. For me I'm fairly certain it's bumps that are causing the auto pausing because of how bad it is on the MTB. I've noticed it happening just after I go over small bumps on the road. But it doesn't happen on every bump... maybe the timing has to line up with a certain sensor orientation?

Fat-Boy-Roubaix

Me too, so much so I went to buy a GSC10 and they are like rocking horse shit, or if in stock £40-50, mine auto pauses 3-4 times every 5 miles drives me nuts. On my commute just using GPS is almost as bad lots of try cover. That's irritating when you are putting in a bit of effort to be told you are going at 7mph!

prhymeate

Looks like it's the norm with the 800 then... I think I'm going to return it and live with the gps speed and no cadence whilst I hunt down a GSC10 that doesn't cost a fortune.

prhymeate

hmm, resetting my device didn't do the trick. Back to amazon it goes.

dyrlac

Without meaning to be an apologist for Garmin's horrible software Q/A (my beef is the two-step GPS satellite acquisition: I get green bars, set off and then immediately lose satellites, even under clear skies), why would you ever have autopause enabled? Strava, et al, automatically computes speeds using moving time.

wotnoshoeseh

Hi all,
I had a GSC10 but the speed sensor gave up the ghost on it. So I bought the new sensors at the weekend. I had auto pause and auto resume beeps on Saturday at first use.
I also had the same issue at one stage with the GSC10, and found clearing the rides from the memory cured it - until the speed sensor actually stopped working.
So on Saturday evening I cleared the rides from the Edge 500 memory - rode 78 miles on Sunday with no issues. So before you return anything I'd give that a try.

I also agree that it is frustrating having the Auto Pause and Resume beeps every couple of minutes.

Sutton_Rider

I took my speed sensor off and did 38 miles on Saturday with no issues. I brought mine in the US so I guess I can't take it back. So I've set up 2 bikes on the 800, one with the sensor for use when using the turbo and the second without the speed sensor for usr on the road.

prhymeate

I've been for a few rides without the cadence/speed sensor and they've been fine, although this weekend it recorded my 20min cafe stop despite auto pause being on and Strava didn't seem to automatically fix the pause. Anyway, I've picked up an old sensor with new battery for £30 on ebay so hopefully things will be back to normal soon.

dabber

Prhymeate wrote:

I've been for a few rides without the cadence/speed sensor and they've been fine, although this weekend it recorded my 20min cafe stop despite auto pause being on and Strava didn't seem to automatically fix the pause. Anyway, I've picked up an old sensor with new battery for £30 on ebay so hopefully things will be back to normal soon.

If you are getting a lot of satellite drift and not using a speed sensor then Strava may consider you were moving during your cafe stop.

I understand that ... "Strava considers a point "not moving" if your speed is less than 0.3 meters/sec (0.67 mph), but we don't start accumulating resting time unless you're "not moving" for at least 15 seconds".

The above was their response to a related question some time ago.

If you look at the ride of someone on a turbo trainer who has not turned off GPS you will usually see a lot of squiggles around the general area of their house as the satellites try and track.

apreading

I find that if I lose satellite by going indoors, before the auto-pause kicks in, then it must assume you are still moving but in a tunnel or something. I guess it does this so that it gives a better way to cope with temporary satellite loss. You need to make sure the pause kicks in before you go in the cafe, might just mean waiting a second or two, or pause it manually if you dont want to wait. Only ever happened a couple of times in the years I have been using my 800.

I would be wary of a second hand GSC10, if that is what you have bought. They are fabulously reliable in all ways apart from one. The 'reed' in the end of the arm that detects the magnet sometimes stops working or works intermittently. The cadence sensor works fine but the speed sensor misses a wheel rotation occasionally. Normally when some moisture has crept in over time or its had a knock (nobody seems to know really). Mine laster three years before this happened but then was annoyingly intermittent. Got a new one but when I got hit by a car the new one no longer works at all - the reed is obviously totally busted.

I was going to buy one of the new ones for my new bike but now am not so sure. I have found that the satellite is fine for my purposes, so might not bother at all. Certainly not shelling out for the new sensor if it has problems.

prhymeate

I was outside with my bike the whole time I was at the cafe with no overhanging trees etc. Looking at the ride on Strava, there dont seem to be any erratic squiggles where we stopped, it just didn't pause for some reason. I have checked that auto pause was definitely on and it was, so I'm not sure why it did that. The ebay seller has sold over 1500 items with 100% feedback so hopefully if there are any issues it won't be difficult to return it. I guess I'll find out.

wongataa

Prhymeate wrote:

When using the old sensor I manually set the wheel size, is it possible that the new sensor doesn't need that info and that it confusing the readings from the accelerometer in the new one? Maybe I'll set it to auto on my next ride and see what happens

You always need to input a wheel size (either manually or by letting the unit work out a size). Otherwise the unit cant convert the number of wheel rotations per time unit into a speed.

I have these sensors working with my 800 just fine. Speed sensor is on the rear hub. I occasionally get a dropout when a car drives past. I assume that this happens due to Bluetooth interference from that car. Bluetooth and ANT+ are both on the 2.4GHz band (as is Wi-Fi). Do you have Bluetooth active on your phone? If you have a power meter in the hub that the sensor is on that can screw things up too. I would also try putting the sensor on the front wheel to see if that changes anything.

apreading

wongataa wrote:

You always need to input a wheel size (either manually or by letting the unit work out a size). Otherwise the unit cant convert the number of wheel rotations per time unit into a speed.

No, you dont need to input anything. Set it to auto and have the GPS work out the size - will be MUCH more accurate than manually inputting it. And it will recalibrate so if you change wheel/tyre/pressures etc, it will adjust automatically.

drlodge

I took the GSC10s off 3 bikes and sold them, never looked back. The bikes are now easier to clean too :-)