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

130 won't connect to ANY of my 3 dual speed/cadence BLE sensors. Pairs, but no connect

Former Member over 5 years ago

Ok, I've read all the best practice post and many others and I need to get a straight answer here before sending this 130 right back to the seller. Is it true that that it will not connect to a dual speed/cadence BLE sensor at all? Pairs, but no connection. Blinking little icons never stop, no data. I've tried everything. THREE different sensors on different bikes, different brands, one is a common one, Wahoo (dual BLE/ANT+). Nothing. Don't start about ANT+, I am not going out and buying a bunch of new sensors when I already have 3 perfectly fine BLE sensors.

I thought maybe some Bluetooth interference somewhere. Turned off the Bluetooth on the phone, on the Connect app, etc. Removed a battery from an old bike computer that worked fine with all THREE, etc. Nothing.

I also have a Polar H7 BLE strap. That pairs and connects flawlessly, so sure seems to be related to the speed/cadence/BLE combination.

Finally, about the Wahoo dual speed/cad sensor .. it is also dual BLE/ANT+. So when I pair the Wahoo, it gives me two options, one is ANT, select BLE, pairs, but not connection, endless blinking. Select ANT+ .. boom. It works. I saw another post where someone asked Garmin and got a reply to the tune of "strongly recommend separate speed and cadence devices or going ANT", or something like that.

This to me is proof that dual Speed/Cadence BLE-only sensors are just NOT supported at all, none of them. Am I right?

Top Replies

All Replies

0 aweatherall over 5 years ago

As far as I know the 130 does not support BLE sensors.

Guess I got that wrong

0 WalterB over 5 years ago in reply to aweatherall

This is what the manual says:

Pairing Your Wireless Sensors
Before you can pair, you must put on the heart rate monitor or install the sensor.
Pairing is the connecting of ANT+ or Bluetooth wireless sensors. For example, connecting a heart rate monitor with your Garmin device.1
Bring the device within 3 m (10 ft.) of the sensor.NOTE: Stay 10 m (33 ft.) away from other riders' sensors while pairing.2
Hold .3
Select Sensors > Add Sensor.
A list of available sensors appears.4
Select one or more sensors to pair with your device.
When the sensor is paired with your device, the sensor status is Connected. You can customize a data field to display sensor data.

0 Former Member over 5 years ago

Your Polar H7 heart rate belt works correctly?

Right after unpacking the my new Edge 130, I tried to pair it to my Polar H7. The Edge130 recognized an HR sensor and let me pair it. The heart symbol appeared on the "Ride" Home screen, steady without blinking. Then every few seconds the "sensor connected" pop-up appeared on the screen, until I forced the Edge130 to forget the sensor.

Then after connecting the Edge130 to the PC with Garmin Express for the first time, the firmware was automatically updated to 3.60 (sensor hub 5.8). With the new software the Polar H7 sensor appears to be pairing correctly at first, without the constant "sensor connected" pop-ups, but the actual heart rate data is not displayed (blank) or recorded. The heart symbol on the "ride" homescreen is blinking.

How did you get the H7 to work?

0 Former Member over 5 years ago in reply to WalterB

Nope. It is obvious to me that Garmin does not support BLE-only (Bluetooth) dual speed-cadence sensors. How else do you explain the fact that I have three of these sensors, all different brands, and all of them pair but NONE of them show data? And the one that is a dual BLE/ANT sensor does show data if you pair it as ANT (but not BLE)? And furthermore I went out and bought a Wahoo Elemnt Bolt and they all paired perfectly and showed data with no issues. I think it’s obvious. No I am not re-investing in more soeed/cad sensors at $60 a pop. Bolt wins.

0 Former Member over 5 years ago in reply to Former Member

Yes I had no issues with the H7 BLE, just the BLE speed/cad sensors. The H7 paired and showed data from the start without me doing anything special.

0 Former Member over 5 years ago in reply to aweatherall

But Garman advertisers the 130 as being able to support those sensors so this is not truth in advertising. It does not support BLE Speed/Cad sensors. On the other hand my BLE Polar H7 heart rate sensor work flawlessly. So it’s only partial support.

0 Former Member over 4 years ago

My Edge 130 arrived yesterday, with Firmware 3.50 preinstalled.

Paired my Polar H7 and my PanoBike Speed & Cadence Sensor (TPB-CS01) - both BLE only - flawlessly and went out for a ride. Everything worked like expected and all the data was correct shown and proper recorded inkl. upload to Garmin Connect.

Later the evening I connected the Edge to my PC and Garmin Express wanted to do a Firmware update to 3.60, which VERY UNFORTUNATELY I accepted. Since then the BLE sensors are gone. I can pair it (done it several times) but no data is shown anymore. Even a total divce reset didn't help.

100% Garmins responsibility and it's my second and for sure last Garmin device. At least if they gave us a tool to switch back the firmware to 3.50 - never asked for a new firmware and had never should install Garmin Express.

0 Former Member over 4 years ago in reply to Former Member

That makes perfect sense. I struggled to believe they could advertise it as full BLE sensor capability, and yet not support ANY dual speed/cad BLE sensors. So basically I updated the firmware before I even tried the sensors (yes, I remember doing that), so I immediately went to 3.60 and never once saw these sensors work.

0 Former Member over 4 years ago in reply to Former Member

Firmware 3.70 didn't fix the problem for me, by the way :-/ My BLE sensors are still useless and bought the Garmin HRM Dual in the meantime - at least that works.

0 Weiman over 4 years ago

This problem has been known pretty much since the release of the 130 and will likely never be fixed. Garmin just claim that they don't guarantee compatibility with third-party sensors. "If it works, it works" was literally the answer I got.

I ended up getting a (used) Garmin wheel sensor instead, no cadence for now.

BLE heart rate works just fine as you say.