Garmin Edge 500: Average speed question

[Red Tornado]

Got this from a friend (the price was right - free) and been using it about a month +/-. Overall very happy with it; it's my first foray into the GPS cyclometer world.

Only one issue, and so far I haven't figured out a way around it. I have the timer set to auto pause/resume. Here's what happens. Say I have to stop for a long traffic light, or something else that could amount to several minutes. Since I'm not moving speed goes to zero and distance doesn't change. However, the timer keeps running even though the "auto pause" message appears for a couple seconds after I've stopped. A few times I've been stopped for several minutes and I can literally watch my average speed decreasing.

With my old, traditional cyclometers when it auto paused everything including the timer stopped so my average speed was my average while riding. The Garmin is giving me my average over the total time including both riding & stopped. So far haven't managed to find a way around this.

Any input would be appreciated.

[sleepyfelix]

When you upload your ride to Garmin Connect, you will see both Avg Speed and Avg Moving Speed. The latter being the one that you want. Not sure if its a selectable field on that particular unit itself though.

[Red Tornado]

When you upload your ride to Garmin Connect, you will see both Avg Speed and Avg Moving Speed. The latter being the one that you want. Not sure if its a selectable field on that particular unit itself though.

I do upload my ride data, but usually I'm in a hurry and just upload quick and don't look at more than stuff I can see at a glance. I'll have to take some more time - probably should do that anyway. Thanks.

[GregL]

I would suggest adjusting the Auto Pause settings to use "Custom Speed" instead of "When Stopped" to pause the timer. Use a reasonably slow speed (2-3 MPH) so that your average speed stays accurate. I have two older Garmins (an Edge 305 and Edge 705) set up this way and the Auto Pause function always stops the timers when appropriate.

Greg

[R3awak3n]

There are 2 different fields for time. Time elapsed and total time or something like that. One will keep going even if you stop the timer and the other will stop. So just go into your fields on that one and choose the other one and the timer will stop when you stop

[OtayBW]

I would suggest adjusting the Auto Pause settings to use "Custom Speed" instead of "When Stopped" to pause the timer. Use a reasonably slow speed (2-3 MPH) so that your average speed stays accurate. I have two older Garmins (an Edge 305 and Edge 705) set up this way and the Auto Pause function always stops the timers when appropriate.

Greg

And then there's the feeling of shame when you trip the auto-pause function when climbing a hill....:eek:

[GregL]

And then there's the feeling of shame when you trip the auto-pause function when climbing a hill....:eek:
I've had so many embarrassing moments on bikes that falling over on a hill wouldn't even make the top ten! :)

Greg

[benb]

This is not a stat on your cyclocomputer that it is productive to care about..

Caring about it doesn't help you train well, it can actively hurt your fitness, and it encourages you to behave dangerously out on the road.

I think Garmin fixed this stuff on the Edge 1000 I have though. But most of my profiles I don't even display average speed on a page.

[makoti]

This is not a stat on your cyclocomputer that it is productive to care about..

Caring about it doesn't help you train well, it can actively hurt your fitness, and it encourages you to behave dangerously out on the road.

I think Garmin fixed this stuff on the Edge 1000 I have though. But most of my profiles I don't even display average speed on a page.

He didn't ask for training advice. Sheesh.
You might have the display showing you TOTAL time (total with stops in) instead of ELAPSED time (with paused parts out). Not sure exactly what they call these, but one will run the entire time and you can still get your AVS w/o stops. They can both be active fields

[cp43]

And then there's the feeling of shame when you trip the auto-pause function when climbing a hill....:eek:

I did that so often that I disabled auto pause....

[Red Tornado]

Good suggestions here. Looks like I need to download the manual for this computer. Now that I think about it, there might be a couple different "time" options maybe I'll play with that. It could be the difference.

I've got some more testing to do....

[MikeD]

I did that so often that I disabled auto pause....


Never ever happened to me. Are using a speed sensor?

[cp43]

Never ever happened to me. Are using a speed sensor?

No, just the GPS speed. It would only happen on very slow climbs. So, not super often, but when I was struggling and going that slowly, the last thing I wanted to hear was the Garmin beeping at me telling me I was slow.

I don't blame the Garmin, I think it was working as intended, they just didn't expect anyone to ride that slowly.

Chris

[MikeD]

No, just the GPS speed. It would only happen on very slow climbs. So, not super often, but when I was struggling and going that slowly, the last thing I wanted to hear was the Garmin beeping at me telling me I was slow.

I don't blame the Garmin, I think it was working as intended, they just didn't expect anyone to ride that slowly.

Chris


If you had the speed sensor, you probably wouldn't have the problem.

[cp43]

If you had the speed sensor, you probably wouldn't have the problem.

I've been happy with disabling auto-pause. Garmin Connect/Strava still report moving average and overall average.

[Red Tornado]

After having checked into things here's what I have regarding speed & time on the Edge 500 & Garmin Connect.....

On the cycling computer itself:
Current speed, Avg speed (for the ride), Lap speed (don't use at this point - don't care), Max speed
Time (stopwatch time), Avg lap time (don't use), Elapsed time (total recorded time), Lap time current lap (don't use)

Garmin Connect in the Internet:
Avg speed, Avg moving speed, Max speed
Time, Moving Time, Elapsed time

For the ride I did Tuesday (30.93 mi) here's what Connect shows:
Elapsed time 1:49:23, Moving time 1:44:45, Time 1:45:10 (so had just under 5 minutes if non-riding time)
Avg speed 17.6, Avg moving speed 17.7

I expect elapsed to be the biggest number and it is. What is the diff between moving time & time (25 sec gap) on Connect?

My cycling computer was displaying elapsed time, so I changed it to just plain Time. We'll see if that makes a difference, it might based on what Connect showed me from the previous ride. I'll report back after the next ride. Hoping this stops the timer when I'm stopped; it's really weird sitting there for a few minutes and watching your average speed decrease lol.

[makoti]

After having checked into things here's what I have regarding speed & time on the Edge 500 & Garmin Connect.....

On the cycling computer itself:
Current speed, Avg speed (for the ride), Lap speed (don't use at this point - don't care), Max speed
Time (stopwatch time), Avg lap time (don't use), Elapsed time (total recorded time), Lap time current lap (don't use)

Garmin Connect in the Internet:
Avg speed, Avg moving speed, Max speed
Time, Moving Time, Elapsed time

For the ride I did Tuesday (30.93 mi) here's what Connect shows:
Elapsed time 1:49:23, Moving time 1:44:45, Time 1:45:10 (so had just under 5 minutes if non-riding time)
Avg speed 17.6, Avg moving speed 17.7

I expect elapsed to be the biggest number and it is. What is the diff between moving time & time (25 sec gap) on Connect?

My cycling computer was displaying elapsed time, so I changed it to just plain Time. We'll see if that makes a difference, it might based on what Connect showed me from the previous ride. I'll report back after the next ride. Hoping this stops the timer when I'm stopped; it's really weird sitting there for a few minutes and watching your average speed decrease lol.

Unless you have auto stop/start enabled, it will not stop when you do. If you do that, you can have both total time & riding time running at the same time. I do. I put them on different pages, since I rarely care about total riding time, but it's good glance at to figure out how late for work I'm going to be.

[Red Tornado]

I'll have to check my unit when I get home. I do have auto pause enabled, and pretty sure I have auto start/stop enabled as well.

When I start riding after a reset, or powering the unit on & acquiring satellites, after the first maybe 100-200 feet the unit beeps and asks me to press the start button if I wish to keep recording data, so I push it. Then when I stop, the Elapsed Time timer keeps going, but a message appears that the unit is auto paused. When I start rolling, it displays an auto start message. So now I have changed from ET to just "Time", maybe that will make a difference.

Like I said, I'll check into that this evening, but I think it's all set for auto.

[makoti]

I'm sure you know this, but... you have to reset it by holding the button before each ride if you don't D/L the ride or you'll end up with one big ride spanning several days

[Red Tornado]

I'm sure you know this, but... you have to reset it by holding the button before each ride if you don't D/L the ride or you'll end up with one big ride spanning several days

Yes I reset every time.

[PQJ]

“Elapsed time” v “timer.” I have my 530 with both, on separate screens. One measures time moving, starts/stops when you do, and gives an accurate average speed. The other measures time from pushing “start” to pushing “stop” at end of ride. Not sure which is which but play around and this should solve your problem.

[Red Tornado]

“Elapsed time” v “timer.” I have my 530 with both, on separate screens. One measures time moving, starts/stops when you do, and gives an accurate average speed. The other measures time from pushing “start” to pushing “stop” at end of ride. Not sure which is which but play around and this should solve your problem.

I think that's the ticket. I changed my unit from displaying elapsed time to just time. Hoping that will do it.