Fenix 5 Plus series - 15.30 Public Release Candidate

Hello Fenix 5/5S/5X Plus users,

We have new beta software ready for your upcoming adventures!

Note: Please allow for the updates to propagate across all servers. There is no need to post that the link does not work. It will after a bit of patience.

Fenix 5S Plus: https://www8.garmin.com/support/download_details.jsp?id=14333
Fenix 5 Plus: https://www8.garmin.com/support/download_details.jsp?id=14331
Fenix 5X Plus: https://www8.garmin.com/support/download_details.jsp?id=14335

Note: Please allow for the updates to propagate across all servers. There is no need to post that the link does not work. It will after a bit of patience.

15.20 - 15.30 Change Log Notes:

  • Fix potential crash during power up.
  • Fix potential issues with altimeter and barometer readings.

15.00 - 15.30 Change Log Notes:

  • Added support for Explore Navigation Sync, where one can select lines, waypoints or generic points on the map within the Explore app and start navigating on device.
  • Improved the Garmin Pay experience on device.
  • Improved the accuracy and reliability of altitude data.
  • Fixed an issue where one wasn’t able to create custom alerts within an activity.
  • Fixed distance and time values for tracks/routes synced from Garmin Explore.
  • Fixed an issue where Training status would no longer update via Physio TrueUp.
  • Fixed an issue where steps would intermittently stop accumulating after a multisport activity.
  • Fixed an issue where one couldn’t edit Wifi networks, if the device had not paired and synced with a Garmin connect account.
  • Fixed an issue where screenshots generated from device did not look right.
  • Fixed an intermittent issue with Livetrack.
  • Fixed an intermittent issue where the device may freeze while using Garmin Pay.
  • Fix potential crash during power up.
  • Fix potential issues with altimeter and barometer readings.

Please note, the beta updates released on these forums are not suitable for APAC region devices.

Please send all bug reports to outdoor[email protected], and indicate which model of the fenix 5 Plus series you have in the subject line.

  • Thanks for the altimeter fix, it seems to work OK now since I put 15.30 on the watch.

    The course scrolling bug is still in there - but I can get over that.

  • For me there was just a one-off altimeter jump after installing 15.20, and never since then.

    On the other hand 15.20 confused the auto cal during activity. Eg today I was at 540-550 m ASL. My F5+ showed just 128 m. I said no prob after starting my activity it would likely show something close to 550m. I had a proper gps fix, I have dem data on my watch, but 128m remained. So no auto cal happened at start. Moreover I had opted for continuous setting so I waited for some convergence toward real elevation during my 4 hour ride, but nothing happened.

    Can you confirm that  your watch running on 15.30 does auto cal ? At least at start? An not just when an earlier manual cal happened nearby, but based on gps and dem data at a place when you have never saved any waypoints nor made any manual cal?

    thanks

  • Retracting my previous conclusion. Can't conclude anything. I'll do some more activities and come back on this.

  • Did a 75 minute activity with 3 watches. (That's not weird - DC Rainmaker does that all the time).

    Fenix 5 Plus and Forerunner 945: Calibrated manually to +10 (where I live) early in the morning. Set to calibrate continuously during activity.
    Fenix 2: Calibrated to -1 manually before start.

    Ambient air pressure was quite stable and the activity was on flat terrain, starting and ending at -1 meter altitude.
    Fenix 5 Plus at start: +10, at end: +6 (drifted -4)
    Forerunner 945 at start: -18, at end: -22 (drifted -4)
    Fenix 2: invalid result, I should have given it more time to settle, as it jumped back to +10 almost immediately after starting the activity At end: +8.

    I normally don't use the Forerunner 945, so I'm not sure if that is typical performance or not. The -4 meter drift is perfectly good IMHO. But it was stable weather. The Fenix 2 altitude can drift 20 to 100 meters easily when the weather is more changeable or windy.

    Seems that the Fenix 5 Plus had retained the earlier manually calibrated altitude. I'll redo this procedure tomorrow and give all watches more time to settle and 'GPS soak' at my start point.

  • I have the same experience with 15.20.  The watch can calibrate at start using earlier manual calibration data. But only that, as I wrote no dem or gps auto cal.

    -4m equals to 0.5 mbar change is weather, which is not more than a normal fluctuation in stable weather.

  • Just one more tiny little nitpicky thing.. if you've set your profile to not upload data, the personal records get wiped off the device directly after a run. They're displayed and then they're gone.

    Please don't deny me the childish pleasure of resetting my personal bests on the watch at the start of every training cycle and then beating them in the following weeks. It should not be a requirement to either sync data to Connect, or have no phone connection at all, in order to have this work right. After all it worked OK with 15.20.

  • There is definitely something weird with the barometer/altimeter in this firmware.  During every run I now get a storm alert because of dropping pressure (but the pressure isnt dropping).  And at the end of the run the altimeter is wrong by about 30 meters even though it was correct at the beginning.  I'm going to revert to 15.00 firmware because that one was fine.

  • Fenix 2: invalid result, I should have given it more time to settle, as it jumped back to +10 almost immediately after starting the activity

    I did the same thing as yesterday but now gave the devices 15 minutes to settle and GPS soak at my starting point. And they were very close.

    This time the Fenix 5 Plus did not stay on the previous manual altimeter calibration, but correctly picked up the altitude according to DEM. Maybe it is a matter of a very long 'GPS soak' before start?