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new 235

Former Member
Former Member over 9 years ago
Hi,

I have never owned a running watch and purchased a 235 for my wife. Upon powering up and waiting 5 minutes outside in the open I never get more than the smallest bars blinking for GPS reception. I am assuming this is the issue that caused 50% of her run to not record and no mapping on connect of the route she ran? Can someone please shed some light on what is wrong? Neither of us are very tech savvy so all help is greatly appreciated. I'd really like for my wife to not get discouraged with this thing before she has a chance to actually use it.

Tim
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 9 years ago
    Did you try GPS and Glonass? If you're just using GPS it may be a case where it wasn't picking up enough satellites. I live in the Northwest and that has happened to me a couple times due to the low and thick cloud cover. If this doesn't help or it's a continuous problem, give tech support a call at 1-800-800-1020. They'll be able to shed some light.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 9 years ago
    What do you mean by did I try GPS or glonass.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 9 years ago
    The 235 uses GPS, but it is also capable of uses Glonass (the Russian satellite system) at the same time. This works great if your doing an activity around high rise buildings, or possibly in your situation. When you start an activity, go into menu and GPS settings to change to GPS & Glonass. FYI, this will use a little more battery life.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 9 years ago
    Oh, thanks I will give it a try. It did not work. I am going to assume it does not work right. I have other garmin GPS devices and they are not clear of issues either, but they do pick up a signal almost immediately. I guess contact Garmin and send it back.
  • 0 over 9 years ago
    Out of the box, it can take a while to get an initial GPS fix. It should do so after 5 mins but not uncommon that it does not.

    Suggest you leave it somewhere safe that is outside (or on a window sill that has a good view of the sky) put it on the Run screen and see if it gets a GPS fix.

    If it does not say after as long as 30 mins, clearly something wrong.

    Have you connected up to Garmin Connect yet with Garmin Express? Doing so will download a file that enables much faster satellite acquisition.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 9 years ago
    Out of the box, it can take a while to get an initial GPS fix. It should do so after 5 mins but not uncommon that it does not.

    Suggest you leave it somewhere safe that is outside (or on a window sill that has a good view of the sky) put it on the Run screen and see if it gets a GPS fix.

    If it does not say after as long as 30 mins, clearly something wrong.

    Have you connected up to Garmin Connect yet with Garmin Express? Doing so will download a file that enables much faster satellite acquisition.



    I left it outside for 10 minutes figuring that if one has to wait that long to do their workout this is unacceptable. I have hooked it up to garmin express several times for these downloads, but it has not helped. I have it outside now and will leave it for 30 minutes, but again this is not really acceptable. My garmin 810 picks up a gps signal in the house within 20 seconds.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 9 years ago
    I left it outside for 10 minutes figuring that if one has to wait that long to do their workout this is unacceptable. I have hooked it up to garmin express several times for these downloads, but it has not helped. I have it outside now and will leave it for 30 minutes, but again this is not really acceptable. My garmin 810 picks up a gps signal in the house within 20 seconds.


    If it hasn't picked up GPS after 10 minutes, then it does sound as though there may be some issue. Perhaps a reset/master reset would help?

    Personally speaking, I'm on my second 235 due to another issue and both have picked up the satellite within 5 seconds or so.
  • 0 over 9 years ago
    If still no GPS, worth checking a few things.

    In the activity profile you are in goto into the Menu and then Activity Settings, GPS and what setting is it? I wonder if it is Off ?

    If not, also check in Settings, System, About
    What GPS version is it showing? You will need to goto the 2nd page on this screen to see this - use the Down arrow.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 9 years ago
    GPS is on, GPS version says 0.00
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 9 years ago
    That's not a good sign. I'm still running FW 3.10 and my GPS version is 3.00. I'm not sure how to update that. Hopefully someone in this forum can help.