Garmin Forerunner 201/Forerunner 301 Undocumented Features

FR 201 Software Version  3.50

9/30/2006

Note: 8/15/04 –I created this document to help myself and hopefully you to have ready access to references to the Forerunner 201.  Info presented herein is collected through various sources.  Some are my own.  The accuracy of the features is not guaranteed.  Use them at your own risks. 

Check back often as I will update this document very regularly.  I expect it to grow very quickly in the next couple of weeks.

Note: 8/21/04 –Bug Alert:  There seems to be a bug with the “Delete Data Older Than 1 month”.  If your data were collected prior to your updating a firmware, using this delete function will delete the first lap of all data in the Forerunner.  Garmin recommended a RESET (see below), but this wipes out all of your data.

Note 12/31/04 – Added a few things but mostly just gave the website a slight facelift.

Note 1/5/05 – Garmin released information on a new product, the Forerunner 301

Note 2/14/05 – Garmin released version 3.50 two days ago. Supposedly it fixed a problem with total time now counting rest time. What a useless update. Nobody is complaining about that.  There are tons of other problems they could have fixed, like the log book.

Note 3/12/05 I am expanding this to include the FR301

Right Click to download a PDF version of this web page (~800KB).

Send your comments and suggestions to diverhank@yahoo.com

Note: If you want to have this website translated to another language, consider using Google Language Tools.

Note: Si vous voulez avoir ce website traduit au Français, considérez à l’aide des outils de langue de Google..

Anmerkung: Wenn Sie dieses website haben möchten, das zur deutschen Sprache übersetzt wird, betrachten Sie, werkzeuge Google zu verwenden Sprach.

Nota: Si usted desea tener este website traducido al español, considere el usar de las herramientas de la lengua de Google.

http://www.google.com/language_tools?hl=en

The latest Garmin manual is a very good source of information.  The latest version FR201 is Rev. C, published 7/2004.  The latest FR301 is Rev. C, 1/05. They can be downloaded from:

Forerunner201_OwnersManual.pdf

Forerunner 301 Manuals and Quick Guide

The latest Garmin FR201 software version is 3.50 and latest FR301 version is 3.00.

FR201 Updates and Downloads

FR301 Updates and Downloads  (firmware, USB drivers and Training Center)

There are many excellent forums and websites where you can find information on the Garmin Forerunner 201 and 301.  Among these are the following:

GarminF

Very good forums where you can ask anything about the Forerunner.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/etrexforerunner

http://gpsrunner.net/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl

Useful Websites:

http://www.athleticgps.com/

Contains a collection of reference information and a few articles about running & biking with GPS.

Note: As far as I know, the following equally applies to both the FR201 and FR301 but they have only been confirmed for the FR201.  The MASTER RESET procedure has been confirmed for both.

DIAGNOSTICS: Hold down ENTER then turn on the unit it will boot to a diagnostic screen. This screen tells you such information as software version, unit temperature, battery voltage, etc.  When on the diagnostic screen you can press MODE repeatedly to see a bunch of different testing screens. 

HARD RESET:  To clear out all users settings and to revive the unit, you can perform a hard reset.  Hold down RESET then press and hold POWER on.

Warning: All of your data in the Forerunner 201 will be erased!

MASTER RESET: To reset the FR201 or FR301, turn the unit off.  Press and hold the MODE and ENTER button simultaneously and press and release the power button.  The screen should turn light gray- continue holding the mode and enter button until the Forerunner startup screen appears. 

Warning: All of your data in the Forerunner will be erased!

AUTOLOCATE:  With the unit off, while pressing the Down key, hit the Power button. The splash screen will appear and the existing satellite data (not YOUR log data) from the former location will be erased and new satellite data from the new location will be acquired faster (tips from Jimmyruns4fun)

SWITCH BETWEEN PACE AND SPEED:  To quickly switch between PACE and SPEED, press and hold the MODE button.

Caution: The calorie-burned result may be altered

since the calorie calculation for pace assumes running

while calorie calculation for speed assumes bicycling.

The Forerunner Logbook latest version is 2.5.  It can be downloaded for free from:

http://www.garmin.com/support/download_details.jsp?id=451

Below is a sample page from the Logbook.  Now don’t laugh at my performanceJ.  I just started running in July 2004 after many years of inactivity. All thanks to the Forerunner 201…what incentive…

As you know, the data (track points) you keep on the Forerunner will be only good for only the latest 10 runs…Beyond that all you get are just the summaries.  That’s why it’s very important to back up your Forerunner Data.  This is not hard to do, as long as you can find your data file.  There are two data files you need to save: 

1. “YourUsername”.bin        2. ForerunnerLogbook.bin

“YourUsername” is the name you gave Log book when you first started.

If you have Windows XP, and you are one of multiple users, your data files are stored at :

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\GARMIN\Forerunner Logbook

However, it is not a simple matter to find, since it is hidden very well.  The easiest way to locate these files is to perform a search (START, SEARCH) for all files and folder, looking for “Forerunner”.  Make sure you click the advanced features and check systems folder and hidden folders.

Copy the two files and save them in a safe place. 

Restoring Files  -- Assuming that your hard drive had crashed and you had to start from scratch, I found that it wasn’t as simple as copying these two backup files back to the correct folder since the Forerunner Log Book won’t automatically recognize them.

What I had to do was to download data from the Forerunner 201…The Log Book software will ask you to enter a name.  Enter the same exact user name as your “YourUsername”.bin.  It will create the two new “YourUsername”.bin and ForerunnerLogbook.bin files.  Replace these two files with the ones you saved.

ALTERNATIVE METHOD (More Automated) – Thanks to Sam Felis (Matt)

The easiest way of doing this is to create a .BAT file that copies the files from your local directory onto your removable media. (In the example below, the U:\ drive is my removable USB-thumb drive that I have mapped on both my work and home computers.)

For the non-techies in the audience, a .BAT file is a simple way of bundling a bunch of DOS commands and executing them. In the example below, I use MD, XCOPY, ECHO and PAUSE to get the job done. MD makes the target directory [if it's not there]; XCOPY copies all files from the source to the target; ECHO displays the messages in the Command Prompt window; and PAUSE stops the program so you can see the results.

Open a command prompt (type CMD in the Start|Run text box) and type "help <command>" (without the quotes) in the command prompt. That will show you additional information about the commands, as well as the switches used.

Make sure you install the Logbook software and create a user with the
same name as on PC2 as you have on PC1.

NOTE: The comments in the chevrons <> are not to be included in the batch file.

<START BATCH FILE>

@ECHO ON
@ECHO Making backup directories...
@ECHO OFF

md u:\Running\ForeRunner\Backup

@ECHO ON
@ECHO Backing up Forerunner files...
@ECHO OFF

REM Copy the Forerunner files to the ThumbDrive

xcopy "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application
Data\GARMIN\Forerunner Logbook" u:\Running\ForeRunner\Backup /E /D /Y
/H

@ECHO ForeRunner backup complete.
PAUSE Press any key to continue...

<END BATCH FILE>

Once the files are on your removable media, simply use this batch file
to copy them to the correct location on your target computer. (The MD
command in the following batch file would be unnecessary if you
installed the Logbook software and created a user profile.)

<START BATCH FILE>

@ECHO ON
@ECHO Making backup directories...
@ECHO OFF

md "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application
Data\GARMIN\Forerunner Logbook"

@ECHO ON
@ECHO Backing up Forerunner files...
@ECHO OFF

REM Copy the Forerunner files to the ThumbDrive

xcopy u:\Running\ForeRunner\Backup "C:\Documents and Settings\All
Users\Application Data\GARMIN\Forerunner Logbook" /E /D /Y /H

@ECHO ForeRunner backup complete.
PAUSE Press any key to continue...

<END BATCH FILE>

This works great for me. I download my runs at work during the day
and then take them home with me at night for backup purposes (and in
case I want to review them at home).

-matt

BACKUPFRUNNER Utility – Mick Chawner had created a nice Forerunner Utility that, at a press of a button, automatically performs the backing up or restoring data files.  It is also very good alternative log book that offers more capability than the Garmin logbook. You can download it for free from:

http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/GarminF/files/

Note: you might need to join the group to get access.