Edge 1030 loses connection

3215105 sorry to hear about this, prior to using your work around, did you have the radar in standby mode and then click the button to turn the light on? or were you allowing the Edge to turn the radar on upon powering up or starting a ride? 

We also did roll out an update this week for the RCT715 to version 4.70, have you been able to update yet? 

Thank you for the quick response.

Regarding your 1st question, in the past upon completing a ride I turn off the radar and UT800 light manually by pressing their power buttons until the lights turn off.

On a subsequent ride I would then first turn on the Edge, and then the headlight and radar manually. There's be no need to toggle the network 'enable' to ON as it would automatically show ON from the previous session. Both devices would be found and their lights would illuminate.

Now I find the 'enable' toggle is always off upon beginning a ride, so that becomes the first thing required to change. After that step the devices turn on automatically. Sometimes the headlight goes directly to the Day Flash mode from memory and other times it remains on Solid requiring me to push its power button repeatedly to get to Day Flash. It stays in Day Flash for approximately 5 minutes into the ride at which time the headlight turns off. The Edge will also then say that the headlight's off but when I re-select Day Flash the headlight flashes once and then returns to reading off. It can never be changed.

Because of obvious safety issues while riding it's frustrating to repeatedly stop and fiddle with trying to reconnect, as well as occasionally reconnecting then within 5 minutes discovering it has disconnected again. Thus the workaround I previously described comes into play.

As for the radar, when the headlight ceases flashing so does the radar's light however the radar function usually continues to display on the Edge. Sometimes not. My final workaround in that case is now to use a light mounted to my left stay instead. I can then complete the ride with the headlight turned on manually, the stay-mounted light flashing, and the Varia radar operating through the Varai App on my phone.

Hopefully this information assists you further. Product Support over the phone has had me remove and re-install both devices, adjust settings, and on the very next ride I encountered the exact same issues. I suspect the issues are stemming form the Edge's firmware/software rather from the accessory devices.

I've downloaded 4.7 as you've suggested and will test everything on an actual ride again this weekend. But I can tell you this so far...several times in the last hour I tested and turned the Edge off first, which turned off both devices, then upon restarting the Edge and toggling the "Enable" to ON the light network forms and both devices remember their Day Flash settings. Whether they'll remain connected during a ride is left to find out. But now after updating the Varia to 4.7 only the headlight turned on, to solid, then turned off after 2 minutes...and the Varia never turned on at all. And neither device's flash settings can be controlled by the Edge. 

...just to add an update, after the 4.7 update I've now rebooted the Edge, toggled 'Enable" to ON, a few seconds later the light network was formed and both devices returned to Day Flash mode. Time to go ride and will report results to you next week.

Last update 13.40 was the worst in the series. We have been reporting these disconnection and reconnection issues with radar for 3 months. When do you want to solve it?

Update….After leaving the headlight and radar/camera in standby mode since my most recent ride I was looking forward to them successfully re-connecting to the Edge today. The ride began with both devices connecting automatically to the light-network as soon as the ‘enable’ icon was toggled to On, and the day-flash mode was remembered just like you suggested it would be. PERFECT!!

After riding only 2 blocks though the headlight once again stopped flashing and the radar’s light also stopped. Again, out of frustration I un-enabled the Edge’s light network, manually turned on the headlight to day-flash, turned on my back-up tail light on my seat stay, and opened the Varia app on my phone to connect to radar. The rest of the ride was uneventful using my workaround method once again.

I did notice that interestingly the radar not only displayed on the Varia app, but also was visible on the Edge even though I’d un-enabled it!

so here’s what I’ve concluded and will try on my next ride…I believe that the Garmin App connection (not the Varia app) is conflicting with the Edge and any connected devices. In your opinion could this be possible? In the future I will only use the Edge and once the light network is formed I’m anticipating a more stable connection to the devices. Will advise on results but would appreciate to know if the connected Garmin App is the root of the problem?

Yes. The cell# in your database is best. Thank you.

So I think I’ve finally found the solution!

For whatever reason the method of selecting light network choices under the menu “Sensors” is possibly unstable, or even incorrect. 

After Garmin Support instead suggestied using the “Widgets” method I haven’t experienced a single failure yet. After 5 long rides I found that my headlight and Varia radar have worked perfectly. 

From the Home Screen simply swipe down to show Widgets, scroll left or right to the light- flash options screen, select flash/solid/peloton choice and the lights will instantly respond. Just ensure that your light devices are turned on, and if they were previously turned completely off then hold their power buttons down a few seconds longer than usual in order to activate Bluetooth mode. 

I’m finally a happy camper again, and recommend using the Widgets method if anyone else is experiencing lost connection issues with their Edge 1030 or 1030 Plus. 

Thank you Garmin!