Ticket Created
over 1 year ago

TREES-6206

Fenix 7 series - GPS track recording is stopped during activity when a widget is displayed

The following scenario currupts the GPS track recording of any activity and have to be fixed in my opinion with higher priority on the Fenix 7 series devices.

During an activity with GPS track recording it is possible to display the watch face and switch to any widget on your device. This behavious was also possible on other devices like the Fenix 6 series. If you do that and display a widget it seems that the GPS is turned off and the track recording stops.

That means checking the solar intensity, messages or using widget like MagicDust (that double the battery life during an activity) doesn't work anymore. That leads automatically to a false track recording.

After displaying the active activity screen again the GPS is activated again and starts recording. The recorded activity includes all information except the missing GPS track points that are not recorded while the widget was displayed (heartrate, temp, altitude...).

Repro:

- Start an activit that supports GPS track recording

- select the map view

- Toggle to the watch face and select a widget

-walk some meters to a different location to check the missing track points later in the recorded track

- toggle back to the activity screen, the GPS fix is displayed

- the map view is updated and displays a straight line to the position where you selected the widget

Device info: Fenix 7X sapphire solar, FW 7.20, tested GPS modes (GPS only and all systems)

It would be nice if any other user can verify this issue, because it may also be related to my Fenix 7x device, thanks for your help.

  • Please contact Garmin correctly so they can add you as "interested" in this feature getting fixed.

  • This was never a problem on my Fenix 6x Pro but my new fenix 7X solar is definitely having this. @Garmin please fix it!!! :)

  • A reminder to anyone who is affected or feels this issue should be resolved.

    Contact the customer support directly and tell them that this problem bothers you: support.garmin.com/.../

    Just because it has a ticket number doesn't mean Garmin is working on it, so don't let that lull you into a false sense of security. Garmin won't be interested until enough users report the problem or the press makes a big deal about it.

    If you know someone in the editorial department of a tech news site, you could also try to get an article published there about the problem with the Garmin watches from 2022.

  • Also maybe the topic should be renamed as this is not only a Fenix 7 problem. I know it does not work for the whole 7 Series, Epix 2, Tactix and Forerunner 955. The new Marq 2 will probably have the same problem.

  • Is anyone attending the Garmin Virtual Developer thing? This would be a good question why a widget that does not use GPS blocks GPS usage from an activity recorded in the background while a widget that uses GPS doesn't, in all devices released in 2022.