Garmin Speed/Cadence sensor issues

[jesusbuiltmycar]

I have a Garmin Edge 500 with a speed/cadence sensor (GSC10). Everything worked fine until a couple of weeks ago when the device started playing up. It was, "auto pausing" mid ride, showing a speed of 0 then displaying a stupidly high speed.

I read on a forum that this could be caused by the battery in the speed/cadence sensor, so I replaced the battery. All was fine for about 40 miles of riding, then the same thing started again...

I tried resetting both devices, another new battery and thought I had cured it, then a new problem came back mid ride, on a fast descent - the speed sensor started showing double my current speed (50-84MPH!)....

After stopping, and re-synching the sensor with the edge 500, the problem went away again for a couple of rides before coming back. I am getting fed up with having to stop every 10 miles or so, remove & refit the cadence sensor battery, and re-sych the device.

I have spoken to Garmin technical support and they told me to bin the GSC10 as it is out of the 1 year warranty (18months old) and buy their new improved product

Note 1: the wheel size is manually configured, not set to auto detect.
Note 2: if I remove the battery and just use the GPS for speed everything is correct.

Any ideas? Surely it should last longer than 18 months.

Is there an alternative speed/cadence sensor I can use with the Garmin Edge 500 as I am loathe to spend any more money on their shoddy products

[jesusbuiltmycar]

Thanks for the responses. I will try the "shorting" technique out today and may buy the new style sensors but it may well be the Edge 500 itself....

I think that the quality of the support software and internal software for their products is st. The support from the Garmin is also very poor but they have a stranglehold on the GPS sports market.

I have heard that their Vector power-meters aren't very good either and that the Garmin-Cannodale team use a competitors product.

[jesusbuiltmycar]

Went out for an interval session of adjusting the sensor - it behaved for a while then midway through my 3rd interval I went just above 30MPH - the Garmin then started showing double the actual speed for about a minute before behaving normally for the rest of the ride.

I guess the reed switches are warn out (23 months use/ 7000 miles).

[jesusbuiltmycar]

I opted for the new separate speed and cadence sensor. Overall the setup is easier (no magnets) but the devices are less reliable.

The cadence sensor works fine once it pairs with the Edge 500, which can take a few minutes prior to a ride (very frustrating).

The speed sensor rarely pairs with the Edge 500 even when it does it tends to give mid ride (I can tell because when I stop the edge 500 takes a while to realize when using GPS for speed).

I am going to try new batteries with the Speed sensor...