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 11 days ago in reply to raadoo

    Raadoo's assessment is the same as mine. I previously had a 1030+ and had no trouble hearing radar or navigation alerts when riding 20+mph solo or in a group. With wind, road, and traffic noise, the 1050 is simply not loud enough. The Varia radar was designed as a safety aid for the rider. Being unable to hear Varia alerts from the 1050 negates this function. Yes, it still displays the alert on the screen, but by continually taking your eyes off the road, you are increasing your risk.

  • 0 11 days ago in reply to 1126711

    Another one here. Had a 530, 1030+, and now a 1040 which are all clearly audible for Varia alerts no matter how fast I go, no matter how windy it is or I’m wearing a balaclava covering my ears. 

    1050 I couldn’t hear the Varia alert past about 20mph on a calm day and 15mph on a windy day because at max volume it’s simply not loud enough. I know rider awareness is always our responsibility but there were dozens of situations in my short 5 ride ownership where I had close calls with cars because I couldn’t hear the alert and get out of their way. 

    Massive step back in function for the sake of fashion (and the screen is not even that good)

  • 0 9 days ago

    The tones sound great in a quiet room, but they are too quiet in the wind, wearing headphones, or on bumpy/gravel roads where the road sound is very loud. The high pitched beeper of my 800, 810, 820, and 830 were much easier to hear.

  • 0 3 days ago

    I’ve been using the Wahoo Roam 2 and recently purchased the 1050. However, the alert sound from the Varia 715 is too quiet. Especially at speeds over 32 km/h, it's almost impossible to hear. On windy days, I can't hear the alert at all. I hope the sound can be changed from a soft tone to one that is more noticeable and clearly functions as a warning.

  • 0 3 days ago

    Garmin this has to be addressed. The alerts for me to have a drink are louder than one for a vehicle behind. This cannot be hard to solve. You did it on the 1030 and 1040's.

  • 0 1 day ago in reply to Garmin-Clayton

    Honestly, your request for more detailed feedback is silly. Did Garmin have these comments from previous units? No? Then perhaps a solid benchmarking between the 1040 and 1050 are in order. I used to have a 1030 Plus, then went to the new Karoo, but due to hardware issues, bought a 1050 recently. The 1050 sounds are WAY too soft. I routinely miss navigation prompts and even the alert form my Varia radar isn't loud enough. The alerts for dangerous curves, however is louder than the equally-critical navigation and radar alerts. I have ht sounds turned up to the maximum level, and it just doesn't cut it when riding at more than 15mph or faced with any headwind. I really hope Garmin takes this feedback seriously, but this has always been a weakness: Garmin doesn't always listen to the customers and make simple updates that correct these issues. Another example is the virtual partner feature that annoy many of us. We can set the virtual partner to a slower speed, but it is a hassle. Why can't it just be toggled "off" during navigation? Toggle off and only have it run stealth in the background for performance measurements. Quite frustrating, and overall, I'm not thrilled with the 1050. I would have stayed with the Karoo3, but they have significant hardware issue.

  • 0 1 day ago

    Well, I have to say I never have a problem. At 30-40kph I can hear it fine. In fact I had to turn off the more noticeable Varia tones as they ignored the 1050 volume setting and were way too loud 

    Then again I don’t ride in groups bigger than 8. And I use cat-earz to reduce wind noise a bit 

    is this maybe caused by heavy traffic nearby? I ride on quiet rural roads and in London where traffic is generally slow and/or EVs.

  • 0 1 day ago in reply to Rob H

    May be the case that Garmin specifically designed this to be used indoors or on quiet roads