I wish I could have slept Garmin, I promise! It turns out that stress makes you unable to fall asleep. But I don’t think Garmin realizes that that is a thing that happens

Today I was able to sleep a few more hours..! Considering going on a little jog this morning instead of laying in bed until I have to get up for work.

Hey! I built Dash, a free watch face for Garmin watches that focuses on clarity and speed. Perfect if you want a clean interface without clutter.

✅ Works on 30+ Garmin devices (Fenix, Epix, Forerunner, etc.)✅ Supports both AMOLED and MIP screens✅ Completely free, no ads

You can install it now from the Connect IQ Store. Feedback and Reviews are welcome!

Link to the IQ Connect Store: https://apps.garmin.com/en-US/apps/3de0d979-73c7-4ca2-b998-77075a1e20f9

https://www8.garmin.com/wearables/PDF/WearablesSoftwareUpdate/2026/August2026.pdf

Garmin has released their software update roadmap for rest of 2026.

Here they say fall detection - only available in Venu 4 and not even in premium watches like 970 and F8.

I am kindof confused, is it automatic fall detection at rest or during activity only? Didn’t venu 4 already had fall detection during activity? No?

This thing is incredible. It looks so damn good in person. The screen is insane. It feels so much lighter and low profile compared to my Epix pro gen 2. I loved my previous watch but this thing is incredible. Anyone have any questions let me know. I haven’t got around to playing with it a ton as it just came about an hour ago. I’ve never had a Fenix, so for the people saying it wasn’t enough of an upgrade from the 8 or 8 pro that would exclude me. I just wanted to try the newest and best. It seems to be super high quality and so light. It actually feels way better on my wrist than my other watch as well. Anyone have any questions to help them decide? Pics to follow.

Hey everyone,

Just wanted to share a recent scare with my Forerunner 255 as a cautionary tale.

I spent a few days at the Mediterranean Sea recently and went for a couple of swims wearing the watch. A few important details:

I never pressed or interacted with any of the physical buttons while in or near the water.

I thoroughly rinsed the watch with fresh tap water right after every single swim.

Despite taking those precautions, all physical buttons completely seized up and became unresponsive shortly after. They felt completely stuck / mushy, and I honestly thought the watch was permanently bricked by dried salt crystals or internal corrosion.

Miraculously, after about 3 to 4 days of leaving it to dry and gently soaking/rinsing it in lukewarm fresh water, the tactile click suddenly came back, and all buttons work normally again.

Takeaway / Moral of the story: Even if Garmin rates these watches for open water and swimming, saltwater (especially high-salinity water like the Mediterranean) can easily mess with the button seals and mechanisms. From now on, my watch stays on the towel before heading into the sea.

Has anyone else experienced this temporary lockup after saltwater exposure?

Hey all, I'm wondering what would be the optimal way to track gear hours without tracking every single commute.

Story: i got a new bike and the fork has maintenance intervals listed. I immediately added the bike and the fork as a separate gear so I can track both bike maintenance (full overhaul, 150-200h) and fork lower leg service (50h).

Thing is, as a sole bike, I use this for both commuting and exercise. Exercises are tracked with the cycling activity and gear usage is automatically added via the default activity set.

However, I don't want to log commuting each day which is like a 5-6km round trip, 5 days a week. So I figured, I calculate and land on an average, then add 30km/2h as a weekly, manual activity. This logs both fork hours and overall bike mileage as it should.

Then I realized, after 5 weeks later, that it also adds exercise load as a single big jump, which tends to mess up my metrics. I get that the load is there regardless since I ride to work, but instead of 5x6km it gets added as a flat 30km each Monday.

Any ideas? Basically, I need to add an activity but do not add load. Is this possible?

Is the Garmin Connect Automatic Course Creator any good?
I'm planning to use it to create a running loop when I go on vacation in Japan. Does it consider using less traffic and more quiet amply lit roads?
I also can use Komoot but it doesn't seem to have an automatic loop creator.
Any other suggestions?

Hello. I’m probably one of only a dozen people who regularly use Garmin for strength training and don’t hate it, but I’m looking for advice on complementary apps.

Historically I’ve toggled between 3-4 months of race training and 3-4 months of strength training with just maintenance cardio, but I’d really like to build a program that combines both. I can build the program myself but I’d like apps to help me monitor it etc.

- App that integrates well with Garmin Connect? (Transfers info to inform Training Readiness and similar metrics)

- App that allows easier programming of more complex weight lifting routines? (Linear progression, de-load weeks, etc)

- Good user interface! Not too complex, not overly simple.

over about 2 years I've gone from morbidly obese and completely sedentary, getting winded on short walks, to fit and healthy weight. I did it without medication so progress was slow and hard earned through diet and lifestyle changes. i've taken up running, long distance cycling, weight lifting and am highly active now in general. I definitely feel like my aerobic fitness is infinitely better than before but my vo2 max hasn't changed at all and I'm wondering how that's possible.

I'm using venu sq2. is it a limitation of the tech? what could I be doing to improve my vo2 max?

Watch: Garmin Vivomove 3
Issue: Unsure if it’s the watch, or if I should investigate further.
Context: I woke up around 8am, left for work (dietary aide in a long term care facility so I’m on my feet a lot of the time) around 10:15am, arrived about 10:45am. I had two half hour breaks (2-2:30 and 3:20-3:50pm) and worked until 7. I picked up a pizza on my way home so I didn’t get back until about 7:45. I got another abnormal HR alert at 7:40 right before I got home, and i’ve since continued to get them even though i’ve just been sitting down and relaxing. I’ve also made sure the band isn’t too tight, and the sensors are clean. Any ideas? Has anyone had a similar issue or found out something important health wise because of the watch? Speaking of, it’s now 10:04 and I got another one lol. Thank you, any insight is appreciated

I just got an inReach mini 2 and when trying to use it in Georgia I am unable to send messages of any kind. I have tried all kinds of messages: check ins (both email and sms) and regular messages (also via email and sms) but hardly any of them get sent. I know there are some restrictions around sms messages over GPS in Georgia but sending messages to email should be possible. Is there anyone that knows what is going on and if there is a way around it?

Hi all

I've had my watch for a few months now and I think there has to be something wrong with my body battery/stress level scores. Every single day it claims I'm having a demanding/stressful day, even if I'm just lounging around my apartment. Yesterday it alerted me that I had a "stressful last hour" while I was sitting at dinner with my dad. I'm bottoming out at 5 every night and my battery score, ever, was 88. I'm attaching photos to show what I'm referring to.

I'm 31, am decently healthy, don't smoke and rarely drink. I go to bed around the same time every night. I go to the gym 1/2x a week and mtb at least once. I have an active and demanding job, but even on days I'm lounging around it will tell me that I've had a stressful/demanding day. I ALWAYS get notified that I've been in a high stress state after driving (I hate driving but not THAT much lol). I eat well (enough) and make sure that I drink enough water daily. I don't drink coffee, I instead have a 16/20 oz black tea every morning.

The only thing I can think of that would absolutely affect it is that I take oral minoxidil daily for hair loss. Still, the graphs seem excessive.

Thoughts?

Hello, my Garmin Cirqa consistently calculates too much active calorie.
Resting calories are averaging 2800, while active calories are averaging 3500, ending up a total of 6300.

My device is new, started using a few days ago. Do I need to change some settings? Or does it need some time to calibrate things? Thanks in advance!

Auto activity tracker was on
Max heart rate set to 190
Heart rate status Auto (I dont know what that means)
Max HR, Running threshold auto detection On
Height and weight logged

In the past couple of weeks my garmin has stopped recording heartrate (green light does turn on anymore) and counting steps
HR shows as - -
Steps 0

I have tried multiple restores and power cycling but nothing has worked. It charges correctly and records distance, pace, etc and works with an external HR. It started recently and seems to be been garmin rolled out the “messenger” feature. Has anyone else had issues with this? Garmin has told me they don’t service it and will give me 25% off with a trade in. I bought this watch as a refurb in April of 2025 and would prefer to fix it instead of toss it.

Recently I have started using my treadmill again (last time was March) and the ability to save and calibrate has disappeared from my fenix 7x solar.

Has this happened to anyone else? For my last two 10ks it has come in at 5.4 miles compared to 6.2km on the treadmill (treadmill distance is correct).

Any advice?

P.s. I am part of the beta program so it may be an issue they know

By no means is it perfect but as you can see the difference is pretty noticeable. Same map layers turned on. This is strictly in the map function not navigating so will have to see the difference there but this is what always drove me nuts about last few Garmin watches. Way better now.

Hi all, hope you’re doing well.

I’m currently an Apple Watch user and I’m considering making the switch to Garmin. However, I’ve read quite a few comments online suggesting that Garmin’s sleep tracking isn’t as accurate as some of its competitors, such as Oura, Apple Watch and Whoop.

This got me wondering: if Garmin’s sleep tracking isn’t particularly accurate, how reliable is the other data it provides, such as Body Battery and Training Readiness?

I’m asking because I would have thought that sleep is one of the main foundations that these metrics are based on. So, if the sleep data isn’t accurate, does that have a knock-on effect on the accuracy of the other metrics?

Would be interested to hear what people’s experiences have been.

Hi everyone,
I am working on a small app where I want to use Garmin health and activity data and do some analysis on it.

The problem is Garmin APIs are quite closed and getting official access doesn’t seem easy. I found python-garminconnect which basically uses Garmin Connect APIs and users can login with their own Garmin account and sync their data.

I wanted to know if anyone here has used something like this for an actual app?

Can Garmin create any issue with this? And can such an app be published on Play Store or App Store if users themselves are giving access to their Garmin account?

Or is there any better way to do this without getting official Garmin API access?