Fenix and Edge Integration

I just want a more realistic view of my activity on the wrist.

I agree with you which is why I started this thread. But my solution to the Fenix 5's shortcomings is to find the best way for the watch to fit in to my workflow, rather than taking some suggestions posted here and centering my workflow around the watch (e.g. tracking every workout on the watch and the Edge and trashing the Edge data.)

I hope Garmin takes the suggestions posted in this thread and updates the watch to download and interpret all of my data, but until that happens I'll continue tracking my rides with my Edge and letting the Fenix live in blissful ignorance during that time.

Rousse Haverigg

I agree with you which is why I started this thread. But my solution to the Fenix 5's shortcomings is to find the best way for the watch to fit in to my workflow, rather than taking some suggestions posted here and centering my workflow around the watch (e.g. tracking every workout on the watch and the Edge and trashing the Edge data.)

I hope Garmin takes the suggestions posted in this thread and updates the watch to download and interpret all of my data, but until that happens I'll continue tracking my rides with my Edge and letting the Fenix live in blissful ignorance during that time.

I've found actually that tracking on both is easy and then deleting the record in Connect (web) leaves it present on the watch so you can at least see / get credit if you like. The effort required is minimal if not idiotic to be required in the first place.

I agree with you which is why I started this thread. But my solution to the Fenix 5's shortcomings is to find the best way for the watch to fit in to my workflow, rather than taking some suggestions posted here and centering my workflow around the watch (e.g. tracking every workout on the watch and the Edge and trashing the Edge data.)

I hope Garmin takes the suggestions posted in this thread and updates the watch to download and interpret all of my data, but until that happens I'll continue tracking my rides with my Edge and letting the Fenix live in blissful ignorance during that time.

I appreciate you starting this thread, and I am impressed by its longevity. It definitely shows this is a real desire from customers. Although we are asking for the same thing, my motivation is a little different: I want a strong enough reason to replace my F3. The fitness tracking is the reason I'm giving myself, although I've read enough to know that it still isn't anywhere close to perfect.

I am hoping that Garmin will announce Training Effect 2.0 for new Edge units (520, 820, and 10?0) at Interbike this year. That is when they announced the 820 last year. No inside info, just choosing to be optimistic. :)

I am hoping that Garmin will announce Training Effect 2.0 for new Edge units (520, 820, and 10?0) at Interbike this year.

Although commercially that would seem to be a very logical step, it wouldn't alone solve the issue with the fenix 5 because the performance management computations are done on the watch and then transferred to GC for reporting purposes only. Also unlike steps and TrueUp where the steps represent the steps you have done on that device, the performance stats on the f5 relate to your physiology, which is an important difference.

You could do a run with the f5, and then a ride on the Edge, and if the f5 isn't synced, the performance stats on both devices will be wrong, and similarly with the Edge.

Since all the devices can operate 'untethered' the performance metrics are only going to be valid when you're synced on all devices, which undermines the case for the metrics on the f5. Maybe this isn't a big issue but users would have to be aware of it. Maybe a little flag would appear to indicate that all devices are synced, but how would it know??? Unless of course the Edge was connected to the f5 via BT...but this is already implemented, but not for syncing activities, just display information.

I still think the extended display model could provide a reasonable fit for Garmin's business/product model. I have a question as to whether the f5 has the processing power to do this well. It doesn't have the same extended display functionality as the Edge series yet, and there's no indication it will in the future. Like the ErgIQ app and Genius Wrist apps, this is something that with enough skill and effort could also be implemented in Connect IQ. But there also plenty of open questions about the reliability of the f5 and when it is going to be fixed. Maybe the fenix 6 will have all of this covered? This problem is quite a way off being solved.

Unless Garmin updates the Fenix software, its performance metrics features feel more like a marketing ploy than a serious training tool, as I imagine that many triathletes have a bike computer AND a watch that they use. And the Fenix software just ignores this fact.

The performance metrics work very well for me, I find them useful to have. I take the very minimal step of also recording my ride on my watch which takes maybe an extra second from my day. The Edge syncs to a second account. It's better to have a working solution than to complain.

The performance metrics work very well for me, I find them useful to have. I take the very minimal step of also recording my ride on my watch which takes maybe an extra second from my day. The Edge syncs to a second account. It's better to have a working solution than to complain.

NorthCascades, you've already made clear that you think we are all whiners. What do you accomplish by continuing to post on this thread?

Although commercially that would seem to be a very logical step, it wouldn't alone solve the issue with the fenix 5 because the performance management computations are done on the watch and then transferred to GC for reporting purposes only. Also unlike steps and TrueUp where the steps represent the steps you have done on that device, the performance stats on the f5 relate to your physiology, which is an important difference. **rest of message trimmed for brevity**

Fair point... The assumption in my post is that this "TrueUp 2.0" as I think of it will be much more likely to be implemented if the underlying hardware all supports Training Effect 2.0. I don't think it would be very difficult to report when you last synced with GC, and it would encourage more people to use GC for deeper interactions, which I am pretty sure Garmin wants...

Again, my point here is two-fold. My goal is NOT to give Garmin a hard time. This capability may be hard to implement techincally, or from a business perspective, and I understand htat. What I DO want to do is highlight 1) that the Fenix5 and Edge series are not yet interchangeable, and ) this feature will drive additional business..

The biggest problem is that performance data (training status, "VO2 max" etc.) is computed on the device, which means if you do multiple sports you really only want to use the one device i.e. the Fenix.
What I would like to see are 2 complementary devices: a basic Edge which is really just an external display for the F5 and records nothing, plus maybe another version of that adding turn-by-turn GPS.

yup. it's super annoying ... though I'd add an additional wrinkle in that the Fenix 5 and Stages power are a terrible combo. I routinely see power average in the 40's for a ride when my Edge reports over 200. My solution to at least maintain the data on the watch is to kill the synced data on Garmin Connect (web) so that it doesn't sync to strava et al and pollute the rest of my history.

What I would like to see are 2 complementary devices: a basic Edge which is really just an external display for the F5 and records nothing, plus maybe another version of that adding turn-by-turn GPS.

No-one has bitten yet on my app suggestion https://forums.garmin.com/forum/deve...emote-display= although a developer did contact me to say that it was possible. It would also need an app on older host devices without extended display support built in such as the fenix 3. We won't hear anything back from Garmin regarding the idea I submitted to them suggesting this early on in this thread.

There are currently several spanners in the works regarding this suggestion though:
- the fenix 5 ANT+ communication is still buggy
- fenix 5 extended display functionality is not as flexible on the Edge and can only duplicate the screens set up in the watch
- the obvious candidate for a native remote display app is the Edge Touring. This is end-of-life now, and is buggy also. Although this use case would breath new life into it and perhaps get Garmin to fix the outstanding bugs

There is a lot of work for whoever implements this, so it will take some time.

If people want this then they should submit the idea as well so that Garmin can see the demand.