Pace drops out and activity stops during run with Instinct

Been running with the Instinct for about 6 months now and I'm fairly satisfied for the most part. However, during my runs which average about 4 miles, the pace will drop out at least once just for a second or two.....not enough for me to even notice during the run or for it to affect my lap or average pace. But when I get to Connect and I view the charts, the pace chart range is skewed because there's always at least one "blip" to 0:00 so my chart looks flat, when it should be a series of ups and downs - I run in Knoxville, Tennessee so hills are a part life which result in a decent change in pace throughout a run. Lately, I'm seeing two to three 0:00 (or close to it) blips on my pace chart which worries me that something is amiss with the watch. My brother-in-law also has a Garmin and doesn't have this issue which makes me think its specific to the Instinct. Below is a screenshot from Connect.

Then yesterday, my watch just stopped during a run just after a lap indicator like I had pushed the STOP button. I noticed after about 1/2 mile and just hit RESUME and it worked fine for the rest of the run. I plugged up to Garmin Express after the run and got the 10.0 software update.

Anyone else having these types of issues?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts!!

0 Dan.Boilermaker over 4 years ago

I noticed it as well. Didn't seem to be there prior to the 10.00 release. But I can't be sure unless I go examine some historical data.

0 trux over 4 years ago

Nate2195 said:
my watch just stopped during a run just after a lap indicator like I had pushed the STOP button. I noticed after about 1/2 mile and just hit RESUME

Possibly a new bug in the auto-pause feature, interpreting an intermittent loss of GPS signal (i.e. under thick vegetation, in underpasses, or near tall buidlings) as a stop. Report it to Garmin Support and/or to [email protected], so that they are aware of it. Also try disabling the auto-stop option (if it is enabed at all) in the Activity Settings.

0 Nate2195 over 4 years ago

Opened a chat with Garmin support and they sent me this link. I made just about all of the recommended changes....I already do the GPS soak and my EPO was current, I switched to every second recording, I switched to 3D speed and distance, I switched to GPS + Glonass from normal GPS and AutoPause is not enabled. I run tonight so we'll see how the watch responds. They also said if these changes didn't work, then they would want to sync up with my watch on Garmin Express.

https://support.garmin.com/en-US/?faq=xQvHXbfaT27Zr4hxZDvjv5&productID=621802&tab=topics&topicTag=region_gps

0 Nate2195 over 4 years ago

Update: Ran with it a couple days ago after I made all those changes and the drop-outs got considerably worse. The most it had ever dropped out was four times, and that was on longer runs of 6 miles or more. I ran 4 miles Wednesday and it dropped out 13 times. I got on the phone with Garmin yesterday and neither product support nor technical support could figure it out. They sent it up to the engineers to look at and are supposed to get back with me. I'll give them until Monday and if I don't hear anything, I'm going to call back.

0 Nate2195 over 4 years ago

Update: Day 7 - no word from Garmin since I spoke with them 5 days ago. Opened a chat with tech support to check on the status....guy told me that engineering had requested a folder from my watch and I should have heard from them by now. Nope. He sent me instructions on what to do and where to send the folder. Sent the folder and he confirmed they received it. He told me they should be in touch with what they find. Gonna bug them again in a couple days. Definitely have to push the molasses up the hill with these people.

0 darnich over 4 years ago in reply to Nate2195

I got some drop outs when I switched data recording to every second. I am going back to smart recording to see if it is any better

0 Nate2195 over 4 years ago

I only had a few when mine was set to smart recording (like one every 10 minutes of running). When I switched to every second it got crazy higher. Of course I switched other settings as well but i'm guessing that's the one that resulted in the increase of drop outs.

0 darnich over 4 years ago in reply to Nate2195

My guess is that the problem still remains, it is just that more drop outs appear due to the higher data sampling rate when set in the one second recording

0 Nate2195 over 4 years ago

Update: Just heard back from the guy I chatted with earlier. He recommended deleting the Activity file from my watch. Apparently the Instinct has a pretty limited memory so you have to dump it every so often. I guess when it gets full it can cause other issues. I have everything on Connect so its not a big deal to delete the activity off my watch. Personally don't see how that would impact my particular issue, but I didn't build the thing so we'll give it a try.

0 Nate2195 over 4 years ago

Update: Ran 6 miles this weekend and the pace didn't drop out once. Granted, that may have been a fluke, but if not, full storage on the Instinct is all bad. My next outdoor run is this weekend. We'll see if I have a repeat of my last run.