Screen won't work with gloves on

It's the inherent characteristic of capacitive touch screens exposed to sustained low temperatures. Improvements to the OS may help but the limiting factor will be the screen itself (hardware)

For me some full-fingered gloves work, some don't. Unfortunately the winter gloves I had that worked with my 1000 don't work with my 1030, even if I set sensitivity to high.

Bought the 1030 yesterday. Configured it last night. On today's ride I noticed a lot of things just don't work:


1. The screen won't respond when wearing gloves.

Swiping left and right sometimes works, but the most important thing for me is zooming the map screen. I tend to ride with this showing all the time on some rides. A tap on the screen should bring up the zoom buttons at the top of the screen, but nothing happens at all.

2. Gradient goes up to around 4% maximum, even when on 20% hills...!

3. Bluetooth sync seems to disappear, so no weather forecasting while riding. Even though calls and texts come through. How can the 1030 be connected and not connected to my phone at the same time?

4. Uploading the ride to Garmin Connect / Strava at the end of the ride doesn't work over BT either. Garmin Connect just says the 1030 'is busy'. Connecting it to my computer, Garmin Express can't see it anymore either!! Still mounts on the desktop so I can grab the .fit file.

5. Auto lapping seems to be happening while riding... annoying and very strange.

6. Is it possible to manage the stored locations? I used to use Basecamp for this, but it doesn?t seem to connect anymore. Is there another way to managed the individual saved locations? I know how to move them en-masse from one GPS device to another using locations.fit, but with BaseCamp it was great being able to manage individual locations, rename them, etc.

Taking it it back to my LBS for a refund on Monday I think. It's just not ready for use yet...

I agree with the gloves problem you are having, I have mine set to maximum sensitivity and it’s rubbish. The auto lapping you mention will be the default setting, as it’s set to lap every 5vmilrs, you can turn this off. The connection to your smartphone and garmin connect needs to be done exactly as per the instructions, you must see 2 connections to the Edge in your phones bluetooth.

Here's something to try. On your glove finger you usually use to do your touchscreen activities, place a small amount of conductive ink and let it cure. This product is used to repair traces on PCB boards. I cannot attest to how long it will last on your glove or if it will leave a residue or not. It isn't purposefully made for gloves. It's should be readily available at your local electronics store.

2 -part conductive epoxy is also available. This is probably more durable.

Regarding the use of gloves with the Edge 1030, my recent experience with purchasing two devices may provide some insight.

Last week we purchase two Edge 1030 units to replace our existing Edge 1000s. A store was having a sale and the battery life of our existing 1000s was likely to be insufficient for some rides we had planned this year so we pulled the trigger on buying the 1030s.

On Saturday we went for a ride with temperature at start of around 35F. Both devices were completely unresponsive with the gloves we had on. We found the sensitivity setting and set both devices to high sensitivity. My device marginally improved but was still unresponsive unless I licked the finger of the glove. Her’s was now working on par with her 1000. Both of our gloves worked with no issues during use with our 1000s.
On Sunday, we went out again. Ride start was around 45F with temps expected in the mid 50s so we had lighter gloves. Again, both of our gloves would have no problem with our 1000s. And again, her’s worked fine and mine were completely useless.
Riding into a headwind trying to take my mind off of the futility, it dawned on me that it might not be the gloves. At the coffee shop, I had her try to swipe my 1030 with her gloves. Nothing - totally unresponsive. I reached over and swiped her 1030 with my gloves on and it worked perfectly. Eureka!
For those who claim that their 1030 is crap with gloves. I believe you. And for those that say it works fine. I believe you too.
Our 1030 that doesn’t work with gloves will certainly be going back.

Regarding the use of gloves with the Edge 1030, my recent experience with purchasing two devices may provide some insight.

... Riding into a headwind trying to take my mind off of the futility, it dawned on me that it might not be the gloves. At the coffee shop, I had her try to swipe my 1030 with her gloves. Nothing - totally unresponsive. I reached over and swiped her 1030 with my gloves on and it worked perfectly. Eureka!
For those who claim that their 1030 is crap with gloves. I believe you. And for those that say it works fine. I believe you too.
Our 1030 that doesn’t work with gloves will certainly be going back.

Very interesting, thanks for posting. Might be worth me testing a unit in my LBS to find one that works :cool:

but with the same gloves on out on the bike with the temperature around freezing, I can't swipe between screens without removing my gloves.

I slept in on Saturday, so by the time I got out there it was a balmy 7 degrees and rising, so I wore the short gloves. Today was 5 degrees, so wore the full fingered gloves, and it wasn't much of a problem. Not perfect, but definitely usable. What firmware do you have, as 4.00 specifically mentions cold temperature touch screen performance? I'm still at 3.90 because of connection issues I've had, but I haven't seen any problems. Maybe 5 degrees C isn't cold enough??

What firmware do you have, as 4.00 specifically mentions cold temperature touch screen performance?

This is with firmware 4.00.

So now we got FW4 with improved touchscreen performance in the cold. Which turns out to be a fail for me: I ride in 30C+. (with short gloves ;-)). Sensitivity set to low, I have to lock the screen when sweat or rain drizzles on the screen, otherwise the device goes nuts. Even with the screen locked, I can’t use the lower row of data fields since I always get a “screen locked” message. Before I want to operate the device, I have to dry the screen; can’t even swipe reliably. Big fail :-(