Keeping Garmin charged on extra long ride
Comments
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Rolf F wrote:The 3d is automotive mode; I'd forgotten the slightly unhelpful term Garmin use to describe it! It's the same info but thinking about it you probably do see less on the screen at any one time - if you zoom out far enough it just displays as normal top down. I like it as the junction angles are rendered more as you see them. Might be worth experimenting with battery life in automotive mode as opposed to top down.
I shall be doing just that - well experimenting with automotive mode anyway, just to see if I like it. I havent got any long rides planned for a month or two to test battery life. The first question is whether I like the 3d display to start with - I have actually got used to seeing serveral different stats most of the time apart from when a turn prompt comes up and might miss the level of information as you cant show that much on a map page anyway!0 -
apreading wrote:Rolf F wrote:The 3d is automotive mode; I'd forgotten the slightly unhelpful term Garmin use to describe it! It's the same info but thinking about it you probably do see less on the screen at any one time - if you zoom out far enough it just displays as normal top down. I like it as the junction angles are rendered more as you see them. Might be worth experimenting with battery life in automotive mode as opposed to top down.
I shall be doing just that - well experimenting with automotive mode anyway, just to see if I like it. I havent got any long rides planned for a month or two to test battery life. The first question is whether I like the 3d display to start with - I have actually got used to seeing serveral different stats most of the time apart from when a turn prompt comes up and might miss the level of information as you cant show that much on a map page anyway!
I used to have a couple of metrics at the top of the screen but I gave up on those. You would probably want to zoom out a bit more if you do have additional data at the top otherwise the turns can come up on you a bit too quickly. It's a shame you can't set the size of them and bin the frames as that would give you a bit more map view if your eyes were up to still seeing the numbers.
Good news for me is I found a download for Firmware 2.8. Garmin were entirely unhelpful saying that
"Unfortunately we cannot provide the ability to roll back to previous software or firmware for our devices"
Translation =
"We can provide the ability to roll back to previous software or firmware for our devices but we won't because we'd rather you spent £70 on our external charging kit full of stuff you don't need because your SON dynamo hub will do all that anyway or would if we let you - we just wish we'd thought of this earlier so you wouldn't have realised we screwed up the firmware deliberately in a cynical profit making exercise"
Prats.Faster than a tent.......0 -
Top tube bag as mentioned is less faff, plus easy way to bung some bits to eat in. My front lights had a powerpack I keep in the top tube bag. Also usually has some haribo or the like in there less to worry over.0
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I have an Garmin 820. The battery will last 8+ hours easily and if it is running low charging it with a usb power bank is the way to go. I have yet to actually have it run continuously for 8+ hours though without the software crashing and losing my data. Terribly unreliable...0
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I have an 810 and completed a 12hr ride on it with 30-odd % battery left. I don't have any maps installed though, just rely on the breadcrumb trail/blue line and get my phone out on the very, very odd occasion I need it (usually when I've made mistakes making the route...)0
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Tried it with just turn directions, def the way to go. Cheers.apreading wrote:tubaonwheels wrote:I'm hoping to get out for a long ride as soon as the weather picks up, so will try it then. I will have to change mount as my out front won't have enough room to plug in. I will need map function on the vast majority of the long ride I've planned for the summer.
Do you really need the constantly scrolling map? Or just turn by turn directions with the map available if you want to pull over and check something in more detail?0 -
Just an update on this thread. I lowered my aim a little to a 200 mile solo ride yesterday. Picked a right day for it! Got rather boiled. Managed the ride though, had three cafe stops plus a break at home before adding last 30 odd miles to get to 200, topped charge up on garmin at stops. Glad I'd lowered my sights as was a tough day out for me, chose a hilly route with 12000' climbing. Possibly going to try a 300 in next month or so but flatter route and with company/support.
https://www.strava.com/activities/10414918120 -
I use an external pocket charger/ power pack for all my long rides (over 7hours) it works just fine but I don't ride with it plugged in. I just take a rest stop and charge it while I drink a mug of tea or have lunch.
Id be concerned about showers or surface water if I ride with it plugged in.
Also I'd likely forget it was plugged in and might drain the pocket charger . The unit chargers up plenty over a 45 minute lunch stop.
Good luck on the big ride.0 -
Cheers. That's exactly what worked for me, a little boost on all stops more than did the trick. Didn't fancy riding with it plugged in either.Mr _Tibbs wrote:I use an external pocket charger/ power pack for all my long rides (over 7hours) it works just fine but I don't ride with it plugged in. I just take a rest stop and charge it while I drink a mug of tea or have lunch.
Id be concerned about showers or surface water if I ride with it plugged in.
Also I'd likely forget it was plugged in and might drain the pocket charger . The unit chargers up plenty over a 45 minute lunch stop.
Good luck on the big ride.0 -
The 500 and 300 which have the older port style need a special lead. I bought one with a charger that took AA batteries, however it was a bit clunky. If you have one of these models you'll need to do a bit of research to make sure you get one with the correct lead otherwise it turns off and saves the ride when you plug it in.
However, if you have the newer Garmin then any power bank will do. You can get them cheap enough in tesco. A single cell (lipstick sized) one will do a gamrin charge easily plus more. But if you want to charge something else as well (like your phone) then I'd recommend a twin cell.
Tape it below the stem with a short 10 cm micro usb cable.0
