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Accidental sensor pairing -Race season time/comment to show Garmin this matters

My wife uses a Forerunner 235. On numerous occasions her watch has accidentally paired to multiple kinds of sensors. So far: tempes, cadence (cycling), heart-rate straps, and foot pods.

Most Garmin devices need to be told to "pair" before they hook up with random sensors. Not the 235, he hooks up with any sensor close enough to smell.

I called Garmin and let them know that my random pairing issue was not just localized to me, below are three threads I've found that show the same issue:

https://forums.garmin.com/showthread.php?343746-How-to-avoid-chest-band-pairing-with-FR235/page3&highlight=sensor+paring
https://forums.garmin.com/showthread.php?343687-Maximal-heart-rate-correct-with-Forerunner-235&p=806527#post806527
https://forums.garmin.com/showthread.php?344123-How-to-avoid-pairing-with-footpod-with-235

Garmin stated that this auto-pairing issue was a feature to allow users easier pairing with their sensors. They said the watch needs to be within a few centimeters to pair, but I know that two feet was close enough. The tech support rep also said that this issue was not highly prioritized for the programmers either.

I'm concerned that race season is here and too many 235 owners are going to be at the starting lines fighting with their optical sensors getting trumped by other racers' heart-rate straps or foot pods.

If you read the other threads there is a fix, after your watch has mischievously paired with something it shouldn't, you need to enter the sensors settings and tell the 235 to disconnect, but don't unpair the unwanted sensor or the 235 will just re-pair with it.

If this thread gets enough visibility and comments then I'll report back to Garmin and see if the programmers won't add a user requested pair option to the sensors menu like most their other watches vs. the "auto-pair".

Please comment if you have had this issue, or if you plan to use your 235 in a race and are concerned that this issue will affect you.

I ask if an administrator would make this a sticky thread please. I want to help garmin and the 235 users before they are overwhelmed after race season starts.

0 timgrose over 9 years ago

Arguing over whether/how we can discuss this topic isn't particularly helpful so let's stick to the topic please.

Threads like this become "sticky" if lots of people contribute to them. We can't make every issue a sticky however.

If say somebody you regularly go running with has a HR strap (or any other sensor) that you always want to avoid pairing to, it is best to actively pair to it one time, then find it Sensors & Accessories and set the Status to Off. It won't then make an active connection to that again until you change that. Deleting the pairing, in this instance, is not so good as it may find it again.

0 martin.j.d over 9 years ago

So what is the workaround?
Do we need to always use our own chest strap and pair it first if running around other runners?
It does seem slightly barmy, cant see the issue with pairing something manually once. Even do it the same autodiscovery but only if you set an option to autodiscover whilst alone for 60 seconds.

I've renamed my own sensors i.e Foot Pod and HR strap to something I can quickly recognize. As Tim pointed out the next time my watch picks them up I will turn them off, giving them a name ensures I'm not turning my own sensors off!

0 jim_m_58 over 9 years ago

"Running season" for me is almost over (it's too hot in the summer here!), but I've used a 230 for a few 5ks and never seen this.

But.... I don't have a HRM.

Does this only happen when you have one paired? Maybe then when you start an activity, it looks for your HRM, it picks up the first one it sees?
(A time when everyone is standing at the start line, and close enough there could be a few HRMs in range)

Or can it happen after you've actually started recording and running the event?

Both cases sound like there's a bug.

I'm guessing it's actually due to the ohrm on the 235 (the firmware - such as the running app - is pretty much the same between the 230 and 235). When it's looking for a HRM on the 235 that's using the ohrm, if it finds any hrm, it uses that one (with a ohrm in use, there's only one, so it's not an issue), but if you have a band paired, it isn't checking for the correct one when it searches. Or have people seen this same thing with a Tempe or footpod too?

What if you do the "search for sensors" phase of starting the running app when you are a ways away from other people that might have an HRM? Not a fix, but is maybe a work-around, or does it just use info from random HRMs throughout the race?

0 martin.j.d over 9 years ago

Normally you have to give permission to that sensor - I will have a look this evening..

0 Tpcorr over 9 years ago

My 235 also automatically paired with a HRM strap I was wearing. My goal was to test the accuracy of the OHR on the 235 vs the Garmin Premium HRM strap. I did this on a bike ride, actually on a couple of rides, using the Edge 520 paired with the HRM strap recording the rides, and the 235 using the OHR (or so I thought), also recording the ride. I was shocked that every time I looked at my hr on my 235 it pretty much exactly matched that on the 520. The average heart rates were identical. I was so amazed at this level of accuracy I actually started a thread about it, lauding the accuracy of the OHR monitor on the 235.

Now, after reading this thread, I had second thoughts about whether the 235 automatically paired with the HRM strap. So I looked in the sensors and accessories menu item of my watch and found 3 sensors paired, the HRM strap, speed, and cadence sensors. None of which I deliberately paired! So I just shut them off. Now I can do a new test of the accuracy of the OHR monitor on the 235 vs the HRM strap, one that isn't rigged. Thanks for this thread. After thinking about this, in my opinion, Garmin should change the behavior of the 235 to have sensors need to be paired deliberately and not automatically.

Tom

0 LeanMeanGreen13 over 9 years ago

Normally you have to give permission to that sensor - I will have a look this evening..

That is the odd thing with the 235, it has auto pairing. You cant even tell it to look for sensors. Just have to open an activity and be close to other sensors.

"Running season" for me is almost over (it's too hot in the summer here!), but I've used a 230 for a few 5ks and never seen this.

But.... I don't have a HRM.

Does this only happen when you have one paired? Maybe then when you start an activity, it looks for your HRM, it picks up the first one it sees?
(A time when everyone is standing at the start line, and close enough there could be a few HRMs in range)

Or can it happen after you've actually started recording and running the event?

Both cases sound like there's a bug.

I'm guessing it's actually due to the ohrm on the 235 (the firmware - such as the running app - is pretty much the same between the 230 and 235). When it's looking for a HRM on the 235 that's using the ohrm, if it finds any hrm, it uses that one (with a ohrm in use, there's only one, so it's not an issue), but if you have a band paired, it isn't checking for the correct one when it searches. Or have people seen this same thing with a Tempe or footpod too?

What if you do the "search for sensors" phase of starting the running app when you are a ways away from other people that might have an HRM? Not a fix, but is maybe a work-around, or does it just use info from random HRMs throughout the race?

This happens if you selected an activity or if you have started an activity. As just noted, no permission required. No option to tell the watch to search for sensors now like other watches. Also, this happens for sensors the watch has never paired with too.

So what is the workaround?
Do we need to always use our own chest strap and pair it first if running around other runners?
It does seem slightly barmy, cant see the issue with pairing something manually once. Even do it the same autodiscovery but only if you set an option to autodiscover whilst alone for 60 seconds.

Unfortunately, you have to let the watch pair then disconnect the unwanted sensor.

0 LeanMeanGreen13 over 9 years ago

In other words, bla bla bla…

I care about the 235 users who just wanted a watch to run and track their heart-rates with out issues. Race season is going to hinder their use. I don't even use the 235, I use the Fenix3. But, I often communicate with Garmin and help them troubleshoot or provide them feedback.

I see each forum has trolls (posting pointless comments to achieve Master is sad). Please feel free to continue to post in this thread. Glad to see it was still on the first page, thanks for the help.

0 jim_m_58 over 9 years ago

That is the odd thing with the 235, it has auto pairing. You cant even tell it to look for sensors. Just have to open an activity and be close to other sensors.

I'm just guessing, but it almost sounds like it's "auto connecting" to devices that haven't been paired if you've already paired to any HRM. If it was auto pairing (like what happens in the "Sensors and Accesssories" settings) I think I would have picked up someone's HRM at an event I did over the last few months (I have no paired HRM)

Maybe this "auto-connect" causes an entry for the sensor (to show "connected" status if nothing else), with out a "pairing" actually happening?

BTW, something a bit connected to this is thread: If you are recording with a Connect IQ app on the 23x devices, even if you turn a HRM off in sensors, it will be turned on when the app starts. I ran into this with an app, where a guy and his wife shared a HRM, but they were using the same app, with the HRM on for him and off for her, (he wore the HRM), and her data included his HR data. This was reported to Garmin a while back (CIQ shouldn't use it if it's "off"!), but in the mean time, I added a setting to the app that says to ignore the HRM even if one is available. It's a bit different in that the same HRM was actually paired to the two watches, and it wasn't that there was a connection to some other HRM.

0 chunkywizard over 9 years ago

Hi Jim,

it does actually pair. The pairing is through proximity though, so you have to get the watch within an inch of a HRM for a second or 2. I think Garmin don't think you will be that close to people. If you are, you find the sensor in your sensor list and turn it off. It's not ideal, but I have yet to happen to me and I've been in race conditions loads of times since I got the watch.

HTH

CW

0 jim_m_58 over 9 years ago

Hi Jim,

it does actually pair. The pairing is through proximity though, so you have to get the watch within an inch of a HRM for a second or 2.

But from what I've seen, "auto pairing" is something that happens only when in "Sensors and Accessories". Like I said, I've never picked up someone's HRM at an event (I don't have one actually paired which might make it different). If it was Auto pairing, when you're at a race, how often is your watch withing a few inches of someone else's HRM? :) I know in pairing things like a Tempe or a footpod, you do have to have the watch very close during pairing..

I'm wondering if it's ignoring what's actually paired and just connects to the first HRM it sees, and then creating an entry in sensors for it..