I was doing some searches on some of the people who’ve has issues with losing their garmins during races. Some of the posts are kinda old though. I was curious to see if people have had this issue lately and maybe they’ve made some advances in the bike mounts or solutions for the swim.
Thanks in advance for whatever help you guys can offer
Between my wife and I we have lost one 310 QR (broken back plate) and two 910s.
Lost the 310 when some prick grabbed my wrist to propel himself forward. After that I took to wearing my 910 on the underside of my wrist so if it happened again they would have grabbed the buckle only to accidentally swim over somebody dislodging the unit.
Not sure how wife lost hers but I have abandoned using QR and wife only uses hers for bike and run training.
The very nature of the QR means it is always possible to loose it in a race
That’s crazy that happened 3 times to you guys. My current wristband is starting to break (the regular non qr) so I thought about switching to the qr but I’m starting to think despite the convenience on the bike of it, it’s not worth the risk.
Don’t use the QR. That’s all you need to know about QR. Search the ST forum and you will find dozens of people who lost their expensive GPS watches to the QR.
Swimming with the quick release is not a good idea. On the bike, I have never launched by 310, but I used to launch my old 305 all the time.
^^ and on top of that, the qr builds higher than the watch is already, in my opinion too much under wetsuit.
wow. If you read my post, I did search through the forums and as I said the posts were kind of old. That’s why I was asking if there was any new qr wristbands or bike mounts that people have had luck with.
I nearly lost my 910xt while swimming in Barton Springs Pool and colliding with another swimmer. Since then I use a strip of a butyl mountain bike tube, think thick black rubber band, twisted in a figure eight across the top and bottom of my watch when it is in the QR strap. With the rubber band on it like that I wouldn’t be afraid of loosing it in a race, but you also loose the QR functionality so I think I’m still probably going to stick it under my cap for races.
I’ve used it in a couple tris throughout, but for longer ones where power is critical, just left it on the bike and swapped it for the run. Couldn’t afford to lose in the swim. No biggie, just don’t have the elapsed time if you are shooting for sub X:XX
Been on some VERY rough roads with it mounted to the speedfil A2 as well as a stem mount and haven’t launched anything. Had it for about a year
Which mount do you use for the speedfil because I saw the strap and the other one that is like a bottle cage one? Not sure which is better.
I had a pretty good blowout on the bike at an Xterra tri. My garmin 310xt came off my wrist (regular strap - not QR, the spring pin bent) and I didn’t realize until quite a bit later. Fortunately watch made its way back to the finish line before I completed the run. (Thanks again if that was you that found it and returned it to the finish line.) In this case, I think that it worked as designed - as I caught the watch on something if the spring pin didn’t release then it could have been a broken wrist.
Which mount do you use for the speedfil because I saw the strap and the other one that is like a bottle cage one? Not sure which is better.
Sorry… got my speedfil products mixed up… the Z4 http://invisciddesign.com/Z4.htm
It uses the same locking mechanism as the Garmin QR
I’ve heard so many stories of lost watches, I’ve stuck with the standard strap. For sprints and oly’s, I just wear it. On the bike I flip it to the inside of my wrist on the run to T1. For stand alone bike rides and for my first ironman later this year, I’m using the bike mount adaptor to strap it to a cross piece between my aero bars. It’ll only takes 10-15 seconds to put it on in T1, and I can remove it even quicker when I get to bike drop off for T2. Let’s face it, as a MOPer, the 25 seconds isn’t going to kill me in a 12 hour day, so it’s the best of both worlds for me.
My 910 came off during a pool swim, so luckily I noticed a few minutes later and was able to retrieve it. I never really trusted it after that. I’d duct taped the corners with thin strips of duct tape when swimming, but eventually switched back to the regular band and bought an Edge for the bike.
I don’t wear my 910 during the swim portion. I just leave it on the bike and wear the strap so I can take it with me on the run. I usually have my wife tell me my swim split when exiting. That’s about all the 910 is good for anyways. Who cares about the swim metrics/efficiency crap, and if you do wear it on your wrist the GPS accuracy is terrible… at least in my experience.
310XT in my cap for the swim, on the HB for the bike leg and then on my wrist for the run.
Never had any issues.
I have a 310 quick release, it’s been very secure. I’ve had it for a few years now.
jaretj
I was actually afraid I’d lose my Garmin if I used the quick release feature.
I don’t even bother with it though as I am not made of Garmins to lose three of them like one member posted which really would suck.
My 310 was a gift though and I use it for jogging and swimming laps (for time keeping only as it is useless indoors) when I train. I use my Edge 500 for bike tracking since it has more display options (I already had the Edge before I go the 310). Same in a race, I still use my Edge 500 for the bike only portion but do use the multisport function on my 310 to get all the splits, transition times and overall time (if I remember which buttons to hit as I messed that up once because the layout is different than my Edge).
I only use the watch from bike to run. The swim data on the 310 is useless anyway.
My Garmin 405 with QR was stolen off my bike before Muncie 2012. Hopped on my bike out of T1, reached down to hit the button, and it was gone (no, it didn’t pop off).