ClimbPro on Garmin

Hi,

i have recently switched to the Edge 830 from a Wahoo Bolt. Actually besides quite some weird things the Garmin does its job quite ok.

One major reason for switching was ClimbPro. I find the data provided there very useful especially the option to see all upcoming climbs on a single screen, very helpful for planing your effort in unknown territory.

BUT: I feel that ClimbPro is always lagging behind. Where I have already left the Climb some 100-300m behind, ClimbPro still puts me on the climb.

Now, probably ClimbPro is measuring via GPS. But even with clear sky and no trees around the lag is there.
Do others experience similar lags?
What can I do?

2 Likes

It’s been a while since I’ve used gamins climbpro as im now on a Karoo. But your experience is one of my complaints with it. It would have trouble detecting the start and ending of climbs appropriately. I last tried it in the fall of 2020. I ended up turning it off.

I turned it off as it seemed to be coming on way before the start of climb; it might work in the Alps but its just too d@mm flat here :joy:

1 Like

I don’t use it. It would do something like as described on my commute to work. But any hill that is that short/small isn’t worth telling me about anyway. Knowing I am a few hundred meters from the top of a 5k climb is one thing (or 40+k in some cases). Knowing I have a 20m climb ahead is just not necessary.

Willing to bet the feature is based on topo maps and compared to GPS. You are probably only going to be able to get so much resolution out of that.

1 Like

Hmm… since ClimbPro works only with navigation and planned routes:
why do they use GPS and not the map with exact km data coming from a speed sensor?

It’s possible to implement the feature and it work correctly. Karoo just got their implementation of climbpro and it works really really well. Garmin just did a piss poor job and they’re not willing to gradually work to improve things.

1 Like

i am following the discussion on the HH support forum as well. There seem to be plenty of issues with the K2 as well. Loads of work in progress imo.

1 Like

When the hill is steep enough that you have to zigzag up it to reduce the gradient… :scream:

1 Like

Agreed, but HH only released this feature on the 17th June (so 14 days 15 days ago), didn’t make you buy a new unit to have it (works on 1 & 2), and their 1st July update has some bug fixes and changes, I’m sure HH will continue to improve

1 Like

I don’t use the ClimbPro feature, but I do have percent gradient as one of my main screen tabs. I’m a pretty good judge of gradient, and the computer always seems to be about a 100m behind

It does seem laggy. I suspect it’s software for the widget as gps updates pretty fast.

I still find it useful. You can mentally adjust fur lag.

2 Likes

in general this seems to be a combination of GPS and inaccurate maps problem.
And HH also does not seem to be better: https://support.hammerhead.io/hc/en-us/community/posts/1260803999870-CLIMBER-First-impressions

It looks like that guy is using it on MTB trails. Perhaps HH has some work to do in that area. With their history, there’s lots of promise they are working on fixes. And the feature has only been out a month maybe. Garmins has been out over a year and there’s little to no promise it will get touched.

I’ve been using it on my K2 and it works awesome. I’ve actually ridden with my 1030 at same time to compare. 1030’s implementation and execution is nearly a joke compared to K2.

how long does your battery last, and do you need screen brightness turned on? On my 830 I have it off and the screen is readable.

A few things on the K2 screen. Overall the picture is awesome. The responsiveness is best I’ve ever experienced, similar to a phone. My only negatives on the screen is less battery lifetime and rarely you get a certain angle with the sunshine and the glare coming off the screen is bigtime. It rarely happens on a really sunny day, but when you get that perfect glare, it’s not readable. I’ve gotten so used to how good the responsiveness is on the K2 that at times I feel my 1030 is unusable.

Some notes about battery life. With absolutely every feature being used (which is ALOT of things including SIM livetracking), I get about 15% battery usage per hour at 50% brightness. This weekend I did a 6hr ride, I disabled BT, went to 30% brightness, didn’t use graphical data fields, and no navigation and used 7% per hour. At 30% the screen was still very good. I haven’t tried 0% yet.

In terms of battery life, I’d say the K2 has the same life as an edge 1000. We really never saw 15+ hour battery lifetimes on leading edge head units until the 1030 came out.

1 Like

hmm. reading through the HH forums I am far from convinced at this point. Maybe some day in the farther future the K2 is more polished.

I have tried ClimbPro today on a route which I did already two days ago, so I reused the data I recorded then. The ClimbPro did not seem to lag anymore too drastically.
Clearly the calculation depends on good data provided in the maps and good gps signal. Still there will always be a gap and the whole thing cant be too precise.

Seems more is not possible on a cheap consumer device.

I am fine with it.

I agree, I think you should stay with Garmin

Although I will say that going to a product forum is not the place to get a constructive view, look at the Garmin 830 forum, doesn’t seem a happy place to me and none of the posts are this is great, most are, new update or new bugs / issues

Most people only visit a product forum when they have a question to ask, or a axe to grind, and that’s true for any product

Anyway, enjoy ClimbPro

3 Likes

true, the G-forum is a sad place too.

But overall I got used to the 830 and appreciate the features like workout creator, ok navigation, climbPro and especially the very good battery.

Today I went for a 2h ride mtb through thick forests: GPS ok, CP ok, battery excellent, screen readability at 0% very good

What I like is the huge amount of options for customization: maps, profiles, workouts. I use four porfiles: road, mtb, rollers (gps off) and rowing (gps off) and have very specifically been able to customize all details in the profiles.

2 Likes

I’ve never had a problem with it, and to be honest the last thing I’m doing at the top of a climb is looking at my bike computer. So even if there was some lag I wouldn’t notice.

4 Likes

we are quite different kind of users then. good for you!