Anyone having issues with Garmin Edge 530 GPS recording inaccurate speed and distance ?

GPS based speed and distance measuring is highly inaccurate and depends on many factors, can be negatively influenced by clouds, high buidlings, trees etc

I would recommend a Speed Sensor - cheap and precise.

Once my speed sensor was out of battery juice... my Edge calculated speed via GPS for the rest of the ride. 

Since then I have a personal max speed record: 245km/h

GPS based speed and distance can be a little off, but not as described in the mentioned ride, and far from "highly inaccurate" . I've practically done all my rides since 2006  (more than 100.000 km) without a speedsensor, and my experience is that actual speed can be a little off, but at the end of the day average speed and distance is spot on and consistent.

The large incorrect distance/speed  could be explained if a speedsensor was used, and the wheel circumference was set "way off"... But aparently no speedsensor was used. The correct Strava segmenet speed is based on the time in and out of the segmenet, and Strava providing the distance. Thats why that's OK....

hi Jim_Shatford can You share a public link (as i see your setting is "private") to this Strava activity? (set this activity's privacy setting to public at 1st and share the link). Thx

I have had the 530 bundle for nearly a week and have ridden every day.

The 530 is OK but the sensors are junk.

I tried the speed sensor on the rear hub and on smooth tarmac had major fluctuations.

Cycling at around 30km/hr the speed displayed a whole range of numbers 7/24/15/30 in a space of 10 seconds or so.

I stopped suspecting I was about to lose the sensor off the hub - but it was firmly attached with no play.

Nevertheless I moved it to the front hub where I could observe it more easily and also check the security.

Each day the same random speed errors each on very smooth bikeways.

The cadence also was a little suss but nothing I could pinpoint - no wild deviations but the readings were not as expected.

Today the cadence went to zero and stayed there. Stopped and check the pairing of all sensors - normal.

Cranked vigorously to wake the sensor up - took three attempts to get it going.

Just for background....

I had an Edge 500 with a GSC10 Cadence/Speed mounted it on the rear stay.

Changed the 2032 battery twice and the mounting rubber once in around 8 years.

Rock solid.

Checked the speed against a Garmin Nuvi in the car - 20/30/40 were spot on.

Unfortunately the GSC10 is not compatible with the 530.

It it was I would pair it with the 530 and throw the new sensors in the bin - or at the retailer.

Further....

Running the 530 / iPhone 11 with either STRAVA or MapMy Ride/Garmin Nuvi the Garmin 530 is always in disagreement of around 4-5%.

Since the purchase I have been riding the exact same route each day - start and stop points exactly the same to get a valid comparison.

Very disappointing.

The GCS-10 should work with the 530 as far as I know. You just need to pair it as a combined speed/cadence sensor.

Yes I agree it should as the GSC10 is ANT+

The 530 will pick it up in the Add Sensor  menu and I ticked the Speed/Cadence box but nothing is recorded on the 530.

Same result with my Garmin Heart Monitor (old type with solid front across the chest.

The Garmin Support page is very vague on this subject basically saying most will be compatible....check the specific manual.

I have a shelf full of Garmin products for car , golf, bike and can not understand how Garmin allowed these accessories through.

As I have said previously the Garmin 530 itself is fine but the speed/cadence is way below the usual Garmin standard.

Looking for other options.

Yesterday I changed the satellite setting on my 530 from GPS+Glonass to GPS alone.  That seems to have solved the problem. 

I must admit I had not thought of that possibility....will try it out.

I am no expert here but I would have thought that the satellite setting would only determine accuracy levels rather than compatibility.

Appreciate the tip....will advise.

Will be stoked if I can get my GSC10 back as it was rock solid in all aspects...never required waking up after the initial install and NEVER dropped out and was verified accurate....so Garmin why reinvent the wheel?

the speed is calculated by wheel circumference, using the auto wheel circumference(check speed sensor details) the wheel circumference will be calculated (now constantly while doing activity) by the GPS distance versus the how many wheel turns counted, if you can manually measure the wheel circumference and set it (around 2090mm for 700x23c tire). you can see the inaccuracies going into the speed(& cadence) sensor where it shows the wheel circumference size and whilst riding looking at the number and see it fluctuate. also make sure you use a high quality battery CR2032 as on the cheap ones the voltage drops quickly after a few rides and that can cause you problems.