Forums >Gears and Wears>See, it still works fine!
And charges no problem, as long as I keep the cord . . . jussssst . . . liiiiiike . . . .so! Nobody bump it!
LOL! I had to MacGyver my 305 to its charger, too. I used one of those think rubber bands they put around broccoli, though.
I have a 610 now and about a month ago was having the notorious "reverse charging" problem. One day I decided to rubber band it to the charger and... Voila! No reverse charging problem.
My blog is JT Running DC. It's awesome. Guide to Washington DC Area Running Routes. Guide to the New York City Marathon. Guide to the Boston Marathon. Guide to Running Gear. Guide to Running Clothes.
Ah, broccoli band -good idea! I just ordered a 310. I priced replacement charging cradle/cord setups, and while they're a lot cheaper than a whole new unit, my 305 has been accumulating enough other errors that it seemed time to take the plunge.
Tell me more about the notorious charging problem.
Every once in awhile, my 310xt claims to be 100% charged, and so I unplug it. And then when I try to use it, as Yukon Cornelius says, "nothin".
Did I fall prey to Notorious G.C.P?
SRL, that might be a different problem.
The "reverse charging" phenomenon is when 610 owners put their watch on the charger and then come back hours later to find the battery completely drained. I think what might be happening is that the watch isn't making complete contact with the charger, is remaining on rather than sleeping for all that time, and therefore draining the battery. But, the Garmin people said it had something to do with calibration... I don't know. All I know is strapping it to the charger seems to be working for me.
I wonder if your watch is staying on while it's connected to the charger and that's why the battery is dead?
I'm thinking that there must be thousands of unused charging cradle / cord setups that people don't use anymore. I, personally, have 3 sets of cord/cradles. I keep one in my car, office and home. Maybe a 205/305 cradle/cord clearinghouse would be in order.
rectumdamnnearkilledem
My first 305 was awesome for about 3.5 years...then I noticed it was sorta literally breaking in half, with the top separating from the bottom half and it got flaky. I tried taping around it with black electrical tape to keep it snuggly together, but it still was erratic. Pushing any button could make it shut off. Especially troublesome when trying to change modes between running and cycling workouts. Eventually I got a 2nd 305 when I couldn't count on my first one to work during any multisport races. Unfortunately 305 #2 is kind of a POS. Once it dies I need to look at a different model, methinks.
Generally I've not had charger issues, but it's definitely easy to bump it off if I'm not careful.
Getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to
remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air.
~ Sarah Kay
What, and take away my excuse to buy a whole new watch? There's a mfg rebate of $50, but I have to send Garmin my old watch to get it. They can have it! Although, the watch itself, 3.5 years old, works fine, it's just there are so many communication issues - software in addition to the hardware problem pictured, which is that the little plug doesn't maintain a connection to the cradle unless it's torqued in. I can hold it firmly in for data transfer, but I'm not going to sit there and hold it while it recharges!
Do the newer Garmin "watches" still use the same sort of cradle, or do they use the micro-USB thingy like the Edge models have? I like the cradle, but it's flaky. The micro-USB on my Edge 500 works well, so far.
My 310xt uses something not unlike an alligator clip for charging and the dumbass ANT stick for computer stuff. No cradle. I would very very much prefer a cradle. An ANT stick looks like a little flash drive but isn't. It is a wireless receiver doodad you put on your PC.
I now have the garmin 610 and it has an entirely new (annoying) cradle. I like it better than the 210 charger clip, but not much better.
as far as the ant stick, i'm cool with it. i had no interest in it when i upgraded, but actually really like it. (probably because the charger/cradles are annoying and now i need it less.)