Garmin Edge 500 - Can it be fixed or what alternatives??

wotnoshoeseh

So, I've had my Garmin Edge 500 for over 5 years now - probably closer to 6.

I've been having some issues with the unit auto-pausing and auto-resuming during a run. On one occasion about a month ago it actually stopped working and stopped tracking. I had to turn the Garmin off and then back on mid-ride to have it start to work again.

After that I did a hard reset on the device and for the first run or two everything seemed to be fine. Then it started auto-pausing and auto-resuming again. Then today it auto-paused and would not auto-resume. So, again, I stopped the unit mid-ride and re-started it. Questions:-

How do I stop the unit from auto-pausing?

If I cannot stop it from this auto-pausing, is it at the end of it's useful life?

If so, should I contact Garmin to see if they an offer me a refurbished one?

Or should I just buy a new device? And, if so, what one? Garmin again? Or are there better options on the market?

flasher

5/6 years sounds pretty good service to me, I'd contact Garmin and see if they'll swap it for a reconditioned unit, there is a charge for this.

Currently the Wahoo Bolt is getting rave reviews, might be worth looking at.

wotnoshoeseh

Currently reading DC Rainmaker review of Wahoo ELEMNT.... :roll: :idea:

StillGoing

Ditch Garmin and move to the Wahoo Element or Element Bolt if you really want something small that is no different in operation.

wotnoshoeseh

philthy3 wrote:

Ditch Garmin and move to the Wahoo Element or Element Bolt if you really want something small that is no different in operation.

It's not so much that I want something different, but just reliable and relatively easy to use.
I'll have speed/cadence and HR monitor, and want to be able to swap between bikes - does the ELEMNT Bolt allow you to select different bike set ups with different sensors etc., like I can with my Edge 500?

I read the reviews but couldn't see where that was covered.

I'll also use the routes from RideWithGPS occasionally and I like the idea that the ELEMNT Bolt will automatically sync with the RideWithGPS to upload rides onto the unit.

Also, how does battery life on the ELEMNT Bolt compare to the new 520?

There's a bit of "Better the devil you know..." going on in my mind.
I'm thinking more BOLT than ELEMNT as I can't really see much advantage in the ELEMNT for the extra £££

stevie63

To answer a few of your questions.

The wahoo does not allow different profiles but it will just pick up whatever sensors you have already synced with it so it's not an issue.

The ride with gps integration is great. No more manually moving files into folders. Once or twice it hasn't worked but I suspect that is a server issue. I just make sure I have the route I want sent over a couple of days before I need it so this isn't a cause for concern.

The battery life is much better than the 520. Using routing with the map on display, 6-7 hours was best you could hope for in the 520. The wahoo lasts 10 hours plus easy.

paul_onabike

First thing I would check is the speed sensor. If it's not working properly that would cause the problems you describe. Try changing the battery first.

StillGoing

wotnoshoeseh wrote:

It's not so much that I want something different, but just reliable and relatively easy to use.
I'll have speed/cadence and HR monitor, and want to be able to swap between bikes - does the ELEMNT Bolt allow you to select different bike set ups with different sensors etc., like I can with my Edge 500?

I read the reviews but couldn't see where that was covered.

I'll also use the routes from RideWithGPS occasionally and I like the idea that the ELEMNT Bolt will automatically sync with the RideWithGPS to upload rides onto the unit.

Also, how does battery life on the ELEMNT Bolt compare to the new 520?

There's a bit of "Better the devil you know..." going on in my mind.
I'm thinking more BOLT than ELEMNT as I can't really see much advantage in the ELEMNT for the extra £££

The Wahoo devices don't allow you to have different bike profiles, but if each bike has a set of sensors of their own, as mine do, it isn't a problem. If the ride is uploaded to Strava or most other data logging programs, you can simply add which bike was used if desired. Having said that, the 820 didn't allow differing bike profiles either.

Using the mapping function of the Wahoo devices is so simple. You can use Ride with gps or Komoot to auto upload rides to the device. Komoot does require a one off payment for regions or a blanket access to all regions, whereas Ride with gps is free. As far as I know, only these two programs will give you turn by turn notifications on the Wahoo devices, but both are more accurate than Strava for elevation and distance in my experience. As for Garmin Connect, well, if you polish a turd, it'll still be a turd.

The Wahoo battery life is excellent compared to all the Garmin devices I've owned (705, 810 & 820) and the screen display is so much easier to see in dim or bright light.

I went for the Elemnt for the additional LED lights that it has and for the bigger screen. Having had the 820, I realised it was simply too small for my needs. Even with just power, cadence, speed and HR on display, it was difficult to read on the move. With the Elemnt screen, reading the data is far easier and presents no problems. With the Elemnt Bolt screen size, that would still be a problem for me.

I get what you're saying in better the devil you know. But, as someone that was a diehard defender of Garmin and who finally had had enough of their incompetence/arrogance with their products, I bit the bullet and switched to Wahoo. I only wish I had done it sooner and not wasted money on the 820.

meanredspider

philthy3 wrote:

I get what you're saying in better the devil you know. But, as someone that was a diehard defender of Garmin and who finally had had enough of their incompetence/arrogance with their products, I bit the bullet and switched to Wahoo. I only wish I had done it sooner and not wasted money on the 820.

Lordy, you're risking incurring the wrath of @Flasher for "trolling" Garmin. "99.9%" of Garmin customers are completely satisfied, don't you realise???

I do wonder if he works for Garmin....

thomasmorris

wotnoshoeseh wrote:

How do I stop the unit from auto-pausing?

Very easy to disable auto-pause.

Menu> Settings > Bike Settings > Auto Pause > Select "Off" from first drop down list.

When you upload to connect or Strava it automatically takes out the 'stops' from your average speed etc. That might offer simple a workaround for your problem but isn't addressing the route cause.

If you have a speed sensor, magnet or accelerometer then they could be the issue, not the head unit itself. Could be either low battery or just faulty. You can turn these off and test if you still get issues with auto pause by going Menu > Setting > Bike Settings > Bike 1 (or whatever you've named it as) > ANT+ Spd/Cad > select no from top drop down menu. Speed and auto pause will then be working on GPS instead (or just take them off your bike).

My 500 is great. It's just such a great unit for 99% of what I do. Compact, easy to read, has all the data you ever want, great battery life. I can identify with why you're reluctant to change, I'm certainly going to hand on to mine as long as possible.

I have 1000 as well, and to be honest the only time it's really needed is maps / routes when I'm riding somewhere I don't know (i bought it for touring). The other thing I like is the bluetooth upload which is handy on holiday when you don't have a computer. The rest are just gimmicks.

wotnoshoeseh

Thanks for all the responses and insight.
Like thomasmorris, I do quite like my 500, but the issue I have is that on both bikes with different speed cadence sensors I'm still getting the stop/start issues. I've been down the route of changing the batteries on the speed / cadence sensors but it made no difference.

Turning off auto-pause is one solution but I like to know what my moving average is rather than the overall average when out riding, so for me not really a solution.

I like to have the cadence too to understand how well I am spinning - gives me a good idea as to how/why my legs are more tired than they should be..

It sounds like a new Wahoo could be on it's way at the end of the month.

flasher

meanredspider wrote:

Lordy, you're risking incurring the wrath of @Flasher for "trolling" Garmin. "99.9%" of Garmin customers are completely satisfied, don't you realise???

I do wonder if he works for Garmin....

Flasher wrote:

Currently the Wahoo Bolt is getting rave reviews, might be worth looking at.

Flasher wrote:

Garmin sell 100's of thousands of sat nav's, for 99.9% of those users they function perfectly well,

Do you actually read the threads before you pronounce your wisdom upon us mere mortals.

meanredspider

Flasher wrote:

meanredspider wrote:

Lordy, you're risking incurring the wrath of @Flasher for "trolling" Garmin. "99.9%" of Garmin customers are completely satisfied, don't you realise???

I do wonder if he works for Garmin....

Flasher wrote:

Currently the Wahoo Bolt is getting rave reviews, might be worth looking at.

Flasher wrote:

Garmin sell 100's of thousands of sat nav's, for 99.9% of those users they function perfectly well,

Do you actually read the threads before you pronounce your wisdom upon us mere mortals.

Of course I do. Just because you work for company A doesn't preclude you from suggesting to someone they look at a product from company B - especially if you know it's far better. I've done it. In fact, when I worked for P&G the joke was that even the boffins that developed the (then new) Fairy dishwasher tabs used Finish tabs at home because Fairy tabs were so rubbish.

As for the "99.9%" I was paraphrasing. It's a subtle difference between "functioning perfectly well" and people being "completely satisfied" as the first usually leads to the second (if only the first was true in Garmin's case)

wotnoshoeseh

Update: Splashed the cash last week on the Wahoo ELEMNT Bolt, just in time for an Audax event over the weekend. I was able to use the sensors I already had for speed/cadence and HRM. Pairing sensors was straightforward once I realised that I had to do it from the ELEMNT Bolt itself. Originally I was thinking I had to do it from the App?
I then had two opportunities to use it beforehand, both of which I used the mapping on with TBT directions. I knew the routes, I just wanted to check out the directional capabilities of the new GPS. Liked the LED's for the turn directions - pretty good.
Trial was excellent - no issues, and allowed me to fine tune the data required on the screens.

Changing the screen displays through the App is straightforward and intuitive.

I thought with the 200k audax I'd turn off the LED's just to be sure that the battery would last. Over 7¾ hours in the saddle and a total time of 9½ hours, with mapping on, I still had 30+ % left at the end of the run. Never missed a beat, and no auto-pausing.

Only issue I had was I had to reconnect my ELEMNT to my home wi-fi when I got home, which involved re-pairing the ELEMNT Bolt to the phone. Not sure what that was about, but hey ho...

Verdict: Great GPS. Easily uploaded routes from RideWithGPS. Clear screens - easy to read. All the data you want/need, and being able to zoom in / out of the screens to get the most important details is excellent.

super_davo

wotnoshoeseh wrote:

So, I've had my Garmin Edge 500 for over 5 years now - probably closer to 6.

I've been having some issues with the unit auto-pausing and auto-resuming during a run. On one occasion about a month ago it actually stopped working and stopped tracking. I had to turn the Garmin off and then back on mid-ride to have it start to work again.

After that I did a hard reset on the device and for the first run or two everything seemed to be fine. Then it started auto-pausing and auto-resuming again. Then today it auto-paused and would not auto-resume. So, again, I stopped the unit mid-ride and re-started it. Questions:-

How do I stop the unit from auto-pausing?

If I cannot stop it from this auto-pausing, is it at the end of it's useful life?

If so, should I contact Garmin to see if they an offer me a refurbished one?

Or should I just buy a new device? And, if so, what one? Garmin again? Or are there better options on the market?

Bit late now for you but when my 800 started playing up I flashed it with an earlier version of firmware. As a lot of firmware updates have caused issues, there are a wealth of articles online as to how to do it. Problems went away. And because I was a numpty when I plugged it into Garmin express it updated back to the firmware it was on before the downgrade; but it is still fine.
If I you I would still do that to see if it fixes it, because then you've either got a spare or you can sell a working Garmin rather than a slightly defective one.