Forums >Gears and Wears>How does a Garmin die?
My Forerunner 305 which I have used faithfully since 2009 now refuses to upload runs or rides. I have had issues with Windows 8 and various browsers but now it has stopped on all browsers and at Garminconnect and RunningAhead. Does that mean it is time for a replacement?
Suffering Benefiting from mature onset exercise addiction and low aerobic endorphin release threshold. Hoping there is no cure.
Prince of Fatness
Have you tried it on several computers? That would be the first thing that I would do. If it works on another computer then it is not the Garmin that has the issue (most likely).
Not at it at all.
If the watch hasn't suffered some sort of abnormal trauma, the answer could be the breakdown of the gate oxide on the IC in the Garmin. Oxide thickness is typically scaled with the gate length to try to achieve a theoretical lifetime of 20 years but in real life it is quite common to see failure before that. There is some arguement as to whether the breakdown is current induced or field induced (and it may actually be a function of both but with current and field effects swapping dominace at a certain oxide thickness) but in general, the more the transistor is cycled the higher the probability that it will fail.
I perfer to think that the death of a Garmin is not related to the cycling of the chip however. I like to think that runners get pissed at their Garmins when the watch says that they are on pace to hit a race goal only to find out that the Garmin measures long...this is how I picture Garmins dying:
If your real question is: "Is my Garmin dead?" rather than "How does a Garmin die?" then listen to MrFinn instead of me.
Good Bad & The Monkey
Eh. I suspect it is typically battery or charging circuitry before chip.
I'm running somewhere tomorrow. It's going to be beautiful. I can't wait.
Poor baby
To A Garmin Dying Young
The time we saw you late at night
Paid the runningwarehouse site
The runner geek stood cheering by
And home we brought you, wristwatch high
Today the road all runners come
Wristwatch high we bring you home
And set you at your cradle down
Pacer of a stiller town
Smart watch, to slip betimes away
From settings where glory does not stay
And early though the heart rate grows
It withers quicker than the rose
Display the contact tabs have shut
Cannot see the sync chord cut
And silence sounds no worse than beeps
Once batteries’ acid slowly seeps
Now you will not be reviewed
By DC rainmaker or blogs more crude
Screen displays reveal a splotch
The GPS died, a fancy watch
So set, before the beeps do fade
The sleek device on sill of shade
And hold to the low LED’s flame
The still defended Forunner’s fame
And round that early laureled face
Will flock to gaze the average pace
And find unwithered on its strap
A garmin, briefer than a lap
MTA: started it, might as well finish it
Come all you no-hopers, you jokers and roguesWe're on the road to nowhere, let's find out where it goes
Does it still charge on the cradle?
And you can quote me as saying I was mis-quoted. Groucho Marx
Rob
#artbydmcbride
technocide
Runners run
Clean the contacts on the back with an eraser.
Or the unit may be dead from sweat, the contacts corrode internally.
Death of a Garmin 305.
Get off my porch
Clean the contacts on the back with an eraser. Or the unit may be dead from sweat, the contacts corrode internally. Death of a Garmin 305.
That's exactly how my 205 died after about 3 years. I still have it in case we discover new repair technology. Kind of like those folks who freeze themselves after they die.
2014 - Get 5k back under 20:00. Stay healthy!
Best Present Ever
brilliant
To A Garmin Dying Young The time we saw you late at night Paid the runningwarehouse site The runner geek stood cheering by And home we brought you, wristwatch high Today the road all runners come Wristwatch high we bring you home And set you at your cradle down Pacer of a stiller town Smart watch, to slip betimes away From settings where glory does not stay And early though the heart rate grows It withers quicker than the rose Display the contact tabs have shut Cannot see the sync chord cut And silence sounds no worse than beeps Once batteries’ acid slowly seeps Now you will not be reviewed By DC rainmaker or blogs more crude Screen displays reveal a splotch The GPS died, a fancy watch So set, before the beeps do fade The sleek device on sill of shade And hold to the low LED’s flame The still defended Forunner’s fame And round that early laureled face Will flock to gaze the average pace And find unwithered on its strap A garmin, briefer than a lap MTA: started it, might as well finish it
It's still showing some runs as un-uploadable but it's charging and appears to be functioning okay apart from the "new browser and operating system incompatabilities (sp)".
Thanks all (especially the poem).