How to determine which devices support course navigation?

I'm writing a DataField that shows navigation information - specifically: nameOfNextPoint, distanceToNextPoint, offCourseDistance, and bearing.

I know that I can exclude any device that doesn't support CIQ 2.1 or later.

I found this support article, but when I try to run some of those devices in the simulator, the navigation information is not present. (But it is present for devices like Fenix 6X, etc).

https://support.garmin.com/en-US/?faq=ZY8vOwxq106cRyPSpiVbQ7

According to the article, the following devices ought to be supported, but I don't see the data in the simulator. (And I don't have a physical device to test with.)

D2 Air, Fenix Chronos, Forerunner 245/255/265/645/735xt/745

I know that I can test for the presence of the data using 'has', and already do that. My issue is that the data field will be useless to anyone with a watch that doesn't provide that data, so I want to exclude those watches from the list of supported devices.

Can anyone confirm if those devices actually supply the data (and this is a simulator bug), or if there is documentation elsewhere that is the definitive "source of truth"? I do see that the API documentation shows "supported devices", and the ones I mentioned are excluded from the list. But we've all seen misinformation in the documentation before... And I'm curious why the support article would list those devices as having course navigation, but the data is missing?

Thanks!

FlowState over 2 years ago

So those devices do support courses, but they don't support course activity info in CIQ.

You can verify this by checking the Monkey C API documentation to see the supported devices for bearing (for example):

https://developer.garmin.com/connect-iq/api-docs/Toybox/Activity/Info.html#bearing-var

Supported Devices:

[Hide devices]

D2 Charlie
D2 Delta
D2 Delta PX
D2 Delta S
D2 Mach 1
Descent G1 / G1 Solar
Descent Mk1
Descent Mk2 / Descent Mk2i
Descent Mk2 S
Edge® 1000 / Explore
Edge® 1030
Edge® 1030 / Bontrager
Edge® 1030 Plus
Edge® 1040 / 1040 Solar
Edge® 520
Edge® 520 Plus
Edge® 530
Edge® 540 / 540 Solar
Edge® 820 / Explore
Edge® 830
Edge® 840 / 840 Solar
Edge® Explore
Edge® Explore 2
Enduro
epix (Gen 2) / quatix® 7 Sapphire
Forerunner® 935
Forerunner® 945
Forerunner® 945 LTE
Forerunner® 955 / Solar
Forerunner® 965
fēnix® 5 / quatix® 5
fēnix® 5 Plus
fēnix® 5S
fēnix® 5S Plus
fēnix® 5X / tactix® Charlie
fēnix® 5X Plus
fēnix® 6 / 6 Solar / 6 Dual Power
fēnix® 6 Pro / 6 Sapphire / 6 Pro Solar / 6 Pro Dual Power / quatix® 6
fēnix® 6S / 6S Solar / 6S Dual Power
fēnix® 6S Pro / 6S Sapphire / 6S Pro Solar / 6S Pro Dual Power
fēnix® 6X Pro / 6X Sapphire / 6X Pro Solar / tactix® Delta Sapphire / Delta Solar / Delta Solar - Ballistics Edition / quatix® 6X / 6X Solar / 6X Dual Power
fēnix® 7 / quatix® 7
fēnix® 7S
fēnix® 7X / tactix® 7 / quatix® 7X Solar / Enduro 2
GPSMAP® 66s / 66i / 66sr / 66st
GPSMAP® 67 / 67i
GPSMAP® 86s / 86sc / 86i / 86sci
Instinct® 2 / Solar / Dual Power / dēzl Edition
Instinct® 2S / Solar / Dual Power
Instinct® 2X Solar
Instinct® Crossover
MARQ® (Gen 2) Athlete / Adventurer / Captain / Golfer
MARQ® (Gen 2) Aviator
MARQ® Adventurer
MARQ® Athlete
MARQ® Aviator
MARQ® Captain / MARQ® Captain: American Magic Edition
MARQ® Commander
MARQ® Driver
MARQ® Expedition
MARQ® Golfer
Montana® 7 Series
Oregon® 7 Series
Rino® 7 Series

Don't ask me why it is the way it is. As far as I can tell, CIQ only exposes course information for Edge devices, handheld GPS devices, and "Fenix-like" watches (Forerunner 9xx, starting with 935, and all the "outdoor" watches), namely:

- Fenix itself, starting with Fenix 5. (Fenix Chronos is a Fenix 3 variant, so that explains why it didn't make the cut)

Other watches related to Fenix 5 (and newer Fenixes):

- Forerunner 9xx, starting with 935 (735 and 745 apparently don't count -- it's worth nothing that 935 was apparently the first Forerunner watch to have very similar functionality/software to Fenix watches of the same generation.)

- D2 * (the ones which are based on Fenix watches. i.e. not the D2 Air watches)

- Enduro 2 (related to Fenix in terms of software)

- Epix 2 (related to Fenix in terms of software)

- Instinct ("Fenix with black-and-white display")

- MARQ (super expensive Fenix rebrand with slightly different software)

- Tactix / Quaxtix (another Fenix rebrand with slightly different software)

marksibert over 2 years ago in reply to FlowState

Thanks! That makes sense (sorta). LOL. Other than Garmin purposely crippling some of the watches that have course navigation... But I guess they need to have some reason for people to pay up for the more expensive watches...

I originally bought a Fenix 5X for the navigation features (and loved it). I have a 6X now. My next watch may very well be the FR965, though, since it has pretty-much every feature I use from the Fenix now, at almost half the price (compared to an Epix2). It'll be interesting to see if the Epix sticks around, or if the AMOLED display makes it into the next round of Fenix watches. Garmin certainly didn't support the Epix 1 for very long.

Anyway - thanks again for the detailed explanation! I'll just refer to the "supported devices" section in the API documentation...