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GPS Notification

joewillgoss
over 4 years ago

Is there a way of the watch notifying me during my run if my GPS signal goes. I have had my last 2 runs where after about 6 miles it goes and doesn’t map at all. If I stop the watch and resume activity it locks on straight away again and is fine. If I could at least be notified when it goes it keeps me from constantly checking my watch.

Thanks,

Joe

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    I'm not aware of an alert for GPS and don't think it's available, but you may be able to use a pace alert to detect when you've dropped below a suitable threshold, assuming you rely on GPS for distance and pace (and don't use a foot pod). But you shouldn't lose signal and be able to lock on again by stopping and resuming an activity. Unless you're running among tall buildings or under thick cover, it sounds like a bug or defect.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to Roedema

    I use a Stryd foot pod for that reason and this is now my second 645m that sporadically stops mapping my run - due to the Stryd it is entirely cosmetic, but still annoying!!

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to joewillgoss

    That you've experienced the problem with two watches is bizarre. Is there anything that would contribute? Clothing, buildings, tunnels, trees, proximity to Area 51, etc.?

    EDIT: You could try enabling GPS + Glonass or GPS + Galileo for access to more satellites.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to Roedema

    Nope - I live in a pretty rural area so tall buildings are out of the questions - I could accept it if the gps got weaker and then stronger again, but to completely go seems odd. The only thing I can think is that when my stryd battery gets low it could cause an issue. I recharged the stryd last night and a 10 mile run today was perfect...

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    My 645 (non-M) on 4.2 does actually give an alert when it loses GPS.  However, the alert is a minor vibration, and just a bar at the top of the activity that disappears in ~3-5 seconds I think.  It's very easy to miss during an activity.

    However for the complete lack of mapping and not starting back up, that sounds like a much larger GPS issue - I don't think I've lost GPS for longer than ~10 seconds.

    1) check your total disk space?  It looks like the watches don't auto remove older activities, and under my 235, when disk space was really low, it would record only activity summary of pace/HR , but no gps points.  After 3 runs with no maps, I looked, noticed the 99% disk used, and cleaned up my activities.

    With the 645 I haven't tested if it auto-cleans activities, so instead about once every month or two I'll connect to usb to quickly remove any activites older than 2 weeks.

    Garmin should have an option to auto clean activities that have been synced to connect and are older than a month.

    2) What gps version do you have? at firmware 4.2 I have 2.50 .  However, as I only use GCM instead of the windows/mac app, the gps 2.5 was not automatically updated, and I had to download the firmware and change the name (if you search, you should be able to find the same forum page that I saw) to get my watch to update. 

    3) If this isn't a disk space/firmware update issue, contact Garmin support - I think you have a bad watch.

     

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to CoffeeU

    The strange thing is that this is not the first watch I have had the problem with - it happened on another 645M and Garmin replaced it - the issue is it is such a hassle..

    As soon as I stop my run, resume later, it will lock back onto GPS automatically and then track fine, which makes me beleive that it can't be to do with disk space as it works again after this - I will remove older runs later on and see if that helps. 

    A suggestion is usually to reset to factory settings - I have done this in the past but it is a huge hassle to then get the watch back to how I want it again!

    I have the latest firmware; and I distinctly remember an older firmware telling me if the signal went - this would be so useful, again I know it is only cosmetic - but this is also a reason for having the watch. My stryd footpod is excellent; so I am happy with my distance and pace. 

    Shame the Fenix 6 Pro is far to expensive to upgrade to!

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    I've been meaning to post about a similar issue. Here is what I've experienced:

    During two separate long runs in the last month or so, I've had instances where I've glanced at my 645 (non music) and it while it was still tracking the workout, there was an alert that said "GPS Ready" or something. Maybe "resume GPS." I don't remember. I clicked the upper right button to resume and it continued tracking. It did not seem to lose any data but I'm not sure.

    However, my first data screen for these runs is a custom datascreen called datarunplus. Once the issue happens, this data screen is no longer available. I can only see the other screens set up for my 'Run' workouts. It is really annoying and I might create a secondary screen that is also datarunplus in case i lose the first one during my marathon this weekend. datarunplus is the only non garmin app / field I have installed.

    Does this sound similar to what you are seeing? I'm on 6.20 and i've just disabled auto update so they don't screw up something ELSE between now and Sunday.