Related

New bug in FIT files: empty File ID and no Record messages

HarryOnline

At www.fitfileviewer.com, I received many similar corrupted FIT files in the past weeks. I have not seen this type of corruption before, so I assume it is a bug in a recent software update on some devices. Typical for this corruption is:

  • There is a file_id messages, but all values are invalid
  • Many messages are missing, most notably the record messages, but also event, device_info etc.. Summary messages, like activity, session and lap are there. 
  • In several cases, but not always, many messages are duplicates, e.g. there are two identical activity messages, each lap and session appears twice.

FIT File Viewer can now fix these files, i.e. make it possible to import them in Garmin Connect, but of course it cannot restore the missing data.

I have seen this happening on FR 255, 955 and 965, and also in these threads:

  • 0 in reply to 7064333

    That was years ago, before the new manager that only cares about the number of lines in the quarterly firmware updates...

    The only luck you had us that fr745 isn't getting updates any more so they didn't brake it

  • 0 in reply to flocsy🤠

    OK, here are the stats of the past 30 days. Of course, these are only from users who fixed their file with this bug using FIT File Viewer, probably many more who don't fix it. It has happend more frequently in the past 15 days, this could be either because people did not do that much during the holidays, or more people found FIT File Viewer
    Occurences of bug in FIT File Viewer

  • 0

    Update available for me today on FR 970. 15.52, apparently it's at 50% rollout to all users. No specific details within update - just mentions bug fixes. Will report back if any improvement or still happening.

    Update below:

    forums.garmin.com/.../forerunner-970---software-version-15-52---50

  • 0 in reply to 7064333

    "Changes to support manufacturing" this sounds like they're switching hardware provider. New bugs are on the way...

  • 0 in reply to 7064333
    7064333 said:
    Garmin 945 was a beast, not one issue, better battery life. The simpler the watch the better it seems.

    I think this is hindsight bias / nostalgia, as:

    - FR945 isn't really a "simple" watch

    - Every high-end Garmin watch since at least FR935 has had tons of issues at launch

    I'm sure people who have been in the Garmin ecosystem longer than me have memories of how Fenix sucked long before FR935 (released 2017).

    Things may or may not be getting worse, but I don't think they were ever "good". DCR had an article around 2019 or so about how Garmin was *finally* changing things to address persistent QA / software quality issues. I think he mentioned the beta program in the same article.

    I'm sure we could go back 10+ years and look at old forum / reddit posts about how Garmin's software and user experience sucks.

    Before I owned an FR935 I actually did have a much simpler FR2xx with barely any features. Ofc fewer features means fewer software bugs, but it had its own problems (like blister-style buttons that were so unresponsive and hard to press that they physically hurt my fingers, and the START/STOP button eventually broke).

    I actually do think Garmin has improved a few things over the years, but unfortunately they still have a ton of problems.