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Garmin Forerunner 305 problems anyone else ?
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When I first got it, I followed the instructions, got it plugged in and went out for my first run with it. When I got home and plugged it in to my computer USB bus, the computer froze and required a reset to reboot. Once the computer came up again, the USB bus didn't work. I realized that the likely problem was too much current draw on the USB bus, and was going to need to get a new motherboard
So, this time I plugged the Garmin Forerunner 305 into the powered USB hub instead of the computer. As soon as I did this, my computer blue screened (crashed) and it did so nearly every time I plugged the Garmin in. At this point I decided it must have been a problem with the Garmin Forerunner and got on their support system. Here is where the real problems happened.
Their support person told me:
1. Check for chipset names that are INTEL, NEC, etc. These are compatible chipsets with our devices.
2. If you have a chipset name that contains SiS, Via, OpenHCD, Ali, or Alr,
these chipsets are not compatible with our devices and may not allow the USB Card Programmer to function.
That wasn't on the package, or in the instructions, but regardless I learned that I had a compatible chipset from the manufacturer. So after letting them know that and that I now expected some compensation for my loss and that something definitely caused my motherboard's USB bus to go bad they asked that I send the unit, cable, charger, etc back to them so they could determine what might have caused the problem, which I did. After a week or so I asked if anything had been determined about what had happened but they didn't have any answers. I told them at this point that I expected some compensation for my damaged motherboard - another unit maybe? Something. They offered to send me a new unit and a cadence unit (for my bike) but I indicated that I already purchased the $60.00 cadence unit and that it didn't work on my bicycle due to the frame/pedal design and that a new unit would help since I really wanted to start using the new toy I bought.
After getting the replacement unit which didn't cause any blue screens (after a couple weeks) and seems to be functioning as well as the rest of the ones I've read about (not good), Garmin refused to compensate me in any way for my motherboard - I offered to accept the unit that I sent in back as payment - Garmin's response:
"Unfortunately, it appears as if we are unable to determine why the failure occurred given the information you provided. Thus we question whether the Forerunner 305 had anything to do with the failure on your PC. The device you provided does meet all specification standards. I apologize we could not provide a more conclusive answer. I will no longer respond to questions regarding the previous unit.".
And that has been my experience with Garmin. Great idea, but a bad company. There are a lot of problems with Garmin's products, unlike many better manufacturers like Canon and Apple computer, they don't deal with the problems in an equitable manner.
Update 2Oct2006 - Wow. Their senior staff attorney tried to offer me a 305 in payment for my time and fried motherboard after I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. The complaint requested payment for my 12 hours of time and my motherboard, to which he (the attorney) asked me to read the warranty! DOH! Like, dude, warranty this... They really are clueless about customers there at ol' Garmin.
In my opinion... Be ForeWARNED!
However, about 3 weeks ago it stopped downloading data to the PC, so tried the pencil eraser trick on my black contact, but still got the same error message. E-mailed tech support at Garmin and a named contact, courtesy of another forumite, and got 2 different solutions. Tried both (involving reinstalling something or other - i'm a bit unskilled on these IT issues) and neither work. Still getting the same error message so e-mailed Garmin who say they don't know what else to suggest.
So, what now? Problem is I have lost my receipt, so am not sure if either Garmin will replace it or Sweatshop. Any consumer advice? Or even technical advice?
Slow-coach - suggest you contact Sweatshop and not Garmin. You can phone them on 020 8758 0044. They may have records of their own that can help identify the sale. Given 305 has only been on sale in UK since March yours must be under 1 year old and still under manufacturers guarantee. If it was working and now isn't sounds like a fault.
What is the error message?
I found that Mcafee's spamkiller stopped me downloading to both sporttracks and Garmin's TC so problem was solved when this was switched off.
Here it is:
Error Information:
App: Training Center
At: 9/27/2006 7:01:16 PM (UTC)
OS: Windows XP Service Pack 2
Processor: Intel Processor Level: 15, RAM: 458224
DOC_APPLICATIONDATAVERSION.CPP-43-3.1.1.0
Encountered an invalid record type.
Encountered Type: Control Character hex value = 0
Expected Type: D
Did not read an Application Data Version Record from the Binary Stream.
Means nothing to me - I'm a blonde ;-)
I was a bit skeptical about using the sweatband but some people on here have found it to be effective.
I have been using black electrical tape over the contacts when worn for quite a while now (on my fourth unit) and so far so good. One other thing I have been doing that may or may not be helping is I have cleared the history after ever couple of runs. The theory behind this being that possible faults in the unit allowing memory areas to be written to that hold program instructions when lots of history data has built up...
I would recommend sending the unit back if faulty, Sweatshop have been really good in terms of returns. I just wish I hadn't had so many go wrong...
the first one was replaced 1,5 months ago (wouldn't connect to the computer). this one started to measure funny distances: 6.98 miles instead of 7.77 miles, 1100 meters when it is actually 1430 meters...
the miles started to get longer and longer after the first time it lost reception during my run today, then lost it another 3 times, in a suburban area, under clear sky..
is there any way to fix it? or does it mean, that's it, need to return it???
thanks
sf
Seriously though ...
There are stretches on my running routes where satellite reception is dodgy at certain times of day. I can even repeat the glitches on my Garmin (or rather my Garmin repeats them) in the same locations, whereas if I run the same route at a different time of day it has no trouble keeping track.
re. losing reception - ok, i accept that reception can be dodgy here and there but why on earth does it measure distances all over the place?
when it measured 1100 meters instead of 1450 the reception was excellent according to motionbased. has to be some software problem (??)
but, thanks, I will try again...
cheers
sf
On the navigation sub-menu in 'satellites' (I think), you can look at the position of satellites that you have locked-on to. When I'm about to have a 'bad' run (as far as reception is concerned - I have plenty of 'bad' runs as far as performance is concerned), I get the impression that most locked-on satellites are tending to line up in a row, which isn't much use when the Garmin is trying to triangulate your position. With only one satellite falling off this line, you can get good positional accuracy at the start of a run, but if reception to this key satellite should get dodgy during the run then all hell can break loose.
I had originally thought that the satellites were geo-stationary, but I'm tending to think otherwise now. Anyone with better knowledge out there?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GPS
seems like re-installing the software helped. I never managed to do the hard reset though.
I bought my 305 a couple of months ago and have set it to autopause when I stop running (at traffic lights etc). I've noticed lately though that it autopauses when I am actually running - I know I can be slow but not that slow!
Yesterday I wore it in a half marathon and it autopaused several times in the first few miles. By the time I got to mile marker 4 I was only reading 3.97 and when I crossed the finish line, according to my Garmin, I'd only run 12.97 miles! I was gutted this morning to find that my actual time was 1 minute slower than my Garmin had recorded.
Has anyone else come across this? I will switch the autopause off now to see what difference it makes......I also won't rely on it for racing.
Karen
Oh, and I got soaked in a downpour last week and it just stopped completely for about half an hour!
Check your settings for autopause - as I think can be set to "autopause" at a certain pace too. So for example, if you were a 9 min miler then your Garmin can be set to pause if your pace drops to 10 min miling. It maybe that you just need to set it to autopause when you stop.
Dont know if I should say it but so far my Garmin is fantastic
good to hear that happy customers exist! I guess we will get there, eventually...
I sent back on Sat my 2nd garmin, waiting for the 3rd to arrive....
how long have you been using it?
I turned the autopause off last night and it seemed ok - it used to autopause at certain underpasses and trees but was fine last night........until I compared my results with another runner who'd done the same run as me. He'd logged .3 miles further than I had. Am I just being picky?
I'm running my first marathon in Dublin in less than 2 weeks and was planning on using it for all my pacing info. Now I'm not sure whether to abandon it in favour of a good old fashioned watch!