Poor Quality product + Unreliable Grade info

In my experience, the Edge Explore 1000 is a much better product -- grade is accurate, navigation works and doesn't stall, etc. Rode 75 miles yesterday, with navigation and bluetooth on (but varia off) and still had 35% battery left (it translates out to about 12 hours total). Also no virtual partner that you can't turn off. Only downside is you're limited to a single bike profile. My 820 went back to Amazon, who, unlike Garmin, actually seem to care about the customer experience.

I also pre-ordered the Hammerhead Karoo, which is due out in August and uses and Android OS and, if you can live without a Varia, seems like the real thing. You can use this link (so I'm told) for $50 off: http://hammerhead.refr.cc/rogers

Good luck!

Like I mentioned in another thread, before.

Vertical speed and grade calculation, the right way:
Edge 820 without speed sensor -> GPS speed + barometric altimeter
Edge 820 with speed sensor -> Speed sensor + barometric altimeter

No GPS based altimeter!

Grade only works with GPS on, with the speed sensor and altimeter working (records altitude gain with GPS turned off). If I turn the GPS off, grade drops to 0%, even though I'm climbing and the elevation on the screen is increasing.

Clearly this has been experienced by others as well, and surely it's something that could by remedied in the FW update.

It's not difficult to predict how unreliable it's going to be if you only base it on GPS... One can only hope, no?

Grade only working with GPS on is an obscure bug that has existed in all the Edge models that I have had. Despite that bug, the wheel sensor, if present, and barometric pressure are used for the grade calculation.

I believe the erratic grade value is because of a faulty algorithm. The grade readout worked very well on the 520 until we were blessed with firmware 10.0 which introduced the same problems I had been seeing in the 820 forum. There were complaints that the 520 had too much lag in the grade and it is faster now. But totally unreliable. They seem to have not been aware of the problem with the 820 and it is hard to understand why not.

Well, my previous device was Edge 810 and I have to say, I had ZERO issues with the grade being laggy even though it was altimeter/speed sensor based. Yes, in strong winds the grade reading was a bit temperamental, but normally it worked quite well. Not so much with 820.

Hi,

I have created a new IQ data field to display the gradient with data taken from the altimeter.
I still need to complete extensive tests, but it seems quite fine. The only problem is that until we don't have a GPS fix, the internal altimeter is not calibrated, so it will give - in the beginning - some variations.
You can find it here: https://apps.garmin.com/it-IT/apps/2be4f241-29c6-4446-8cbb-85837353b040

BR,
Marco

Hi,

I have created a new IQ data field to display the gradient with data taken from the altimeter.
I still need to complete extensive tests, but it seems quite fine. The only problem is that until we don't have a GPS fix, the internal altimeter is not calibrated, so it will give - in the beginning - some variations.
You can find it here: https://apps.garmin.com/it-IT/apps/2be4f241-29c6-4446-8cbb-85837353b040

BR,
Marco

Tris iq no work fine for me 🤔

On 8.0 I`m exepriencing accurate and reliable/repetitive grade info. Looking back I`m surpised how well this is working now. Anyone is experiencing the same ? (normal Garmin field not IQ data field)

Hi,

I have created a new IQ data field to display the gradient with data taken from the altimeter.
I still need to complete extensive tests, but it seems quite fine. The only problem is that until we don't have a GPS fix, the internal altimeter is not calibrated, so it will give - in the beginning - some variations.
You can find it here: https://apps.garmin.com/it-IT/apps/2be4f241-29c6-4446-8cbb-85837353b040

BR,
Marco

Hi Marco

Could you make this available for the 520 as well? Would appreciate!

Regards
andy

...I have created a new IQ data field to display the gradient with data taken from the altimeter...

The altimeter for elevation, but what do you use for distance, GPS, wheel sensor...???