marvin2223

Hi guys,
I have this kind of issue:
Is it possible to make a hardware reset on Edge 530 without the phone to which the device is paired?
Some guy wants to sell me his 6-month-old Garmin edge 530 but he stated that he lost his phone and that devices are still paired one to other.
Do you think is worth it?
Thanks in advance!

njkayaker

Yes. It's easy to do.

There's an option to forget a phone.

It's common for people with Edges to change phones.

Why is he selling a 6 month-old 530?

marvin2223

I really don't know why this guy is selling it so early after he bought it. I'm afraid that there is some trap.
What should I do when I go to see this 530?
Shall I try to do forget the phone option? Or to keep the power button for long to reset?
I'm mostly sure that this guy tried everything before he decided to sell it.

njkayaker

The reset might not clear the phone info.

To pair it, you'll need the Garmin Connect Mobile app on your phone.

It won't hurt anything to pair your phone to the device. There's no reason he couldn't help you try that out. I'd have no problem doing that with I unit I was selling.

The devices can be a bit fussy to pair (unfortunately) but not always.

All I'm saying it's normal/usual to re-pair these with other/different phones.

Many places are selling these for $50 off. Be sure to check current prices to see if the price you are being offered makes sense.

marvin2223

The Price is really low. Like $80 for the device.
I hope there is no failure in the function.
Like BT non function or I don't know what else?!

njkayaker

That price is really low. The lowest price on ebay is $200. And there are some new ones at $250.

Pairing it with your phone would test the BT functionality.

Bald Paul

Sorry, this whole thing sounds fishy.
"It's paired to a phone I lost"
"It's only $80"
"No, it's not stolen, honest!"

marvin2223

Yes, I also think so!
Anyway, thanks for the help!

Seattle Forrest

I wouldn't buy it. The price is suspiciously low, I would assume it's either broken somehow or stolen.

I don't know how this works, but I would assume of I buy a stolen Garmin, when I pair it with my phone and sync rides, I will be sending Garmin the serial number. If it's reported as stolen, they'll help the owner find it, and I'll be out. I could be wrong on all of this and wouldn't buy something I thought was stolen for moral reasons, but there's another one too.

njkayaker

I don't think Garmin does this. (I would think that there would be some noise about it on the Garmin forums if they did this.)

Helping the owner find it would not be easy to do.

I doubt Garmin would want to get involved in determining whether the reports of things being stolen were accurate or not. It would also require Garmin to be "criminal investigators" (potentially, violating all sorts of privacy).

It would seem much more of a headache to deal with.

bahula03

Apple has allowed customers to remotely track and disable devices for years, mostly in an attempt to disincentivize the devices being stolen in the first place. That problem doesn't exist at anywhere near the same scale for Garmin devices, so it doesn't make sense for a stingy company like Garmin to invest in developing and deploying those features. The privacy and legal concerns don't really enter the equation.

Curious to hear how this all works out for the OP- resetting the device and pairing to a new phone is a trivial thing, but $80 is deep in "too good to be true" territory.

cuevélo

If they haven't deleted the rides stored on it, it would be very easy to find the owner. Just connect it to a computer, and upload a few rides to your Garmin or Strava account, and see where they start and end. It will most likely be at the owner's house.

njkayaker

That isn't where the difficulty is.

Garmin already knows who the (former) owner is.

The issue is finding the other person. It's also hard to distinguish a legal transfer of ownership from an illegal one. Would the original owner saying it was stolen be sufficient?

Garmin can't release the location of the other person for any-old reason. There are privacy issues and it might be something that would have to be subpoenaed.

It sort of sounds like you are talking about what an honest person would do if they found the device (not something I was talking about). For this. there's a much easier way: you can update the \Garmin\startup.txt file and put your name and phone number there.

Seattle Forrest

Thanks for posting all about your guess that it's totally safe to buy a stolen computer, in a thread about deciding whether to buy a stolen computer.

njkayaker

WTH? It looks like you are confused again.