I just bought my first Garmin - the Edge 820. A big factor was that is would give an audio beep when paired with the Varia radar, which I own, to alert me that a car is coming the range of the radar. Problem is, I can't hear the beep, even when I'm standing still at an intersection. I have to literally take it off the mount and hold it next to my ear to hear it. Does anyone else have an experience on this? What good is audio feedback if you can't hear it, especially when the issue is safety.
I just bought my first Garmin - the Edge 820. A big factor was that is would give an audio beep when paired with the Varia radar, which I own, to alert me that a car is coming the range of the radar. Problem is, I can't hear the beep, even when I'm standing still at an intersection. I have to literally take it off the mount and hold it next to my ear to hear it. Does anyone else have an experience on this? What good is audio feedback if you can't hear it, especially when the issue is safety.
Unless you have some hearing impairment I find the audio prompts from the varia loud enough the be heard on normal riding, not superloud but loud enough. It could be that you activated the audio prompts through your mobile? That option deactivates the edge's internal beeps and sends them to your phone, which can be hard to hear depending on the set volume and maybe placing in pockets. The setting is in garmin connect, "Audio Prompts", set it to off.
I also struggle to hear the beeps at anything over 15mph due to wind noise.
I recently started using an earpiece with my mobile phone to here the audio alerts which works great, but it's a pity the Varia alerts aren't fed through the same system.
I started using the varia radar last week. 3-4 2+ hour rides and I hear the prompt just fine. It uses two different prompts. One, an octave going up and the other, while using the same pitches is the octave going down. Like, when a second car comes within range.
Hit n Miss... riding over 10 mph--forget about it--can't hear at all... Standing still in traffic--probably won't hear it.. Quiet rural road with no traffic and riding at a slow speed, "may" hear it... I wish the tone volume could be adjusted...
Hit n Miss... riding over 10 mph--forget about it--can't hear at all... Standing still in traffic--probably won't hear it.. Quiet rural road with no traffic and riding at a slow speed, "may" hear it... I wish the tone volume could be adjusted...
I am quite sure the person who specified the audio volume never rode a bike and most likely was a summer intern.:confused:
This is a REAL problem and greatly detracts from the usefulness of the device.
I do not recommend the 820 unless Garmin fixes this.
I have my 820 set to give audio alerts via my phone every few minutes using an earpiece (average speed and heart rate), you'd think it would be a simple thing to add Varia alerts to the options.
BTW even with an earpiece it's hard to hear the alerts much over 30mph.
alerts are indeed a little hit and miss, depends a lot on noise level around: at high speed (wind) under the rain and in some traffic conditions the alerts are difficult to hear... not sure much can be done (but it would be good if sound level could be increased...)
really don't think using audio buds would be any improvement as it would isolate me from exterior sounds (plus it is illegal to use earpieces when riding a bicycle in my country)
people who have other Garmin watches might want to try pairing them to the radar: I actually own a Vivoactive HR and it vibrates whenever the radar detects a car. The extra feedback is a good backup for when I don't hear the beeps, but I have to say that vibrations on the VAHR are a little on the soft side...
I find the tone alerts are almost inaudible above 15 mph or when there is significant wind. I really wish there was a way to adjust the volume (louder) on the 820.
