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Problems with Ant+ connectivity

Does anybody NOT have problems with third party ANT+ devices and the F5? My experience is as follows:
- Stryd: not usable; tons of drop-outs on runs. Most importantly long pauses of 30-60s with zero values
- Powertap P1 pedals: around 10-20 drop-outs on a 50 mile ride; most of these drops are really short
- Stages: Useless - zero connectivity - tried Bluetooth and ANT+

Wondering if the F5 is just flawed (weak antennas?) or if I got a bad model. Spoke to Garmin support two weeks ago and they asked me to wait for further software updates.

Are there people out there that do not have these kind of problems?

0 Former Member over 8 years ago

This may or may not help but.

Just bought the Fenix 5 sapphire and was out for a ride using the garmin soft strap heart rate monitor (standard one). The heart rate kept dropping out every few seconds and when it was connecting, seemed very low. This was the latest public FW. I decided to try switching off the wrist heart rate monitor rather than leaving it on auto and voila, perfect connection, no drop outs and what looked to be normal heart rate for what I was doing.

Just updated to the latest Beta to see if wrist HR monitor in auto works when using the chest strap or not.

Anyway, maybe of help.... maybe not but just an observation from my own experience.

Cheers

0 wojtek_b over 8 years ago

I don't believe its HW issue. As I see, I experience dropouts mostly on the beginning of the workout. Then it somehow stabilizes. I switched my BePros (power meter) to max signal strength, will see whether it helps.

It's pity, that no one from Garmin confirms, that they are aware of the problem. Anyway, if this is HW issue, than probably Garmin will need to exchange our watches. So its important to keep us informed... It may be good also, if any of the tech bloggers could confirm the Ant+ reception issues, as for now, DC Rainmaker confirms only Di2 problems...

Other thing - normally Garmn beeps when conecting a new sensor. This happens (happened on 920xt) when a sensor gets disconnected for a while. I do not experience it on F5, only see 0 on 3s power or dropouts on graphs. So maybe its problem of presenting / storing the data, not the connection itself?

0 Cedricg_38 over 8 years ago

Hello, i've no single disconnection/dropout with my old ANT+ GSC10 Speed/Cadence sensor on my bike since i have my Fenix 5 Sapphire (2.4 and 2.9 firmware).
29H of ride without any problem.

0 Former Member over 8 years ago

Same for me, I'm seeing gaps in Running Dynamics data but I'm not receiving any kind of alert for a disconnect or connect.

0 Former Member over 8 years ago

No beep when new hr monitor is "disconnected" on my f5 either. It does beep with my other Garmin devices.
It happens so many times that I just disconnected it so I don't have to ride mad.
I guess the old hr monitor I replaced it with might still be just fine.

I also lose connection with new speed sensor multiple times during cycling, messing up my average. Cadence gets knocked too.
I have to keep checking if it's connected or not.

Plus I've been missing calls and texts when on a ride, phone in pocket, cause the Bluetooth goes out too.

I think it was a faulty unit so it's returned and I'm waiting for another with fingers crossed.

0 Jwvandijk over 8 years ago

I also encoutered drops in the F5 ANT connecting with a Scosche Rhythm+ heartratemonitor. No problems last 2 years with F3....:mad:

0 Former Member over 8 years ago

Anyone tested with 3.30 yet? I'm tempted to give it a try tonight.

0 anders.77 over 8 years ago

I received a reconnecting alert on my running dynamic pod yesterday but couldn't see any data drop. Happened around 8 km in on a 26 km ride.

0 ChevronLugs over 8 years ago

Anyone tested with 3.30 yet? I'm tempted to give it a try tonight.

I got home rather late last night, but the first thing I did was to install the beta on my f5. I didn't go for a run, but I did try all sorts of contortionist moves to see if I could get ANT+ to drop between the f5 and Scosche Rhythm+. I had the f5 on left wrist and Rhythm+ on my right arm, just above the bicep. The only way I could get the connection to drop was crossing my right arm (Rhythm+) over my chest, and placing my left wrist directly behind my back. I'd expect a drop, going through a whole human torso. Any other combination that's of a reasonable position for one to be in while running, it stayed connected.

0 Former Member over 8 years ago

I got home rather late last night, but the first thing I did was to install the beta on my f5. I didn't go for a run, but I did try all sorts of contortionist moves to see if I could get ANT+ to drop between the f5 and Scosche Rhythm+. I had the f5 on left wrist and Rhythm+ on my right arm, just above the bicep. The only way I could get the connection to drop was crossing my right arm (Rhythm+) over my chest, and placing my left wrist directly behind my back. I'd expect a drop, going through a whole human torso. Any other combination that's of a reasonable position for one to be in while running, it stayed connected.

To be honest I'm not entirely certain how strong the ANT+ signal should be. Mine also drops out if I put some flesh in between the watch and the sensor. I'm not a cyclist but what if you had the watch strapped to the handlebars and a sensor elsewhere on the bike? This would potentially mean that your body is between the watch and the sensor.

I've done a couple of runs today and all has been great. A slight drop in running dynamics data where I lowered my arm at one point but otherwise fine. I'm using an f5 on 2.90 with a hrm-run4.