I never unpair my watch from my PM. However, I usually try to connect my watch to my PM in transition before the race. I think it is a Garmin watch problem that it will not reliably connect to a PM when in triathlon mode. It will always connect reliably to my 520, and it will connect to the watch if it is in normal Ride mode. But, I am batting lower than 50% having my watch connect to the PM during a triathlon.

Oh - that may be my problem if that's true that it won't pair while in 'multisport/triathlon' mode. I wasn't aware of that. Anyone else can confirm? Would def explain a lot of my 'lost PM' issues on race day.

My 920 had always paired up with my powermeter as soon as I was riding. I actually never paid much attention to it since I'm looking at my 520 on the bike, but after the race, the power data was all recorded.

Cannot confirm.
Using 920 but vectors. When in Transition I wake up the PM, turn on the 920 in tria mode, pair em and good to go, never had any probs with other bikes around.

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-shoki

My 920 and 500 always find my powermeter when I wake it up in transition. But I have to remember to have my 920 power search on. Then it will recognize mine and calibrate if needed. My 500 does it automatically since I always have it on.

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So if you go into transition with your 920 powered OFF, and are surrounded by bikes/PMs, you can turn on your 920, then spin the cranks to waken your PM, and they pair automatically?

My 920 seems to be unable to find my PM if I turn them both on in a busy transition. If I however bring my bike far away from other bikes, it'll find it instantly and stay paired even in transition. I'm also pretty sure in retrospect I did NOT have the watch in multisport mode in transition - I only do that when Im' in the water already.

Never really had an issue. Usually I'll get into transition, set my watch to bike mode, turn the cranks and it always asks to calibrate. I calibrate and go on with my morning.

I had a 735 not pick up the bike leg of a race once, but it still had no issues calibrating prior to the race.

There's a difference between pairing and "finding". My watch "finds" the power meter and HRM quickly as it's already been "paired" with them when I first started using the devices. I never unpair them. And it doesn't have any issues with other power meters or HRM's because it's never been paired with another device besides the ones I'm using. It's not like my bike asks to pair with someone's cadence/speed sensor (I don't have one since I have PM) every time they pass by me. Because I don't have the watch searching to pair with anything.

Like others said, mine are always "paired". I do calibrate mine in T1 before the swim start, my Garmin then goes into sleep mode while on the swim, and when I come back from the swim, just hit the power button, and it is on and ready to go.

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Tough Times Don't Last, Tough People Do.

I was hoping mine would do that, but this is what happens to me:

- I bring bike to busy transition area T1
- I turn on the Garmin, it finds GPS, and then does NOT find my powermeter when I started spinning the cranks with my hand. It's like it's not even there.

I think it gets confused by the myriad other PM signals around? I was hoping it would 'know' my pre-paired powermeter (which I never UNpair) and not get confused, but for sure, if I don't have it 'find' before I enter T1, it never finds my PM on its own. Does this happen to anyone else?

On a related note, I have the same issue with my Scosche+ ANT+ HRM - unless I turn on the Garmin + Scosche BEFORE entering T1 (and also going farrrr away from other HRMs), it fails to automatically recognize my HRM. Actually, this also happens with my Gamin ANT+ HR strap, so it's not just the Scosche.

Yeah that’s usually how I do it. Now you have me wondering what I might be doing to make it work! But I’ll just turn the 920 on go find gps then spin wheel/crank and it’ll find it then ask to calibrate since I have that selected.

Changing the sports could do that. I have it in multi sport mode most of the time.

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I haven’t ever noticed an issue. Having said that, I manual pair my PM to my watch and bike computer by entering in the serial number.

From reading a bunch of forums (issue with stages when I first got it) it seems like manually pairing solves for a lot of software bugs.

I have since manually paired my other PMs as well.

YMMV

I never had problems pairing mine in transition. Recently did my first race with my 735 though and forgot to pair and calibrate before the race (calibrated the day before and figured it was still good). 735 got no power data from the ride, I'm assuming because I didn't pair it and thought it would remember the PM. I use my 500 as a display, so it wasn't a big deal. Recently had to factory reset the 500 though, and it had auto sleep on so it was off when I got to T1. The joys of riding on a trainer; I forget how to ride outside apparently.

Sounds like I did what you did - I had paired/calibrated my PM with my 920 the day before the race, everything worked fine.

So are meaning that you pair/calibrate separately on race day in transition no problems? Even with all the other PMs around?

(I've made the mistake of forgettting to calibrate the PM before starting the bike leg, and getting the ?calibrate? question at the start of the ride portion of the race, I'm sure has happened to many.)

I guess you and I are the only ones with that issue. Part of my problem I guess is that I use Powertap hubs and have two bikes (road and tri) and 3 sets of wheels (race wheels and two sets of trainer wheels) so constantly having to "find" the correct power meter. At races if I go into transition typically I will get the message that there are other power meters present. If that happens I take the bike out of transition and about 50yds away to pair.
Knowing this issue I try to pair my 510 and 925 when I take the bike out of the truck before I get around other bikes.

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Mike Plumb, TriPower MultiSports
Professional Running, Cycling and Multisport Coaching, F.I.S.T. Certified
http://www.tripower.org

Yeah I don’t have an issue pairing my HRM or PM in transition, when I remember haha. I’m pairing to a Quarq, not PT, if that makes a difference. When I had a 920 it would automatically pair when I woke up the PM. I guess with the 735 I have to go and search for it every time?

There is a difference between pairing and connecting. For pairing on the 920 follow these instructions pasted below. Connecting should just happen once you have your watch in proximity to your PM and you have rotated the crank arm to wake it up. On race morning I would connect and then calibrate/zero reset to make sure I don't get wonky numbers during the race. I also typically leave my cycling computer on and in 'auto pause' during the swim. If you have a really late start then you risk battery running out, but I just feel better knowing everything was paired up and my computer is good to go. My watch will connect at some point early during the race once I hit the lap button and go into the bike segment on my watch. I don't rely on my watch for data during the ride, but I do use the file from the watch to upload my race file through garmin connect.


Menu button > Settings > Sensors and Accessories > Add New > Power > Select power meter (confirm ANT+ ID)

Rotate the crank arm to ensure the power sensor is active during the pairing process. For best results, hold the head unit in close proximity to the power sensor while performing the initial pairing.

This sensor will be saved into the sensors and accessories section as PWR - [ANT+ ID]. Always confirm when it connects that it has connected to the power sensor that you are about to ride. If two sensors are active, you will be prompted to choose which sensor to use and it is important that you select the correct power sensor in order to view and record your power data.

Calibration/Zero Reset:

To calibrate, go to Menu > Settings > Sensors and Accessories > PWR - [ANT+ ID] > Calibrate > Confirm the crank is positioned vertically, then select Calibrate again

I usually just get to transition early and make sure everything is connected, and then leave the Garmin on the "never off" setting, and that seems to work. Otherwise you can walk away with the bike and see if that helps, as others have mentioned.

A few years ago I wasn't paying attention and ASSUMED it paired in my "A" race and when I got out on the course - no power numbers. I was actually able to go through the menus on my 500 and pair it up in a minute or two and didn't lose much time, but I never made that mistake again.

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Strava

I also never un-pair my sensors. Race morning I usually make sure it will connect to the Bike Comp (520) and the watch (Fenix3). Never have a problem with it seeing either one. I have head of some people having issues when they get on the bike that it will not pickup PM, due to distance from wrist to power meter, especially if the PM that is being connected to and the wrist are on opposite sides of the bike. Personally with the Fenix3 I have never had the issue.

I've had a related problem in a race. I pulled my bike out of my car, rolled a little warm up on my trainer, and got my 520 all paired up and PM calibrated (I was wearing my chest strap HRM).

Bike racked, walked to race start and turned on my 735. I assume it was "reading" optically but with it placed over my base layer compression top (race was a Du), I really don't know what it was doing. I have paired the chest strap previously with the 735, but I don't know what the watch chooses when both are present. I let that issue go.

The trouble came when I started the bike segment, the 520 said multiple HRMs found, switch to... (don't recall what it said). OK was highlighted, I hit the down button and enter, which I thought would select cancel. But it seemed to change change.

So my question is, how to avoid this? I paired what I wanted in the first place, how do I prevent the 520 from asking if I want to change? Is there a setting for that?

I guess the options are to turn off hrm 735 and unpair the optical hrm from the 520, but that doesn't seem very convenient either.

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To breathe, to feel, to know I'm alive.

I never needed to pair anything on race day. I just turn the 920 on and it senses everything that I have previously paired.

You pair your devices once and you do not need to pair after that again unless pairing is lost. You never want to be pairing devices on the race day surrounded by numerous unwanted devices. The devices will CONNECT after power up automatically since pairings are kept in memory.

This is exactly what does NOT happen for me!

I never un-pair my devices and I assume they will stay paired through Garmin power-up and powerdown.

Unfortunately, on race day, if I turn on my Garmin in transition pre-race with other racers around, the Garmin never finds my powertap nor my HRM. It works fine if I go far away like the parking lot corner and turn everything on - everything finds instantly.