Related
This discussion has been locked.
You can no longer post new replies to this discussion. If you have a question you can start a new discussion

Sensor Error Radar 0:FC overlay

pufferfish
over 1 year ago

Sensor Error Varia 840 0:FC

Hi Garmin folks - Could we talk about some fixes for this one? I have a fancy new Edge 840 device, coupled to a pricy Varia RTL515 rear radar & light. Both are premium safety devices, with the latest firmware installed. Both are incredible feats of software and hardware engineering, which makes this issue all the more glaring (especially after many months of firmware updates). I get this overlay prompt about once every twenty minutes (average) on my Edge device. The prompt will continue to cover 1/3 of the screen until I reach a hand over and tap it away to dismiss. The radar continues to work fine while the prompt displays, and works fine after I dismiss the prompt. This overlay prompt behavior seems to be the same on my Fenix 7x and older Edge 1030+ device.

  • What is the purpose of a prompt that needs rider interaction to dismiss? Can it not just go away after a few seconds like most other alerts? Am I supposed to take some sort of corrective action at this point?
  • Why do I even need to know about this error if the radar continues to work? 
  • Isn't there already a "radar active" indicator in the upper right corner of the display? Why not use this to alert me that the radar is no longer working (if that is the case)?
  • These errors do not seem correlated with anything under my control. Swapping the radar between bikes, mounts, or using different head units produces roughly the same error rate. I assume this is a "blinded radar" type of error caused by external interference but again, what am I supposed to do here? Given the amount of real estate taken up by the prompt, and the forced interaction to dismiss, it must be very important but I have no idea what O:FC is telling me to do.
  • Forcing me to take my hand off the bar to see the map underneath for navigation when this random overlay comes up is dangerous in itself.
  • Is this a problem with the Varia, or the Edge? The prompt display behavior seems to be a software bug/oversight in the Edge, however the source of the error originates with the Varia. Regardless, what is the consumer/rider supposed to do about this?

Any help or tips would be greatly appreciated. Otherwise, can we just eliminate this prompt, or at least make it just another auto-clearing system notification? Thank you.

  • +1 over 1 year ago

    Hi If you are getting this error message, please contact our Product Support at support.garmin.com

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to Garmin-Maeve

    Thanks for the quick reply, . I've just initiated a warranty return through the support chat service.

    For those searching in the future: Evidently this error is not supposed to happen, so my issues with the nature of the prompt should be moot with a properly functioning device. I'll get a new device pretty soon and will update here after I try the new unit on a few rides. In my various internet searches for this error message it seemed like there was a mix of responses ("wait for firmware updates"), but after speaking with Garmin right now, it seems like I have a bad unit.

  • 0 over 1 year ago

    Final update here - got a replacement device from Garmin and I've yet to see this error with the new device after ~ 100 mi of riding. Looks like some of the units are just defective and this error prompt screen should not happen.

  • 0 11 months ago in reply to pufferfish

    Thanks for posting this.  I've had an old RTL510 was increasingly seeing this error. Also the battery wasn't as good as it was so I decided to buy a brand new RTL515. Unfortunately, I got the same error message so I had assumed it was normal.  I'll start a return request now. 

    As an aside, my return rate for Garmin products (and I've got over half a dozen) is over 50%.  Their products are great and their customer support is excellent but sometimes I wish they would make them right first time.