LIVE | Garmin Fenix firmware goodies – SURPRISING/INTERESTING additions including PM5

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Garmin Fenix 6 & Garmin Edge Updates Today

We had a few great features put in beta for the Fenix 6 three weeks ago and now they are all live.

Recommended: Garmin Fenix 7 Review

I’ll start with some of the highlights and then you can see if any of this tickles your fancy and then there are device-specific details further below

Headlines

The headline to me was the support for Concept II PM5 rowing machines. This will not affect me at all but this is a well-requested feature amongst a notable minority of Garmin users. Thank you Coros for the prompt to get Garmin moving.

• Added support for displaying metrics from an indoor rowing machine that supports the ANT FE-C profile (e.g. Concept 2 with the PM5 module). This includes new fields for the Indoor Rowing app: Distance, Pace, Power, and Stroke Distance. Check out these images of it working from reader C.Ellisdon! FINALLY !
  

 

FYI If any of you are trying to do a similar thing to this but with the Vasa Erg, I have fudged the use of some CIQ fields for some good results (here)

Then we have the addition of sport-specific power zones which are just for XC Ski for now but which undoubtedly signal a move toward having full sport-specific zones down the line.

• Added support for sport-specific power zones. One can now set up their power zones for XC Ski separately from that of Cycling. (Menu > User Profile > Power Zones)

I would imagine that this simple-sounding addition involves significant changes elsewhere in the Connect platform.

Then we move onto improved A-GPS/GPS-lock with better handling of ephemeris, I had noticed my Garmin was sometimes a little slow at locking on. Maybe this will fix it?

• Improved the reliability of ephemeris downloads.

Then there are changes to auto-FTP detection (it needed it), some UX/UI improvements (always welcomed), CIQ 3.2 support, CIQ Data Field Alerts, TACX road feel control widget added, improvements to sleep…and, well I could go on. Most of the other improvements are minor but taken as a whole this is a nice step forward.

Also in the update details are GPS sensor package upgrades in some models. Probably moving you from v4.6 to v5. That’s a big version change which hopefully signal some GPS accuracy improvements, or it could just be linked to the ephemeris changes.

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Fenix 6 series

Here are the details, although you should be automatically updated when you next sync your device.

• 6s Pro and 6s Pro Solar
• 6 Pro and 6 Pro Solar
• 6s and 6s Solar
• 6 and 6 Solar
• 6X Pro and 6X Pro Solar

Changes made from version 12.20 to 12.77:

• Added support for sport-specific power zones. One can now setup their power zones for XC Ski separately from that of Cycling. (Menu > User Profile > Power Zones)
• Added support for displaying metrics from an indoor rowing machine that supports the ANT FE-C profile (e.g. Concept 2 with the PM5 module). This includes new fields for the Indoor Rowing app: Distance, Pace, Power, and Stroke Distance.
• Added support for an updated software update flow for ANT sensors, where the user will be prompted once they have completed the activity.
• Added support for descriptive Varia error messages.
• Fixed an issue with Sail Race tack assist. (MARQ Captain and Quatix 6 only.)
• Fixed an issue where the device could crash when connected to a HRM Pro with an active Livetrack session and accessing Ski activity profiles.
• Fixed an issue where certain CIQ elements could not be uninstalled via Express.
• Fixed an issue where the Applied Ballistics app could not be launched through the controls menu while running another app. (tactix Delta AB only).
• Fixed an issue where the device may fail to load a considerably long activity through the history menu.
• Fixed an issue with setting up elevation alerts at higher elevations.
• Fixed an issue in the paring flow where the device could return to the ‘Pair with Phone?’ page instead of moving forward.
• Fixed an issue where customers with high resting heart rate would intermittently not accrue intensity minutes.
• Fixed an issue where the device was not recording position data when racing against a downloaded course.
• Improved the reliability of ephemeris downloads.
• Improved the presentation of information for alarms and timers.
• Improved the scaling of lines when zooming in/out on the map.
• Made several code improvements for Sleep.
• Made several code improvements for Indoor Climb.
• Made several code improvements for daily suggested workouts.
• Made several improvements for Livetrack.
• Updated the Applied Ballistics bullet database to version 1215 (tactix Delta AB only).

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