Tones are too soft (inaudible) (re-opened)

James S.
6 months ago

I am re-opening this because https://forums.garmin.com/sports-fitness/cycling/f/edge-1050/377955/tones-are-too-soft-inaudible/1847368#1847368 was closed and locked without a proper resolution. The person who closed it, linked to https://forums.garmin.com/sports-fitness/cycling/f/edge-1050/387970/too-many-beeps-just-want-varia-radar-warnings as an answer, but that post has nothing to do with this topic.

I am looking for a resolution to the audio tones, in totality, having a sound design that is not conducive to road cycling. The attack on each sound is far slower than on the 1040 and the overall tone of each sound is a lower pitch than the 1040 sounds. This makes hearing the device over wind noise effectively impossible.

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The new tones are way too soft and as a result are inaudible at speed. They could be twice as loud as they are now at the loudest setting and they still probably wouldn't be audible. There should be a way to select a different tone set that replicates the frequency, pitch, and volume of the buzzer on the 1040. I can somewhat hear the radar alerts, but the tone for hitting the first and last gears when shifting Di2 might as well not be sounded at all.

2024-07-17: to clarify, by "soft" I am referring to the design of the sounds. Yes, the volume is too low for them to be audible, but a large part of the difficulty in hearing them is due to their soft design. The 1040's buzzer sounds have hard attacks, high pitch/frequency, and loud volume.

  • 0 1 month ago in reply to raadoo

    Just sold mine and going to a 1040. I loved my 1030 Plus so hoping the 1040 doesn’t have any negative surprises in store 

  • 0 1 month ago in reply to cleanneon98

    I'm going to sell mine 1050 too. I've just bought 1040 Solar - I'm pretty sure that would be a great replacement for it. I've had 1040 (no solar) and I've sold it. Now I regret that. I've got some plans for some Ultra Races (500km+ long) so I think with 1040 Solar I may not need to charge it during the ride. I really like the 1050 display ... but I miss the loud tones and better battery. 

  • 0 1 month ago in reply to raadoo

    Thanks for contacting our support office, I am sorry to hear your replacement device works the same, but that indicates the error you reported (#2 above) is not a hardware concern.

    For any users experiencing an error and needing the fastest possible resolution, I can not encourage users enough to contact Garmin's regional support offices.

    This is a user forum for questions and discussion, we do not address all forum comments & threads. We have many skilled agents who are experts on these devices and are cyclists themselves standing by waiting for your call or email. https://support.garmin.com/

    More specifically, if you are able to reproduce an error consistently, bring this to our support teams attention directly.

    In this case, we are discussing and describing sounds via text, not something we can see and tough for us to confirm or reproduce. I appreciate all of the feedback here and this is being reviewed internally. If and when I have more info to provide I will share it here.

  • 0 29 days ago in reply to Garmin-Clayton

    I created a forum message on the Bell tone being too soft, but there was no reply, so I guess you guys missed it ;) I would like to be able to make the sound a lot harder so it can actually function as a bell!

  • 0 28 days ago in reply to frankimpec

    Hey thanks for your participation.
    There is no option to adjust Edge 1050 virtual bell volume, and I do not expect this will become user-configurable.

    The Edge 1050 speaker can produce more sounds compared to the simple tones/beeps from previous Edge models, and brings with it a new Virtual Bike Bell function alongside spoken navigation prompts and a host of other features.

    Garmin's Varia radar is meant to increase rider-awareness but is not a replacement for looking over your shoulder in busy traffic. In the same way, if the Edge 1050's Virtual Bike Bell is not loud enough for your use, it may not be a complete replacement for a physical bell or a call out to approaching pedestrians.

  • 0 14 days ago in reply to Garmin-Clayton

    i find this an odd reaction to be honest. What use is a virtual bell if it's not supposed to work as a proper bell? That's weird logic in my view

  • 0 14 days ago in reply to frankimpec

    Agreed. I understand you have to repeat the company line, but it's a TERRIBLE position. The 1050 is quite literally advertised as having a bell feature specifically to alert pedestrians and is one of the PRIMARY REASONS I bought the computer. You cannot say both "buy our computer and use the bell to announce yourself" and "bell is not meant to announce yourself."

    https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/294yn9eotly6el9rhzah9/Monosnap-Garmin-Edge-1050-Premium-Cycling-Computer-Vivaldi-2025-04-08-06-30-57.jpg?rlkey=d2mio3uixjlx4yy6wk9nwfuzu&st=72ugud9m&dl=0

  • 0 14 days ago in reply to frankimpec

    Honestly the speaker is there to extend the features list and make the unit seem more modern while providing no benefit and borderline being a step backwards. Just like the new display which is terrible viewing off axis unless you angle your bike computer up 15*, otherwise it’s actually dimmer than the 1040/1030/etc. and this is only made worse when wearing sunglasses. 

  • 0 14 days ago in reply to James S.

    I've escalated all of the concerns raised here and fully appreciate the positions and feedback shared. I apologize that I do not have an update or more info to share at this time.

    Sound and volume are at least somewhat relative given the context of where a sound is used or needed, and who is hearing the sound. This thread has many opinions (not loud enough, too soft), but not many clear examples.

    We'll continue to use your feedback for improvements and in the event we increase/adjust volume as suggested, it may still fall short of some expectations for use in some environments.

  • 0 14 days ago in reply to Garmin-Clayton

    It's great to see you Clayton here. I'm ready to give you more examples.

    I have comparison to 1040 and 530 units. And I can tell you that if you ride around 30-40kph with relative small group of 5-10 ppl and in not so big car traffic around you the radar warnings and navigation warnings can sometimes be not heard. It never (really NEVER) happened to me before with 1040 - radar or navigation warning was always loud enough no matter what was happening around you. So in my opinion 1050 is critical downgrade in terms of radar warnings and navigation warnings. And radar is a matter of safety, I guess.

    In case of navigation directions or bell it's the same story, but there is no comparison to old units and they are not critical features imo, but anyway everybody would be happy to have virtual bell that can be heard not only in your lab or our homes but in normal traffic during an activity.

    So anybody testing these features should move his garmin from lab where it's perfect and try them in regular traffic, road noise, bike noise.