VIRB ... The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

Once again - I am posting here because there is not a dedicated device section in the Forums for the VIRB.

I WILL MAINTAIN THIS POST AS A SUMMARY OF ALL THE CURRENT ISSUES in V2.60 AND TICK THEM OFF WHEN RESOLVED.

Version 2.80 has now been released and things are looking much better!!!!

The Good ... The VIRB Edit software and awesome overlays, Great Camera Hardware, Battery Life, Screen, Ease of use/menus and when it works far better than my GoPro 3.

The following moved to the good list as initial testing suggest they are FIXED in 2.80 (After hard reset and using default 1080p settings) :D:

( 1) VIRB Elite Camera Regularly Crashes and Freezes - Software Version 2.60 : TRAP: 0x6E5D8031 MIPS32 exception - FIXED
( 2) Some video recordings don't have a GPX track - maybe related to above - FIXED
( 3) Edge 510 Remote (Edge software update 2.8) - stops working intermittently - a camera restart is required to resolve - FIXED
( 5) VIRB Edit - Import of Elite Video and GPX's sometimes are not in sync - manual GPS alignment is needed to resolve - FIXED
( 7) Garmin WebUpdater Crashes using VIRB to check for latest software - FIXED

The Bad ....

( 4) No iOS / iPhone App as yet and no estimate of arrival date
(10) Problems pairing GSC-10 Speed / Cadence Sensor

And the maybe ugly?? (GPS Sensitivity) ...

A cycle today on a small section I noticed the speed overlay erratically jumping up and down and the GPS track looked very wobbly, so replaced GPS data with the FIT file from my Garmin Edge 510, which was perfect, speed correct and GPS track smooth and correct. So both devices next to each other in same environment on same day and the VIRB camera GPS plot is erratic. Compare and Constast the VIRB and Edge tracks below over a small section.

Garmin Edge 510 FIT (Software Version 2.80)

VIRB Elite GPX (Software Version 2.60)

0 schinder over 11 years ago

Once again - I am posting here because there is not a dedicated device section in the Forums for the VIRB.

The Good ... great camera, battery life, screen, ease of use/menus and when it works far better than my GoPro 3.

The Bad ....

(1) VIRB Elite Camera Regularly Crashes and Freezes - Software Version 2.60 : TRAP: 0x6E5D8031 MIPS32 exception
(2) Some video recordings don't have a GPX track - maybe related to above?

As far as I can tell, the VIRB Elite only writes out the GPS + ANT+ data at the very end of the ride. So you only get the track from the last crash to the end, and if the last crash occurs at the end, you lose everything. Far better would be for it to write it out periodically as it goes along, so that we wouldn't lose everything. If there were a user settable "maximum time/size of clip" where it ended a video clip and then wrote out the GPS track to go with the clip, that would help minimize the data loss.

(3) Edge 510 Remote (Edge software update 2.8) - stops working intermittently - a camera restart is required to resolve
(4) No iOS / iPhone App as yet and no estimate of arrival date
(5) VIRB Edit - Import of Elite Video and GPX's sometimes are not in sync - manual GPS alignment is needed to resolve

And now the downright ugly ...

A cycle today on a small section I noticed the speed overlay erratically jumping up and down and the GPS track looked very wobbly, so replaced GPS data with the FIT file from my Garmin Edge 510, which was perfect, speed correct and GPS track smooth and correct. So both devices next to each other in same environment on same day and the VIRB camera GPS plot is erratic - I hope the hardware is up to the job - is this another software glitch? Compare and Constast the VIRB and Edge tracks below over a small section.

Garmin Edge 510 FIT (Software Version 2.80)

VIRB Elite GPX (Software Version 2.60)

The more I use the camera, the more issues I find ... this is starting to feel like pre-release / beta testing ... I hope there are fixes to the above and very soon!

The tracks I've been able to get, only portions of two rides, look OK to me, so the GPS seems to be working on mine. I've got one on Garmin Connect http://connect.garmin.com/activity/401858158 that was taken simultaneously with this http://connect.garmin.com/activity/401850412

0 SteveC over 11 years ago

GPS Sensitivity

Directly comparing my Edge 510 (Software 2.8) and VIRB Elite (Software 2.6), it appears that the Edge is far better at getting a GPS fix. Indoors in a front room of my house (near a window) the Edge has GPS Fix Acquired within a few seconds. The VIRB is still flashing away trying to get a GPS lock. When it finally gets a lock it is only briefly and then reports Lost Satellites. All the time the Edge has a rock steady lock.

Maybe this explains why I am occasionally getting poor and sporadic GPS data on the VIRB.

Does anybody know if the GPS chipset in the VIRB is as good as the Edge 510 - or is this another software issue on the VIRB?

0 SteveC over 11 years ago

Garmin WebUpdater Crashes using VIRB

Trying to use Garmin WebUpdater to check for latest VIRB Camera software crashes on Mac OSX 10.9
(Works ok with EDGE 510)

Tried WebUpdater versions:

WebUpdaterforMac_206.dmg
WebUpdaterforMac_213.dmg

And both crash with following error:

[FONT=Courier New]Process: Garmin WebUpdater [473]
Path: /Applications/Garmin WebUpdater.app/Contents/MacOS/Garmin WebUpdater
Identifier: com.garmin.webupdater
Version: 2.1.3 (2.1.3)
Code Type: X86 (Native)
Parent Process: launchd [223]
Responsible: Garmin WebUpdater [473]
User ID: 501

Date/Time: 2013-11-15 21:00:48.951 +0000
OS Version: Mac OS X 10.9 (13A603)
Report Version: 11
Anonymous UUID: 108CB04E-082B-F989-455E-DE005F9D0EBF

Crashed Thread: 11

Exception Type: EXC_BAD_ACCESS (SIGSEGV)
Exception Codes: KERN_INVALID_ADDRESS at 0x00000000fffffffc[/FONT]

0 schinder over 11 years ago

I can confirm that. Installing VIRB Edit 2.2 yesterday also installed a new Web Updater, but while it fine with my Edge 800, it crashes on the VIRB Elite checking for "Additional Updates"

Process: Garmin WebUpdater [92497]
Path: /Applications/Garmin WebUpdater.app/Contents/MacOS/Garmin WebUpdater
Identifier: com.garmin.webupdater
Version: 2.1.3 (2.1.3)
App Item ID: 477318609
App External ID: 6655762
Code Type: X86 (Native)
Parent Process: launchd [310]
Responsible: Garmin WebUpdater [92497]
User ID: 501

Date/Time: 2013-11-15 16:44:25.885 -0500
OS Version: Mac OS X 10.9 (13A603)
Report Version: 11
Anonymous UUID: 5EAE9528-22B9-3D1F-A532-01F6B5D0C4BD

Crashed Thread: 23

Exception Type: EXC_BAD_ACCESS (SIGSEGV)
Exception Codes: KERN_INVALID_ADDRESS at 0x00000000fffffffd

VM Regions Near 0xfffffffd:
--> shared memory 00000000ffff9000-00000000ffffa000 [ 4K] r-x/r-x SM=SHM

0 SteveC over 11 years ago

i had one question re your post: you wrote
(1) VIRB Elite Camera Regularly Crashes and Freezes - Software Version 2.60 : TRAP: 0x6E5D8031 MIPS32 exception

where did you see the trap?

The device writes to a log file on the SD card - elog.txt

0 CANOEZOO over 11 years ago

And what about the Video?

Has anybody done a test of the video quality in low light? I commute in the dark and would like to get the VIRB (when and if the bugs are worked out!) right now I have the H3-BE works well in low light but crashes all the time.

0 SPG100 over 11 years ago

Somehow its reminds me that story with EDGE 810 & 510 which was full of bugs :(.

To sad for Garmin especially if they want to compete with the leader GOPRO

0 jbadilla over 11 years ago

Has anybody done a test of the video quality in low light? I commute in the dark and would like to get the VIRB (when and if the bugs are worked out!) right now I have the H3-BE works well in low light but crashes all the time.

take a look a this youtube samples:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAZaWnWllOk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhrVwa-a_So

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPL3K84jxl8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYKXU_mxY-E

0 Former Member over 11 years ago

We also need a page for the Camera's themselves!

Once again - I am posting here because there is not a dedicated device section in the Forums for the VIRB.

I WILL MAINTAIN THIS POST AS A SUMMARY OF ALL THE CURRENT ISSUES AND TICK THEM OFF WHEN (IF) RESOLVED.

The Good ... The VIRB Edit software and awesome overlays, Great Camera, Battery Life, Screen, Ease of use/menus and when it works far better than my GoPro 3.

The Bad ....

(1) VIRB Elite Camera Regularly Crashes and Freezes - Software Version 2.60 : TRAP: 0x6E5D8031 MIPS32 exception
(2) Some video recordings don't have a GPX track - maybe related to above?
(3) Edge 510 Remote (Edge software update 2.8) - stops working intermittently - a camera restart is required to resolve
(4) No iOS / iPhone App as yet and no estimate of arrival date
(5) VIRB Edit - Import of Elite Video and GPX's sometimes are not in sync - manual GPS alignment is needed to resolve
(6) GPS Sensitivity (See Below and Later Replies)
(7) Garmin WebUpdater Crashes using VIRB to check for latest software (See Later Replies)

And more on the the downright ugly (GPS Sensitivity) ...

A cycle today on a small section I noticed the speed overlay erratically jumping up and down and the GPS track looked very wobbly, so replaced GPS data with the FIT file from my Garmin Edge 510, which was perfect, speed correct and GPS track smooth and correct. So both devices next to each other in same environment on same day and the VIRB camera GPS plot is erratic - I hope the hardware is up to the job - is this another software glitch? Compare and Constast the VIRB and Edge tracks below over a small section.

Garmin Edge 510 FIT (Software Version 2.80)

VIRB Elite GPX (Software Version 2.60)

The more I use the camera, the more issues I find ... this is starting to feel like pre-release / beta testing ... I hope there are fixes to the above and very soon!

Please add camera support to your list! ie When is the first firmware update being released?

0 Former Member over 11 years ago

Night test Virb Elite Vs GPH3B

Has anybody done a test of the video quality in low light? I commute in the dark and would like to get the VIRB (when and if the bugs are worked out!) right now I have the H3-BE works well in low light but crashes all the time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZL1niN6HFZM