Older Garmin Won’t Connect to Modern PC
 

I have an older (c2006) Garmin Edge 305 cycling computer. Despite its age, it works perfectly. With a new battery I installed last year, it will run longer than I care to ride. I decided to connect it to our home PC to download a recent ride’s data, but it isn’t recognized by the computer. It appears that the Garmin only connects via USB 2.0, while the computer uses USB 3.0. I can’t see it as an attached storage device in Windows and, accordingly, it won’t connect to Garmin Express. Does anyone have any suggestions or workarounds that will alllow a connection? Thanks!

Greg

You probably have a bad cable, maybe a power only cable? USB 2 is still really common and USB 3 supports it except possibly in some really poor implementations.

Yes, it's probably the cable, or maybe the 305. USB 2 is still used a lot and, USB 3 is backwards compatible.

I gave my 305's away a few years ago, but still use 705's with no issue. Maybe I should check, it's been awhile since I actually rode a bike.

Thanks for the recommendations. The cable is fine. My other Garmin (an Edge 705) connects to the PC without problems using the same cable. It may well be that the 305 needs an update, but it’s a Catch-22: I can’t update the 305 since I can’t connect it to my PC.

Greg

And problem is solved! I took rnhood’s advice that this had to be something specifically related to the Edge 305. I started typing “garmin edge 305” into a Google search and Google suggested “garmin edge 305 drivers windows 10”. I downloaded the new drivers and voila, the PC recognized the Garmin. Glad I can still download data from my ancient, 15 year-old GPS!

Greg

It shouldn't need an update, a 305 has been able to connect to a computer from the beginning. Maybe the computer is afraid of it and not mounting it because of security? What kind of computer is it?

The computer is a standard Dell desktop, about 2 years old. Definitely not a security issue. Once I installed the new Garmin USB drivers, it recognized the Edge 305 immediately. Garmin Express then added the new device. I’m not sure of the root cause, I just know the USB drivers resolved the issue.

Greg

Well done!

Good to hear it was resolved. It seems like the computer was seeing the device, but didn't know what to do with it, so it didn't do anything. Which is a bit weird, but not unheard-of. In those cases you can go into device manager and look for hidden devices. The 800 would mount as a disk drive, which is the way I liked to use it. With the 830, I gave up and fully embraced the garmin ecosystem. Just in time for them to be hacked.