What's a "data bit" and how do I manage them on a Garmin 800?
 

On the Devil Mountain double century earlier this year, my Garmin 800 stopped working at mile 137 even though I had recharged it after 100 miles and it still had plenty of charge left.

Another rider told me that I'd used up all the "data bits" (whatever they are?) since there was so much climbing on this ride, plus I had my heart monitor on (which uses up more "data bits," apparently) the Garmin had "used up" all the allocated "data bits" for one ride.

Okay, I am so non-techy that I have no clue but I'm hoping someone here does. Or could refer me to a previous thread on this subject . . . maybe?

Anyway, said rider told me I had to hit the "Reset" button to start a new ride at about the 100 mile point and I could (somehow) link the rides back together when the rides had been uploaded to my Garmin/Strava pages. Is this true and if so, how do I do it?

Thanks in advance for all your help.

Rick / OCRR (not a tech guy!)

Note: Had plenty of "data bits" for the Grand Tour double in June (only 8,000 ft. of climbing) and ran out of "data bits" just at the end of the Knoxville double (13,900 ft. of climbing @ 202 miles) two weeks ago (no heart monitor on Knoxville though).

If it was a charge issue, it would have been clear that that was the problem.

That's a useless way to describe the problem.

The 800 (and others, presumably) have a fuzzy limit on the length/time they can record. The limit is shorter for more data types being recorded. 137 miles seems a bit on the short side of when this problem occurs (I've seen it at around 190 miles). It's not sure what causes the problem but, when it occurrs, it cause the unit to get stuck (in a way that is hard to get it out of).

Yes, this what you need to do. Stop recording (right button) and resetting it (left button until the countdown ends) and then restarting the recording.

I've been told that marking a lap (left button) will prevent the problem but I haven tried it).

There are a few ways of merging the rides (but I haven't done that).

Thanks for taking the time to reply and all of that information nykayaker,

I will work on that for the next double I have coming up, i.e. Bass Lake Powerhouse this Saturday.

1. Right, I knew it wasn't a charge issue.
2. Yes, the unit "got stuck" and I couldn't find a way to un-stick it.
3. I will use the stop / restart / reset count-down procedure at about 100 miles on the Bass Lake double at the same time I plug in the re-charger.
4. I will look at Garmin connect and Strava sites regarding how to connect the rides.

Rick / OCRR

For info and help with the Garmin 800 you might try the Garmin 800 users' forum: https://forums.garmin.com/forumdisplay.php?f=245

Thanks Looigi,

I did sign up on the Garmin 800 user forum!

Rick / OCRR