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Compass Calibration and Functionality

Le_paulo
over 4 years ago

I was pleasantly surprised to see Figure 8 calibration for the compass included in the menus for the 830, thinking that Garmin had finally included a fully functioning magnetic compass chip at least as good as the ones used in my old Magellan 505 Cyclo and most modern smartphones.

However after some calibration and testing, the compass doesn't seem to work as a true magnetic compass even though it does seem to respond when turning the device at rest. Map rotation is patchy and unreliable unless you have a bit of speed.

Since there are no specs on the compass chip (if any) used in the 830, is it safe to assume that there isn't a magnetic compass included and that the compass functionality relies on GPS triangulation during movement only? DC Rainmaker suggests the 830 only has a GPS compass. The Figure 8 calibration suggests something (hopefully) more.

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    It does have a magnetic compass. The feature was not advertised as it was not enabled until after one of the software updates.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to aweatherall

    Thanks for that - very interesting. It's still pretty glitchy but if Garmin can iron the kinks out, it will definitely takes the routing and screen refresh to the next level.

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    830 have a magnetic compass in version 4.10 :-) 

    The compass now works without GPS.

    Look in "System" menu and "Calibrate compass". (just like on your phone)

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    I am finding that Connect IQ apps are having trouble with the compass direction and heading.  They work when the bike is not moving, but seem to become very noisy when the bike is moving.  The Garmin fields work fine both still and moving.  Is there a problem with with the Connect IQ API with regards to this?  These same apps work fine on other edge models which do not have a compass.  I am running the 5.44 beta.