Garmin 310XT

Finally, I decided to get a replacement GPS watch for my lost Garmin Forerunner 305..

I managed to get a super duper deal through Chris (THANK YOU CHRIS !) on this 310XT. So looking forward to its arrival by mid-Sept :)

Below is an overview of the watch from Garmin's web-site..

The rugged Forerunner 310XT is the triathlete's indispensable training tool — a GPS-enabled trainer that is water-resistant to 164 ft (50 m), tracks data in multiple sport modes and sends it wirelessly to your computer. This multisport device has up to 20 hours of battery life, tracks distance, pace and heart rate¹ on land, and goes from wrist to bike in seconds.

Track Your Swim

The Forerunner 310XT times your swim in the pool or the lake. And while the GPS signal does not track distance while swimming like it does on land, thanks to a recent software update, it now accurately estimates open water swim distance and average speed. Simply enable the Swim mode and press start as you begin your swim. When finished, press the lap button and the 310XT automatically processes a combination of the time and GPS data to compute an estimate of distance covered and average speed while swimming.

Transition Effortlessly

When you're ready to jump out of the water and onto the bike, Forerunner 310XT moves easily from wrist to bike with the optional quick release and bike mounts, making the transition between sports effortless. Forerunner 310XT categorizes multisport activities in one workout and also can log transition time in the process, so you can analyze your performance from start to finish.

Collect Workout Data

Forerunner 310XT tracks your position precisely with GPS satellite data and records distance, pace, heart rate¹, power data (from ANT+™-enabled third-party power meters) and more. High-sensitivity GPS and HotFix® satellite prediction mean Forerunner acquires satellites quickly and tracks your movement even near tall buildings or under tree cover. And using innovative ANT+ wireless technology, Forerunner 310XT connects seamlessly to an optional heart rate monitor, foot pod and cadence sensor.
When paired with the optional wireless heart rate monitor, Forerunner 310XT continuously tracks beats per minute and uses heart rate data in advanced calorie computation. Train in a certain heart rate zone to improve fitness and monitor your level of exertion. NOTE: Heart rate data is not recorded for swim activities.

Monitor Your Health

You also can track weight, body fat, body water and six other measurements when using the Forerunner 310XT with the Tanita BC-1000 body composition scale. The readings are stored on Forerunner 310XT, then automatically sent to Garmin Connect™ when in range of your computer.

Run, Sync, Store and Share

Once you’ve logged the miles, innovative ANT+ wireless technology automatically transfers data to your computer when Forerunner is in range. No cables, no hookups. The data’s just there, ready for you to analyze, categorize and share through our online community, Garmin Connect™.

Garmin Forerunner 305 - R.I.P

So my I lost my Garmin Forerunner 305 :-(   LOST, not that it spoiled beyond repair or any other reasons. So the fateful day on 8/8/2012 (Crap, what a nice date !). I did my speedwork @ USM field. I must have removed it after the run and forgot to bring home. Did not realized it until Saturday. I ran with my iPhone on Thursday and Friday was a rest day. Went back to hunt for it, no chance. The grass were mown clean and wheoever found it, good luck !
Very incovenient to run with iPhone.. but that looks like the temporary solution until I get my new replacement ! Or I may just run using my instinct in my 4 up-coiming races : Larian Hijau, Eco Challenge, SP HM and Larian Merdeka !
The bright spot is a friend is helping to get one on a discounted rate from US :)  So, until then.. let's wait and see..

R.I.P. My Garmin Forerunner who has been with me since April 2011, covering well over 2000km runs and traveled over so many cities and countries...

Garmin Forerunner Watch Battery Replacement...

My Garmin FR 305 has shown signs of battery kaputting.. The first was a month+ ago when it went totally dead. Charging it via my PC didn't help at all. Funnily, it went back to norm a day later. OK, 2nd calling this time. Went dead yesterday and I had to run without a GPS watch this morning's 16km run. Surprisingly, it is ok now, being charged.
But I am sure it's almost time for the battery replacement. Hopefully it can last at least until after my SCKLM in 2 weeks time !  Fingers crossed !!
In the meantime, I found some interesting sites that talks about replacing the battery on our own. Here are 2 which I think is most appropriate.

https://sites.google.com/site/ctorunner/dismantleforerunner205

http://www.jimandkatrin.com/CodeBlog/post/Forerunner-305-Battery-Replacement.aspx

 

Dismantle the Garmin Forerunner 205
 

No tools are required.  Just use your finger-nails to pry off the case along the line (red arrow).  It's amazing that Garmin only used glue to assemble the unit.

 

The display and the bottom are separated.  There are no wires in-between.  They are connected thru some pins. 

I also found no O-ring between two cases.  Well, as I can pry it off easily, you can imagine its capability in water-resistance... 

Indeed, I found water inside the case.  The up/down-arrow keys (the soft-plastic keys) stored some water (not moisture only).   It's not on the circuit board or battery anyway.

The GPS antenna is at the left-hand side, wrapped in silver plate. 

The battery is sticked by 2-sided tape.  It's a 3.7V, 750mAh Li-ion battery.

Does it look like the 4th-generation iPod battery?

Believe it's the SiRFIII chipset under.   Note the golden contacts for connecting to the battery. 

The micro-switches (up/down arrow, and enter). 

I wiped the water and let it dry for a week.  Then I temporary fixed the case with scotch tape.  When I turned it on again, amazingly it worked again (although the up-arrow key didn't work at all).

I used it to have a 20km test run...

Unfortunately, because of the hot/humid weather, my sweat 'melted' the tape and suddenly the cover fell on the ground.  I had 3 pieces... the cover with the display, the attenna, and the remaining battery with the wrist strap.

I thought it was a 'total loss' and packed everything back home.

Then I found all parts weren't broken and it's just the connector loosen between the attenna and the display.

Again, there were plenty of moisture (sweat) inside.  I removed the battery this time and found the speaker (buzzer) was totally eroded.  Ah... that's why I found the level of 'beeping' sound went lower and lower.

The salty water (my sweat) actually went it from the 4 tiny holes at the back, eroded the buzzer and then the micro-switch.

 

I cut the wires of the buzzer and blocked the holes with strong glue. 

To disable the up-arrow key, I used a knife to cut out the switch. 

 Again, I put everything back and tried, haha, it's still working.   This time I carefully cleaned the case and then glued them together with silicone sealant (the one for decoration, usually used in the bathtub, kitchen, etc).

Now the unit is survived.  Without the up-arrow key, most of functions could still be used (navigated with down-arrow instead).  The only problem is that I cannot increase the screen contrast as it requires the use of up-arrow.

Without the beeping sound is not a big deal at all.  At least I can keep using it until the new model is out... 

 

 

Forerunner 305 Battery Replacement

by Jim Aug 15, 2009 1:31 PM

My Garmin popped open on a ride recently. They want $79 to repair it, and I didn’t want to be without it for a while, so I did some research on fixing it myself.
A Look at the Case
Since the Garmin popped open of its own accord (probably because of the swelling battery,) I can’t give any advice on opening one - but you can find some here. There are no screws or clips; the two halves are just attached with some kind of adhesive.
Here is the bottom half of the case. Battery wires are soldered to the little circuit board, which presumably has the charging circuit in it. This board is also attached to the pins which go through the back of the case to the changing cradle, and it doesn’t appear that it can be removed.
 
The Battery
My battery was attached with a spot of some liquid adhesive; others may be attached with double-sided tape. I pried it out with a flat blade screwdriver with little effort, then clipped the wires near the battery, leaving as much as possible in the case.
I don’t think the battery is supposed to look like this :-) It was clearly on the way to exploding, and needed to be replaced.
Finding a battery to replace the original one is the hardest part of this whole process. After much fruitless searching on the internet for an exact match, I gave up on finding anything. These Lithium Ion batteries require special charging circuitry, which is typically packaged with the battery cell. It’s hard to find a battery cell without the circuitry, never mind in this exact size.
In desperation, I decided to take apart the battery in my old Samsung Hue phone, which was sitting around, having been replaced by a Blackberry. Any Lithium Ion battery should work, from an electrical standpoint. They’re all 3.7 volts, because of the chemicals used, and the mAh capacity shouldn’t matter. This Samsung battery is rated at 800mAh, while the original Garmin was 750. So I should get a little more battery life.
It’s a little bigger than the Garmin battery, but it looks like it will fit, so I decide to go for it.
Preparing the Battery
After cutting off the plastic wrapper, we see the charging circuit on the top; the leads are flat metal strips that come around from either side of the battery.

After cutting the metal strips with snips, I determined the polarity with a voltmeter, and soldered a short wire to one side, to get closer to the original wires in the case. The flat lead strips look like steel, but they aren’t – it’s very easy to solder to them.

The case is the positive terminal, and the negative terminal is a pin that goes into the middle of the battery. I was careful with the existing insulation, and wrapped electrical tape around my little creation. There are exposed electronics and foil in the top of the Garmin (see the above picture.) I didn’t want any of this shorting to the battery case.
Installing the Battery
This starts simply enough – just solder the leads to the wires in the case. A short length of heat shrink tubing insulates the wire, and the exposed positive lead is so close to the battery it can’t go anywhere.

At this point I discovered something I hadn’t noticed earlier; there are a couple of little plastic pins molded into the bottom of the case, which prevented the old battery from moving around. I had to cut these with a sharp knife in order for my new battery to fit flush in the case. It’s a little wider than the original.
Red arrows point to the location of the left and right pins, which had to be cut. The green arrow is a bottom pin, for comparison; these can stay.
 
The Moment of Truth
It fits! I pop the top on and power it up, and we’re looking good.

Sealing the Case
Now I just have to put it back together. The original adhesive is some kind yellow, slightly stretchy stuff. I’ve seen it before, but I don’t know what it is. After reading others’ posts, I decided to go with silicone adhesive, which I found at the auto store for a few bucks. We want a watertight seal, but nothing so permanent that we can’t reopen the case.
I applied a little to the edges of both the top and bottom of the case with a toothpick.
The whole thing is wrapped in a cocoon of tightly stretched electrical tape and left for a day. The edge came out looking pretty good.
 
I’ve been for a couple of runs and a bike ride, and it works just fine. The battery I put in it was used, and I haven’t tested the battery life. If or when that becomes an issue I’ll just buy a brand new battery, now that I know I can get one that will fit.
Update - 2010.05.12 
Ciccio and others note in the comments that the problem might be a short, rather than a bad battery. His advice is to check the battery with a voltmeter, which is of course a good idea. It might be good to clean the contacts between the front and back of the case, check for continuity where you can, and then reassemble and see if the battery charges. I like to clean contacts with a pencil eraser (the pink abrasive kind.) Here's a picture of Ciccio's fix for his bad contact: