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Powertap/Garmin 500 Option or Complete PT System????

pclevelandpcleveland
in General Training Discussions

I was wondering if some of you guys who have the Garmin Forerunner 310xt and Garmin Edge 500 could tell me if they will work indoors for accessing your Power Data when doing indoor trainer workouts. I am looking into upgrading from a Wired unit to a wireless unit and I am trying to decide whether to buy the full system with the Yellow computer or buy the Hub Only/Garmin option. I like the Garmin option but I am worried I won't be able to use it indoors when doing Indoor Trainer Workouts!!! Any input would be appreciated!!!

 

Phil C 

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    cdntriguycdntriguy

    Phil,

    You'll be good to go with the Edge 500.  It reads everything (speed, cadence, watts) from the hub with the ant+.  The HR doesn't read from a polar strap though but a garmin or like strap will work.  The data looks fine in WKO+ as well.  I'm very happy with the unit so far.  Cheers.

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    charrischarris

    And just to add $.02 from the Northern half of the Province:

    Not sure if you're considering the 310XT, but if so, this site I threw together might help you a bit:

    http://sites.google.com/site/garminpower/

     

    But yeah, either will work fine indoors.  I personally use a 310XT indoor with a PT Elite+ hub and a trainer and, with a few minor caveats mentioned on that page, it works like a charm.

     

    I also have a Garmin Speed/Cadence sensor (had it from before I bought the PT) - you could add it if you want, but all it would buy you is slightly more accurate cadence.  The sensor doesn't come with the 310XT, but comes with some Edge 500 bundles.

     

    The only other thing I can think of to mention is that if you went with the 310XT instead of the 500, there are some boxes that don't include the HR strap, and you may also want to add a footpod for indoor dreadmill workouts, if that's your thing.

     

    Of course the Joule will be available pretty soon now and looks pretty sweet. image
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    John StarkJohn Stark

    I have never had any luck with the 310XT as a power CPU.  And I am one of many thousands who have had issues with it and WKO, the EN standard.  Numbers are incredibly off compared to the PT CPU.  Not sure about the 500.

    John

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    Nemo BrauchNemo Brauch
    Posted By John Stark on 28 Dec 2009 09:49 AM

    I have never had any luck with the 310XT as a power CPU.  And I am one of many thousands who have had issues with it and WKO, the EN standard.  Numbers are incredibly off compared to the PT CPU.  Not sure about the 500.

    John



    FWIW, With WKO 3.0, the 310XT numbers are now much more similar to my LYC.   That said, there are still some issues with WKO 3.0 so it's not a perfect world.  In fact, one of the issues with WKO 3.0 right now is that it won't show intervals from the Saris LYC (but it does show them for the Garmin 310XT. 

     

    Philip- your question is specifically related to using the Garmin indoors.  I haven't done thorough testing on this front, but yes, it should work.  When I've had the Garmin on inside, it has trouble finding the sattelites and then asks "are you indoors?" and you just select "yes".   It still picks up the ANT+ signal from the PT Hub.  From there you can see the watts just like normal.  What I don't know  is if this changes the way it calculates distance or not (haven't tested that) but FWIW- I never really trust distance on the trainer anyway.

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    manconamancona
    Phil, I have been using an Edge 500 with my Quarq inside for a few weeks now and have no issues. I don't care about speed and therefore do not have the speed/cadence sensor, but the power/cadence data from the Quarq looks great and matches both my Computrainer and PowerTap very closely in both WKO 2.2 and 3.0.

    The only thing that bugs me is each time I turn the edge on in my basement is starts to look for a GPS signal, so I have to turn GPS off, takes about 2 seconds but I wish it would remember that I turned GPS off and leave it off.

    Overall I am very pleased with it.
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    John StarkJohn Stark

    Nemo: 

    PT CPU with firmware 7.53 and WKO+ v2.2 works perfect every time.  Inside, outside and even upside down.     And the data imports directly into WKO.  No download into another program, save to desktop and then drag into WKO.

    Can you tell I am scarred from all the frustrated testing we did earlier inthe year?   

    Happy New Year all.

    John

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    David RDavid R

    I use my Garmin 310XT for indoor training and the LYC.  My pain cave is upstairs in a room with two windows so I don't have any issues with it getting a satelite.  Although for indoor training it doesn't do anything for you anyway except show you bouncing all over your house.  For the most part the numbers match, until you put it into WKO.

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    pclevelandpcleveland
    Thanks for all the great input!!!! I think I am going to stick with the LYC for now and continue to use my Garmin 305 for the run!!!!

    Phil
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    cwhytecwhyte

    I think you'll find a lot of people saying the combination of Garmin CPUs and PT hubs work fine but there are some signficant questions you should be asking yourself:

    What happens when there is a problem (and there always is)? How does it get resolved? Who resolves it? Where exactly is the problem?

    Clearly there have been many issues already between Garmin CPUs and PT hubs. I've seen a ton of posts. I can only imagine the amount of quality testing that goes into this combination is probably performed mostly by the customer, not the vendor.

    I'm a simple guy. All I basically need is real-time watts being displayed and some other stuff being recorded. Not much though. PT CPUs work perfectly fine, imho. This is not an area where interoperability is that important to me.

    Thanks, Chris

     

     

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    GregSVanGregSVan

    Great timing. I just got the Garmin 310xt, PT hubs, and 3.0, and I have never used any of them before....its sounds like I have a lot of fun reading ahead of me....

     

    Greg

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    charrischarris

    Valid points above.  Fortunately, I think a lot of the problems mentioned are rearview mirror.  But not all - I trust Garmin to screw it up again in the future.

     

    I'm looking for simplicity and functionality (in addition to "gee-whiz" of course).  Once you've got the Garmin system setup, it's both.

     

    Before I start a b/r workout, I grab my watch.  Later, I throw it on my desk (no cable), everything gets automagically uploaded to a directory, then it gets shut off.  Then at some point, I start WKO/RaceDay, open the file(s), and I'm done.  Turns out it's actually simpler than John's simple solution. image

     

    Speaking of which, John, I actually created Question #5 in the FAQ mentioned above largely as a result of your frustrations.
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    Nemo BrauchNemo Brauch

     Craig- I finally got a chance to read your page on the Garmin Power breakdown (http://sites.google.com/site/garminpower/)

    Nice job here really sorting through all the issues.   I'd say it's a "must read" for folks looking to make the "do I buy a Garmin" decision as it wraps up a lot of the many different threads of discussions we've had here.

     

    John- trust me- I feel your pain with being an early adopter guinea pig and I appreciate the work you did!  I'm just not ready to let TrainingPeaks or Garmin off the hook yet for making their stuff work together seamlessly and accurately!  

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