Here is some more information from my test use of the new Garmin 910xt. Today, I had a chance to try the multisport function briefly, and take it for a quick ride on my Giant TCR.

Garmin’s new 910xt is so new that its compatibility with third party vendors has suffered a bit as they struggle to catch up with the latest advancements. But that’s not the only issues I’ve found with the device, although everything is relatively minor.

• GPS-based speed on a bicycle lags behind actual speed considerably. I had a chance to put the 910xt on my bicycle with a Cateye computer, which uses a magnet on the wheel to evaluate speed. This is a problem inherent with GPS and not really with the device. What I’m curious to determine is what will happen when I sync it with my ANT+ speed/cadence sensor. Hopefully, the device will automatically use the ANT+ sensor to display speed rather than the GPS. During my test ride, the GPS was accurate during consistent, straight-forward riding. However, any turn or any change in speed caused the speed to read inaccurately by as much as 2mph until things stabilized again.
• Again, no GPS issues, although I did notice a difference between my Garmin 310xt GPS results and that provided by the 910xt. The 310xt appeared more accurate, but it’s really too early to make that statement. However, so far I’m not having the GPS accuracy issues I’ve heard about from other users.
• No problems today with the altitude – it was dead-on accurate today, and the GPS was on the entire time, too. It was, in fact, more accurate than @trainingpeaks “elevation correction” function
• The Garmin still does not play well with Device Agent or Trainingpeaks, although I have heard from their support that they are working hard at catching up with the device. Essentially, if you do a single activity (except swim), the device will save a .tcx file. However, anything else, and it only saves a .fit file, and you have to save to Garmin Connect, then export, then import to Trainingpeaks – a big pain. I’m sure there will be an update coming on that, where (hopefully) trainingpeaks will better handle .fit files natively in the future. Although you can use the .fit file to upload to trainingpeaks, it has limitations – when I uploaded my multi-sport .fit file, it only accepted the bike portion (the run disappeared).
• I love the display of the new watch. It’s very clear and easy to read, and “appears” bigger than the 310xt. I’m not sure if display is bigger or not, but it sure seems that way!
• The back-light of the watch is a bit different from the 310xt. During a night run, the light was neither better or worse, but it was “different”. Hopefully, it uses less battery!
• The buttons seem harder to use on the bike than the 310xt, but that’s probably because I’m not used to it yet. I had the same trouble with the 310xt when I first got it.

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