PharmD

Anyone know how to fix a garmin edge 500 that doesn't track distance properly? The gps has been taking a while to start tracking my distance when I start my morning commutes. Sometimes it takes a half mile or more before it actually starts tracking. It's just annoying to have my mileage be off.

Chris Pringle

I read somewhere recently on this particular issue. The Garmin 500 alone doesn't track distance well. You need to pair it up with the cadence/speed sensor for it to work right.

RT

The first Garmin I got was the 500. It was also the last as they had to replace it for this exact problem. These threads always turn into free app + smart phone vs. Garmin There is a known issue with the 810, so there seem to be quite a few bugs floating around the entire platform.

plantrob

My 500 seems to work just fine - although I usually use it with speed/cadence sensor and PM, I've gone on rides on other bikes where the mileage is based solely on GPS and it is consistent. Obtaining satellites can take annoyingly long on dreary overcast days - sometimes a few minutes. But it's easy enough to adjust for that, if you want that extra precision in your mileage tracking. If you are using a speed/cadence sensor, check your wheel circumference setting. I found at one point that it had mysteriously changed, to where the Garmin was giving me about 10-15% lower speeds and distances.
Speaking of Garmin weirdness - has anybody encountered the problem where the device is in "timer on" (data recording) mode, but the screen shows the "movement detected - press start...." popup? I never used to see that, but it happened on a few recent rides. Had to turn the device off and on again to unconfuse it.

PharmD

I have it paired with a speed and cadence sensor. It will show the current speed, but won't show any distance for a while.

merlinextraligh

Are you giving enough time to locate satellites? If you turn it on, and start riding, before it completes its setup, it takes it awhile to eventually lock onto sattelites and start reading correctly.

Turn the Garmin on and let it start doing its thing while you put on shoes, gloves, helmet, check tires etc.

PharmD

It has located satellites by the time I start riding - it locates satellites and goes to my first data screen before I start riding.

fstshrk

Use the speed cadence sensor and this problem will be fixed.

waterrockets 

What's that big spaceship looking building in the background?

plantrob

So what you're saying is, the Garmin is in data recording mode, the display is showing a reasonable velocity, but the mileage isn't ticking up for a few minutes? That's just weird. When you download your data on connect.garmin.com, what do the plots look like for those early minutes?

eja_ bottecchia

This +

Beaker

You might consider a hard reset of the unit to help. If for some reason the gps lock isn't that strong, this can help. The 500 remembers which satellites it's used to lock before in an attempt to speed up the startup process. A hard reset will force it to find new satellites and might improve your signal.

https://support.garmin.com/support/s...00000000000%7D

Another question - do you have a lot of tree cover on your routes that could block/weaken the GPS signal? If so, GSC-10 cadence/speed sensor is the way to go.

Last thought, trawl through forums.garmin.com there's a lot of helpful folks there and a good catalogue of glitches and fixes.

StanSeven

Since you said morning commute and not coming home, are trees and other things blocking your start?

cafzali

If you don't have a cadence sensor, the Garmin will use satellites to track speed and distance. This makes it imperative to wait a minute or two after turning on the unit so that it synchs up to a larger group of satellites. If you do have a speed/cadence sensor, you'd be best served to manually set your wheel size and not let the Garmin unit auto calculate distance based on the cadence sensor. My experience is when you let it auto calculate using the sensor, you usually end up "short" on your mileage. All this said, my experience is as a long-time 705 user. I've not use the 500 or 510.

gc3

...accelerating to warp speed, Captain Kirk!

99Klein 

Not to hijack the thread, but are the Edge 200's ok? I'm about to pick one up.

fstshrk

I would avoid the Edge 200 simply because it does not do ANT+ (from what I remember). You can get an Edge 500 fairly cheap these days since the 510 is out.
If you want to save some money, REI had the timex cycling gps computer with ANT+ and barometer for around 130 last couple of weeks.

terrymorse 

Do you manually start the timer before riding away?

99Klein 

I would never use cadence or heart rate. Did all that when I was younger, now just enjoy going out for a ride but want to track millage between bikes without all the sensors. Been using my phone and basic cycling computer but would like to just pop computer from bike to bike and leave the phone at home.

simonaway427

My Edge 500 does the same thing.

Outdoors - Paired with the GSC-10. The LOCATING SATELLITES status bar fills all the way up and switches to one of my data pages. Despite this, it doesn't register any distance for the first minute or so. Yes, I have pressed START. It also shows speed, so its obviously paired and picking up the magnet properly. It just doesn't clock distance.

Indoors on the trainer - again, paired with the GSC-10. I have gone into the settings and disabled GPS. Press START. It registers speed, but not distance for the first minute or two. Then it kicks in.

Annoying to say the least.

TANC

You have to travel far enough first before there is a distance to display. It's not showing distance in inches.

BoSoxYacht

Mine does this when I fist turn it on. To make it work accurately from the beginning, turn it on and start the timer right away(auto pause feature will keep your rolling time stopped). Let it set for 3-4 minutes before riding, and it should work fine.

RT

Is this something for which I would pay $250 at the least? Garmin has a rabid following, which bodes well for their bottom line. My Garmin 500 issues identical to this were over two years ago. That this thread exists tells me Garmin has not yet corrected the problem.

I'll say it again - a canopy of trees can cause enough of a headache where a smartphone app and a wireless cyclometer can do a superior job.

AdelaaR

Mine has up until now worked without any problems, with or without speed sensor.

AdelaaR

How is a smartphone app superior?
It uses the same GPS signal and will be interfered by the same "canopy of trees".
GPS isn't a very accurate signal for speed, depending on all kinds of factors.