Edge 200 battery life/malfunction?

[Peter]

Last year I got a Garmin Edge 200.  For a while it was excellent as a computer and recorder of rides (it doesn't do navigation).  It even went out to almost 20 hours when I was on Yr Elenydd.  Lately, I have had the strangest feeling, however, it's been getting to about 8 hours and then signalling that battery power is low and cluttering up the screen with this notice.  It'll still get to the end of a 200, or so, but it's stopped recording things like time off the bike.  Can you get replacement batteries, or is it a more significant malfunction?

Thanks

Peter

[JonB]

I don't know but the battery life isn't what it was on mine but it doesn't sound as bad as yours.  Having said that I think I've always got the low battery warning toward the end of a 200 (I use an etrex on the longer rides now).  A key thing to make it work well is to de-clutter by deleting all your old rides and courses and freeing up the memory although it's tedious it seems to work better by doing this on the machine rather than when connected to the PC, mine still shows a big chunk of memory in use when I connect so am thinking of doing a full reset to clear it.

The other thing to mention ... it does navigate. No maps but if you load a course it will give you a line to follow and alert when you're off course, not that you'd know it by reading the manual though.

Good luck

[Peter]

Thanks for that Jon, I'll give it a go.   I think Garmin also suggest not storing it with the battery charged, which I have occasionally done.  I might be back to you about loading a course....

Thanks a lot

Peter

[ran doner]

May or may not be relevant but I updated my 500 to the latest firmware last week and without changing any settings myself the battery drains at twice the rate(ish). Not sure if it is down to a new feature or more data logging etc or a simple bug.

[Peter]

Jon, thanks for your suggestion.  I erased all the previous rides and it went to 13 hours without the message coming on and than ran to 16.5 without "failing", so that's a big improvement!  Next step is to stop storing it fully charged.

thanks a lot

Peter

[JonB]

Pleased to hear it's improved 

If you fancy trying to navigate with it here's one method to get the course on the unit. Using something like BikeHike create or load a route and then save it as a TCX file (not GPX) ==> connect the 200 to the computer find the file you've created, copy or drag it to the  'NewFiles' folder on the 200 ==> disconnect and from the main screen on the unit select courses and you should see the file select it and you should be good to go!  Warning ... this does fill the memory up as well so don't leave too many on there if you're not using them

[Peter]

Cheers, Jon, I'll try that on a little local circuit.  Just out of curiosity, how does stored information affect battery life?  I mean, obviously experience has shown that it does but what is the mechanism?

Peter

[SkidBr]

Hi Peter,

Just thought that I would mention that I have been using the breadcrumb TCX method that Jon describes . You also get a count down to the next turn - a really useful feature.
With this after 11 hours on the Dorset Coast 200 I still had 35% left - I had cleared out everything else from the memory before setting off. On a recent 300, using the same system, I still had 54% left after 17.5 hours though had made three approximate 1/2 hour top ups from a PNY powerpack during control stops. 
I really like my edge 200. Minimalist but does the job.

[Peter]

Thanks!

[Graeme]

TCX not GPX gives count down to turn?

This sounds wonderful. I have an Edge 200 and have been enjoying the GPX line to follow. I must try out this TCX tip tomorrow, could be really useful on the 3 Coasts 600 this weekend.

Thanks. 

[SkidBr]

Yes, TCX is really good. Only problem I have found is that the file size for a TCX is much larger than the equivalent GPX. This starts to be a problem for rides around 300k where file size approaches the edge new folder limit of 3mB (once downloaded and processed into a course by the edge file size drops right down so there is plenty of space available to record the ride). 
I get round this by de-cluttering the number of turn directions Ride with GPS produces which gets things down to a practical size. I suppose for a 600 you could split into two tcx courses if necessary and then rejoin the fit files once the ride is finished.     

[Graeme]

I just tried this, it has the potential to be really good.

• I was happy with the original GPX track and just following the line unprompted.  I was aware that it only stretched about 80m ahead but it did beep at me if I went off course.
• Now with the TCX file my screen has lots of arrows.  I noticed that they didn't always make sense, for example at a five exit roundabout the arrow showed "straight on"
• There is a count down, but I struggled to understand it - trying to watch the traffic and a little screen is a recipe for disaster.  Arrow and number.  I assumed this was the distance in metres, but sometimes it would say 80 for what looked like the junction ahead, other times it would say 25...24...23 for a junction in the distance.  And yet the arrow and the black line seemed to match expectations.
• I'm not sure what the "time" measurement is showing me.  I think this might be based on my typical average speed since last resetting the device.
• I found the additional information distracting

Having said this I actually see the whole additional information as a benefit if I can edit it and cut it down to significant junctions before I stick it on the edge 200.  So I agree with SkidBr, I think using the RidewithGPS site to refine the turn information would be useful... especially useful if an audax route-sheet highlights a turn as "easy to miss".

I'm going to continue playing with this and I'm very happy that I heard about TCX here.

[SkidBr]

Hi Graeme

Ride with GPS does seem to generate a lot of 'extra' notifications as you noticed. I delete the ones I am not interested in, for example 'straight ahead' when there is no other alternative and leave only the junctions I know will be of use. That way you eliminate the distractions and leave only what is useful. Roundabouts can like wise be cut down to just one prompt and where it says straight ahead when its clearly a left or right  you can edit to change the arrow to what you need.

Distance prompts above 1 km are as they seem. 1.2 for example means 1.2km. Below 1km it appears in units of 10m. So 80 means 800 meters etc etc.

The time to junction  bit is always a bit bizzare and never seems to have much to do with reality.

As you say it can be a bit distracting but I find that just knowing that a turn is coming up in 500m or so is useful as I am then primed up and ready without needing to keep looking at the screen.

[Ningishzidda]

Hi Graeme

Ride with GPS does seem to generate a lot of 'extra' notifications as you noticed. I delete the ones I am not interested in, for example 'straight ahead' when there is no other alternative and leave only the junctions I know will be of use. That way you eliminate the distractions and leave only what is useful. Roundabouts can like wise be cut down to just one prompt and where it says straight ahead when its clearly a left or right  you can edit to change the arrow to what you need.

Distance prompts above 1 km are as they seem. 1.2 for example means 1.2km. Below 1km it appears in units of 10m. So 80 means 800 meters etc etc.

The time to junction  bit is always a bit bizzare and never seems to have much to do with reality.

As you say it can be a bit distracting but I find that just knowing that a turn is coming up in 500m or so is useful as I am then primed up and ready without needing to keep looking at the screen.

TT is exactly the opposite. Approach a Xrds and it says nothing. Look at the screen and there is a big yellow arrow pointing straight ahead.

[Graeme]

Thank you - good advice.

[JonB]

Arrows, count downs and distances ... I have none of this looks like a bit more exploring required.

[Ningishzidda]

Arrows, count downs and distances ... I have none of this looks like a bit more exploring required.

I have voice commands and lane guidance graphics as well as distance countdown and arrows.

Mind you, I'm the only one.

Also, I can set an avoid on a road in one direction only. This enable me to set an 'Avoid' DOWN a dangerous hill, but use the hill to ride up it. Dunno if OSM can do this?

[Graeme]

Arrows, count downs and distances ... I have none of this looks like a bit more exploring required.

How weird!

It was based on your recommendation to use a TCX file that I discovered these features.

[JonB]

How weird!

I think that sums up Garmin World, did your TCX come from Ride with GPS?

[Graeme]

How weird!

I think that sums up Garmin World, did your TCX come from Ride with GPS?

Yes - and as SkidBr said, this is then editable so it is less overwhelming.

[Peter]

A little bump for this thread.  Thank you all for your input and advice.  I have just completed a hilly 120 DIY, for which I loaded a tcx from Bikehike.  I knew the route anyway, so that was a good test of the "you are off course" feature.  This worked well when I took a deliberate diversion but also told me I was off course when I knew I wasn't.  When I got back I checked bikehike and found that, for some reason, the blue line on the map will sometimes run down the edge of a road which seems to be enough to upset the gps computation of where you actually are.  This would be disconcerting on an unknown route but would not be the garmin's fault!  In any case, I have an arrow suggesting the direction you need to be going in to get back on route, so that's helpful.  (I don't seem to have some of the other features some mention, but I've got more than I need.)  One puzzling thing is that the climbing indicated on the device is considerably less when I run the completed track through garmin's software after the ride.  (I'm talking about the climbing recorded as I ride.)

All in all an excellent result, for which, thank you very much!

One more thing (and going back to the battery life question - when a message comes on telling you battery is running down, can you remove it so that yuo can continue to see the screen in full?  Maybe by pressing the lower left button?

Peter

Edit   Graeme, the time shown seems to be the time it will take you to get to the end and seems to be continually recomputed as you ride.  At the beginning, it seems to be based on the average speed information that is on the original tcx - in my case 15kph (BRM)

[TimC]

The climbing figure you get on the device uses its own derivation of elevation change from the GPS position. GPS altitude in such a relatively basic device (which includes any bike or vehicle GPS, not just yours!) is very inaccurate, and so the Garmin Connect website applies a correction by comparing the recorded route to known map elevations and deriving a corrected climbing figure. Higher-end Garmins have a barometric capsule to provide elevation info, so by default the site doesn't apply the corrections to their figures (though it probably should!).

[Peter]

Thanks, Tim.  Disappointing - my knees would prefer to believe the device figure!

[Graeme]

Peter, to respond to your battery question with a totally unhelpful and irrelevant answer... I have discovered the joys of hub dynamo. My 'little device' gets plugged in for anything over 150k. This allows me to run with the backlight on permanently.  No battery warning either. Totally unhelpful answer.

But I am pleased with the Garmin Edge 200 with all these little featuresthat are undocumented in their manual . I hopetheydon't release a patch to disable them.

[Peter]

Thanks, Graeme, it's always good to hear from you.  I'm very pleased with the Edge 200; I think it's great for the price and as I always take a routesheet, too, I've got pretty much everything, at least up to 200k.  I expect I will eventually end up getting a hub dynamo, especially as I love riding overnight, but I've got some wheels to wear out first!

All the best

Peter