The Money We Spend

I bought a Garmin 310XT back when I was training for my first half marathon.  It cost a lot.  I had a million reasons to justify why I HAD to have it.  And it truly is a wonderful device.  Quite the testament to 21st century technology!

But there is an adjustment period.  First, you have to learn to use the damn thing.  This is not a "plug and go" type device.  There's software to download, hardware to pair, settings to set (a lot of settings.... more settings than you ever knew you needed.  some you won't even know - which leads to personal research...)  Of course all this information will translate into an assload of data that you can crunch five ways to Sunday.  And if you're a numbers nerd like me you'll begin to see why there are some idiots out there that actually spend money on devices like this.  (I think I just called myself an idiot....)

But when something goes wrong you curse, and bitch, and yell, and (want to) scream "WHY IN THE HELL DID I SPEND SO MUCH MONEY ON THIS PIECE OF JUNK???"  Which was me.  Last night.

The only way to access all the fancy data from your watch is to upload it, via a special UBS stick, to a Garmin website.  From the website you can view and manipulate your data in ways that would blow your mind.  Of course, that only applies if you can get your data there...

I bet you can guess where this is going.  I couldn't get my watch to upload for some reason.  The hubby had tried to fix it for me last week with no luck.  (btw - it holds your workouts in memory until they get uploaded.)  My last uploaded workout was our long run on Sept. 11.  So the runs all last week had yet to be uploaded.  (including my 10 mile disaster on Saturday.... and my really fast three miler -during run-in with biker gang - on Monday)  He didn't have any luck so I finally had to call Garmin. 

Tuesday Evening.
Call 1
Duration 24 minutes
Activities:

• reviewed device manager settings
• reviewed pairing (watch with software)
• re-paired watch with software
• updated device manager software

When all else failed - he had me RESET MY WATCH.  Which means it ERASES EVERYTHING.
Now I knew that was going to happen but I was thinking it would just be my run data (laps, pace, time, etc...)  I didn't even consider that it would erase ALL my settings such as my heart rate zones, personal settings (weight, height, activity class, etc...).  And my watch settings - which is a lot more complicated than you might think.  There's lots to set in this thing!!!!  A million screens that each are customized!

Status of Call:
Now that you reset the watch it will need to reboot.  I'll hang up with you and it should walk you through the initial setup and you should be set.

Guess what.  It didn't fix my problem.  I rebooted, went through the initial setup again (inputting basic settings) and it still failed to connect my data....  So on to:

Call 2
Duration 36 minutes
Activities:

• reviewing what previous guy did (cuz he didn't take my name and record it....)
• have me check a few more settings
• have me give her permission to just have access to my desktop (which was just plain easier...)
• she did a bunch of "stuff" to update firmware (whatever the heck that is...), software and had my switch the USB port I was using.  You know, in case the other one was bad

She "left" me as the firmware was installing.  She said it should work when it was done.  If not I'd have to call back the next day (end of biz hours.  in her defense she was working with me way past their hours as is was.)  Ok.  I'd give it a try.

Status:
IT WORKED! 

However, I went to run today and realized I hadn't RE-re-set my settings!!  ugh!!!!  Two bad runs in a row is not a good way to go.  I need to stop this train right now!!!  So I'll spend the rest of the night (because it'll take that long) to RE-RE-re-set all my watch settings....