Where to begin with this one. The recent UI update to the connect app (August 20th, perhaps) has resulted in the 'Time in Heart Rate Zones' displaying incorrect data - which is to say none at all. Though I suspect this might be true of many devices, the devices I am using, and therefore referring to in this post are a Garmin Forerunner 245 and a Garmin Edge 530. The Edge 530 is the device that seems to be having the most trouble.
Prior to the update, time in heart rate zone displayed with no issue and no changes to default settings. See below.
Immediately after the update, however, the data displayed as follows:
As you can see, the heart rate zones in this graph are set at completely ludicrous numbers and I suspect this might have something to do with why the data is not displaying correctly. However, these zones are (obviously) not the zones I have set on the device.
I found a fix for a short while by toggling Edge 530 cycling specific heart rate zones on. This worked for a couple of rides, but the data I was getting back was not useful to me, as it was based off of the default value of %Max HR. So, fool that I am, I tried to change my heart rate zones to something more useful for my training: %LT.
This, it turns out, is impossible if you are using the Connect App. Here are the zones I tried to set up on the app:
And here is what happens when I try to save them:
This might be the most infuriating error message one can receive. Telling me that 'something' - some amorphous, undisclosed thing - has gone wrong gives me no guide as to how to begin to troubleshoot the problem. Trying again - the suggestion - doesn't result in a different outcome. Trying a third time might have you questioning your sanity.
No matter, there is a web-based app, perhaps that will work:
On to the forums to see if there's a fix and all I can find are years-old complaints about how it is impossible to change your heart rate zones because of error messages like the two above. Quite frankly, that this an issue at all should be a cause for significant embarrassment at Garmin. For the devices that monitor one's heart rate, you'd think that one should be offered an easy-to-use interface that allows for the quick customization of heart rate zones. The interface, at least, exists. It just doesn't do anything except spit error messages at you.
Now, you might be asking, didn't you just say that you found a fix? Why bother with posting about it here?
Toggling the cycling-specific heart rate on did briefly fix the problem, but - Icarus that I am wont to be - I strove for more. I went to the web app and input my %LT zones and started furiously clicking the save settings button. Then, to my surprise, this:
Turns out, 'try again' means doing so so rapidly in succession that Connect just gives up and accepts. Who knew? Certainly not I.
But hubris has its price and I was soon to learn the dear cost I had paid for trying to get a more accurate picture of my training. On my very next ride, the heart rate zone data was once again gone from the activity and I was staring, once more, at a screen with no data and the heart rate zones of a sleeping zombie.
So, can I expect a fix from Garmin? Given the long history of this problem, I suspect not. But for any of you trying to make adjustments to your heart rate zone settings I say this - it is possible. All you have to do is open the web app, input your settings, and hammer away on the left mouse button until Garmin can take the force of your conviction no longer. Just beware that in so doing, you will forever revoke your right to see that data.
Maybe some wise person will have a fix or a workaround I can use, but if I am permitted a moment on the soapbox let me say this: Garmin should fix this problem. It is clear to me that there is something massively dysfunctional with the Connect app and the Connect website if something as trivial as storing a set of numbers causes a meltdown. As a customer, who paid a lot of money for these devices, I expect better. This is basic functionality that should be widely available and readily supported.
