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MARQ series bluetooth performance (music)

NYanakiev7
over 4 years ago

Hi everyone,

I was wondering if anyone else is seeing a similar type of behaviour when attempting to play music and run/ride. I own a MARQ Expedition and have so far tried using:

Jabra Elite Active 65T Bluetooth 5 (wouldn't stay connected after switching on/off; infrequent dropouts);

-->had the Jabras exchanged for a brand new pair- same problem!

Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless Bluetooth 5 (dropouts when an activity is initiated)

TaoTronics TT-BH07 (dropouts when activity started)

TaoTronics TT-8H16 (dropouts when activity started)

Anker Slim+ Bluetooth 5 (dropouts when activity started)

Plantronics Backbeat Fit 3100- dropouts

Aftershokz Trekz Air- hurray, almost no dropouts but horrible!!!!! sound-->returned

In common for all of the above- perfect when listening to music in watch mode; various degrees of cutting out when starting any activity

Any ideas? I am really puzzled how pretty much everything seems to work fine with the new Forerunner FR945 (going by the earphones impressions thread)

Cheers,

Nick

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to nmyeti

    Hey! Yes, thank you. Heath got tagged correctly but not Mel. Glad you are feeling better.

    I believe there is a fundamental problem with my account/setup that affects things. Wearing the Expedition on my right wrist isn't fixing anything, sadly. 

    I am thinking of setting up a new Garmin Connect account and setting the watch up as new after a master reset as a measure of last resort..Things were running fine after last night's reset until they get to their miserable self this morning. 

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to NYanakiev7

    , You do seem to be particularly unlucky. I’ve got the Aftershokz Trekz Air which I usually use for running (exactly because of the situational awareness), which work flawlessly with my MARQ Athlete (even if I try to cover the watch behind my back). But I know you already noted they work for you. So yesterday I tested outdoor running with some other cheap headphone that I have, these Groov-e sports things https://www.groov-e.co.uk/headphones/action (got them cheap in Tesco a while back). I usually only use the Groov-e ones in the gym, but not tested them outside until now and they work as flawlessly as the Trekz Air ones. Those same Groov-e ones would cut out once in a while with the Fenix 5+, so the MARQ is working better in my experience. I’ve also done a quick test with some MPOW branded ones my Daughter got for under £20 from Amazon; again, no issues I could tell going outside with them when connected to my MARQ.

    I know you generally run in Central London. I noted a few months ago, using my Fenix 5+ with the Groov-e headphones running in Central Glasgow, that I got a lot more cut outs than usual when running through busy places. I can only assume that the extra RF signal ‘clutter’ in cities makes things a challenge for BT headphone connection when both headphones and music player are optimised to maximise battery life. I just wonder if this is always going to be an issue for you given where you typically run.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to Crispin_Ellisdon

    Thanks for sharing your personal experience with Bluetooth earphones- I have had much better luck in the past using older Garmin watches (including the Fenix 5 Plus); 

    I have also gone running in big parks with, presumably, a lot less interference and not seen any better results. What's more, two other devices I tried out had no issues with two randomly selected sets of earphones.

    I have now set up a new Garmin Connect account to pair the MARQ to. I stayed away from installing anything on it other than uploading a Spotify playlist. I will let you know how that goes.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to NYanakiev7

    Just did a casual walk around the office going through both built up areas and St James's park. The watch was set up on a brand new Garmin Connect account with no settings changes and no third party apps.

    In other words a very "stock" Garmin watch set-up. The only exception was the Spotify playlist I had downloaded on it in advance. I used my Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless earbuds and got zero, I repeat, ZERO music drop outs. 

    I also did a small sprint at the end, which also didn't result in any drop outs. I am totally perplexed as the watch seems to be operating as it should. I sure hope Garmin can figure out what's going on with my real Garmin Connect account.

    https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/3678958562

  • +1 over 4 years ago

    Everyone,


    I wanted to take a moment to comment and update everyone. We have been working with a few of you to get some devices in that have reported issues with Bluetooth.  ( Thank you for your device.) 


    With those devices and reports of different Bluetooth devices everyone is pairing them up with, we are getting a better picture of what is going on.

    Currently, we coming up with workarounds that are working for people.  For example, for Jabra ear-buds:


    1.    Take out the ear-buds from charging case which will turn the earbuds ON.
    2.    From the Watch, select to play music to the Jabra ear-buds. At the same time press the right ear-bud button.


    We had multiple people report that it is working for them and would like anyone else that having any Bluetooth issues to try it so that we can get your feedback on it.


    We do know that this is not a fix, but we wanted to let you know that we are actively looking into this, to know there are workarounds at this time and trying to find a fix for this. 

    If you haven't though, please contact Garmin's Product Support and let them know you are experiencing any issues with this.  This way, once we have updates/fixes on this issue we can contact you directly.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to Garmin-Heath

    Oddly, this does seem to make the watch and the headphones connect more quickly. 

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to Garmin-Heath

    Thanks for acknowledging that you have now received the device- I asked for updates on a few occasions but was told by the UK team that this is outside of their control. 

    I have noticed that this works with some earbuds but not consistently- I would say about 30% of the time on some of the 10 different models I tried;

     what about music cutting out? Many of the earphones I have connect instantly but even the ones with the seemingly strongest connection have constant cut-outs. The one exception is the Plantronics Backbeat Fit 3100, where I see slightly better performance with lots of issues during the first few minutes and relatively stable performance after that.

    I would really appreciate some feedback on this as I have now pretty much given up running with music. 

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to NYanakiev7

    If you have not done so already, please make sure you pass this information onto the Product Support agent you been working with daily, I think they would like to know this.

    That way, if we can find those headphones around the office, we will test them too.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to Garmin-Heath

    I have already done this many a time. The answer that I keep getting is: "this is out of my hands now";

    I have sent about 10 emails over the past three weeks mentioning my experience with each of the earphone models listed above. As you know the watch was exchanged and that's it. No further help/advice/troubleshooting has been suggested...

    As mentioned, I have completely given up testing earphones as I know I can only expect mediocre performance with massive music playback cut outs. This doesn't appear to be a widespread problem but I was still expecting some help after waiting for more than 3 weeks now..

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to Garmin-Heath

    I cannot stress it enough- for me, the issue is not linked to a particular pair(s) of bluetooth earphones. Out of the 10+ pairs I have tried so far (including ones Garmin explicitly recommends), I am only having partial luck with a single! pair. 

    There is a bigger issue here that may be account related. Even though I set the watch up on a brand new Garmin Connect account and experienced the same issues. I have had this problem on my original MARQ device AND on the replacement.