Live Segments Idiots Guide

Man, it stinks that no one that really knows has jumped in here.  I stopped using Live Segments, mostly because as a mountain biker that lives for the downhills, I just lost interest.  Then I dropped my Strava membership when the price went sky high.  I'll reply with what I know, but it's been 6 months since I've used, so I'm a little fuzzy...

1. Auto Effort:  I think you've described it exactly as it functions.  You will see yourself paced against your own PR, KOM and those you follow with Auto Effort on.  I think it shows whichever you are next in line to catch.  If you catch your buddy's pace and your PR is next in line to be broken, then it shows that.  From what I remember, 'you" are represented by a black dot and whatever virtual target you're chasing is an open dot..
2. I never switched Auto Effort off, I'm not sure what it shows.
3. I believe you've correctly guessed this one as well, it is a progress bar that I believe shows progress in distance (but could be time, I don't remember).
4. You didn't ask, but I'll mention... As a mountain biker I would've only cared about the downhill segments but Garmin won't show these "due to safety concerns of people racing downhill to beat a time".  Ridiculous.
5. Garmin not only shows segments you've marked as ones to show, but "various popular segments".  I found this to be especially aggravating, because when biking in an area with lots of redundant/overlapping segments, it might choose to show a popular segment rather than the one I earmarked.  Once it locks into showing a segment, it will ignore all others until that segment is done.  I couldn't find a way to turn off this "automatic segment select" so that it would only use the ones I had tagged.  Typical, a "feature" that is really a hinderance.

I can't think of anything else at the moment.

Unfortunately, these forums are mostly people just passing through, not many dedicated experts hanging out.  The real experts, Garmin, ignore these forums.  Perhaps they read them, but I've rarely ever seen them reply, which is a real shame.

Chances are you will figure this out as you use.  Perhaps reply to this thread when you do, because then you will be the expert!

Thanks Cranky K.for taking the the time to reply. It would be great if Garmin took notice (or even read) of the comments in these forums!

So:

1) and 2) Auto Effort - Yep I think we've nailed that with the small exception that if I switch it Auto Effort on or off it still seems to show KOM occasionally in both modes. But I can live with it as I'm not going to challenge a KOM very often, it only did it yesterday briefly and that was because I had a monster tailwind (20 mph).

3) Progress Bar thing. Well It didnt appear in either Auto on or off mode so, perhaps it only exists in the manual. Again I'll live with it.

4) Yes I eventually figured out about the downhill segments not being synced across to the Edge even though I had starred them. Not sure how they decide what 'downhill' is as some segments with a negative grade arent marked as downhill. I can imagine how frustrating it must be as a mountain biker!

5) Popular segments - I may be able to help here. If you select 'Starred Segments' within 'My segments' there is an option at the top of the page to switch popular segments on or off, so only your starred segments (except downhill segments of course) get synced across. I guess this is a new feature that wasnt there when you were using it?

I found out most of the above through trial and effort on the bike but that was only after I realised you cant have Course navigation and Strava live segments on at the same time. If the manual tells you such an essential thing to know I couldnt find it.

Its a shame that Garmin seem happy for users of their products to find out how the detailed (and in some cases basic) functions of their products work by asking other users!!

Once again thanks for the reply.

Brooking Yes, I agree 1) and 2) are nailed.

For 3), Progress Bar, maybe they got rid of it, but I remember it being there.  It seemed redundant with the dot on the map showing progress.

For 5), Popular Segments, I'm thinking your saying this setting is within the Edge 130 device menu, not Garmin Connect.  That will be a tremendous help to someone out there.  Very good of you to clarify that.  Perhaps it was an option that showed up later or I never saw it, because I absolutely would have turned it off.  There was particular starred segment I wanted to try to improve on and the popular segment would always start first and occlude it.  With this improvement alone I would consider using Live Segments again if I were still a paid Strava subscriber.  I just can't justify $60 a year for the little bit of extra use I would get.

I did also intend to mention that you can't have Live Segments and a course concurrently.  You are correct, the manual is terrible and doesn't mention that limitation from what I can remember.  I discovered it on my own as well and verified via another thread on this forum.

Even with all the idiosyncrasies, it's a good unit.  I think part of being happy with this and many things in life is to lower your expectations a bit.  Mine still won't consistently show the elevation map unless I'm following a course I generated from a previous ride that the 130 saved.  Ok, so it's not perfect.  But... If I take a step back and compare to only having a Cateye bike computer previously, and if I look at how this thing has let me build courses for unknown mountain bike trails, it's  been amazing.  I've used Garmin Connect to build a course in an unknown woods and have been able to accurately follow unmarked trails in a place I've never been!  That has been pretty awesome, to ride unknown deep woods without a guide!

Happy Riding!  If nothing else, this is a place where road bikers and mtb'rs can get along!  Lol

The popular segment on off switch was on the Strava Desktop (see screen shot). Not sure if its in the App?

I agree its a brilliant unit, just wish the customer support matched it. I think Garmin spend all their budget on the physical products not their support or their IT.

Only had the 130 for a few days but am very impressed.

Brooking  Ah, ok, it's within Strava, got it!  Well, you likely just helped a ton of people!  I'm thinking that switch wasn't in Strava when I set it all up a year ago, but it's possible I missed it.  

Good to know, I'll keep it in mind if the Strava subscription price ever comes back down to earth.  I think $25 a year is about my limit for Strava and it's unlikely to ever be that cheap again, but who knows.

Great discussion, thanks!

See the thing is Strava subscription is £48 (approx $60) per year here in the UK and I thought I'm not paying that. Then unbeknown to me my subconscious was working on the problem and told me that  £48 is just over £1 a week!  The figure of £1 seemed much more palatable to my brain so I went and subscribed. So if you do the same you'll be able to justify to yourself that just over $1 a week is justifiable and in fact is a bargain. 

Ha!  I do like your $1/week rationalization, and I can't fault it, but... I went the other way with it.  I figure if I save $60 a year, after three years perhaps I could justify moving up to whatever the latest greatest Garmin was for me!  I do like the 130, but it is tempting to move up to the 530 level eventually.  I don't really need most of the additional features, but a base maps of trails, more capable battery and a larger screen have some interest to me.  

Another rationalization I've come to is I could always just subscribe to Strava for a month or two to get my data fix and play with Live Segments again.  All your data is always in Strava waiting even if you have a free subscription.

Both are good options, best of luck!