fēnix 6 Series - Recent Threads

Self-hosting multi-year Fenix 6 FIT archives: Anyone using 15K SAS enterprise drives for local time-series database logging?

7184844 — Fri, 06 Nov 2026 13:13:35 GMT

Hey everyone,

Ever since the multi-day Garmin Connect cloud outage a few years back, I’ve made a habit of pulling the raw .FIT files off my Fenix 6 Pro via USB after every long trail run and bikepacking trip. Over the last four years, I’ve been maintaining a self-hosted time-series database (PostgreSQL with TimescaleDB) to run my own training load analytics, aerobic decoupling trends, and custom GPS heatmaps across my entire activity history.

Because I record everything at 1-second intervals with connected ANT+ sensors (chest-strap HRV, running dynamics, and barometric altimeter streams), the continuous data ingestion and index rebuilding have started punishing my home server. When running multi-year queries and recalculating rolling fatigue metrics across millions of telemetry points, transactional I/O latency becomes an issue.

A colleague in systems administration suggested that rather than burning through the write endurance (TBW) of budget consumer SSDs with non-stop database write cycles, building a small write-heavy scratch pool with enterprise hardware—specifically drives in the SAS 12GBPS HDD/600GB-15K RPM-2.5Inch tier in a RAID array—could provide rock-solid, durable performance for localized database journal logs.

Before I reconfigure the drive bays in my home setup, I wanted to ask the data enthusiasts here: For those of you who archive and analyze your Fenix 6 telemetry locally outside the cloud, what does your storage backend look like? Do high-spindle 15K SAS enterprise drives still hold a practical place for heavy local database crunching, or have you found modern NVMe drives durable enough for high-frequency telemetry logging?

Would love to hear how fellow data geeks structure their local fitness archives!

Custom DEM/LIDAR Topo Maps for Fenix 6 Pro: Anyone using GPU-accelerated GIS workflows for large-scale map compilation?

7184844 — Fri, 06 Nov 2026 12:29:39 GMT

Hey everyone,

I’ve been using my Fenix 6 Pro for multi-day backcountry treks for a few years now, and while the stock Garmin TopoActive maps are decent, I prefer generating custom, high-resolution topographical maps with dense elevation contours (1m–5m intervals) derived from open-source USGS LIDAR and DEM datasets.

The issue I keep running into isn't with the watch itself—the Fenix 6 handles properly structured custom .img map files surprisingly well if you optimize your zoom levels. The bottleneck is strictly on the compilation side. When processing multi-gigabyte point clouds and running spatial interpolation in QGIS and GDAL to batch-render hillshade and contour layers for entire mountain ranges, my local desktop completely chokes. The sheer volume of raw raster tiles causes severe memory bandwidth bottlenecks during batch raster-to-vector processing.

A colleague who works with geospatial modeling suggested offloading the heavy raster interpolation and matrix calculations to a dedicated workstation with high-bandwidth memory, looking at hardware in the HBM2E GPU/32GB tier to eliminate pipeline stalls when processing massive spatial arrays.

Before I consider upgrading dedicated compute hardware or paying for ongoing cloud compute hours just to compile hiking maps, I wanted to check with the mapping enthusiasts here: For those of you building custom high-resolution topo maps and hillshade layers for your Fenix devices, what does your rendering pipeline look like? Does high-bandwidth GPU memory noticeably speed up batch compilation for regional DEM datasets, or are CPU-bound tools like mkgmap still the primary bottleneck regardless of your graphics acceleration?

Would appreciate any insights or workflow recommendations from fellow mapmakers!

Is the Race Predictor STILL having issues in beta version 29.02?

JanLamas — Sun, 01 Nov 2026 17:50:19 GMT

After experiencing the Race Predictor issue on my Fenix 6 for several months, I finally joined the beta program and installed version 29.02.

It seems that the main issue has been fixed, as the predicted race times are now consistent with my actual race performances.

However, while the predictions for the 5K, half marathon and marathon fluctuate by a few seconds from day to day (which is perfectly normal and expected), my 10K prediction has remained exactly the same since the day I updated the watch.

Is anyone else experiencing the same issue?

Race predictor Fenix 6 seris STILL WRONG!!!

4187227 — Thu, 29 Oct 2026 18:58:35 GMT

It is really difficult to see and experience this fault, made by Garmin staff in JUNE 2026. Now its four and half month and it has still not been amended. Race prediction is fluctuating up and down with each exercise and the tread that was about this was closed by Garmin since there was a BETA SOLUTION FOR SOME!!!! That is not acceptable for such a BIG brand like GARMIN. NO WAY acceptable that users are left with this Garmin-made-issue in the software for watches that are less than five years old. I bought mine less than five years ago, still and new at the time. Now this issue and other related issues have been broken for such a long time and all the statements that solutions should be out soon, or in august or whatever!

Why do you close the treads that are still valid ISSUES and why do you not fix this. Its okey for so many other products from Garmin but why do you treat your customers like this?

Fenix 6X Sapphire won’t charge

skerfan00 — Wed, 28 Oct 2026 23:55:30 GMT

I went on vacation in my Garmin Fenix 6X Sapphire watch died. Now it won’t charge. I have cleaned the contacts and used a brand new cable, but neither worked. What else can I try?

Connection phone and Fenix 6 S

1743072 — Wed, 14 Oct 2026 15:02:56 GMT

The watch is no longer connecting properly to the Connect app. The watch has a ‘chariot’ watch face.

Although Bluetooth is switched on, there is no connection; however, when I go into the watch app and select ‘System -> Phone -> Status’, the connection is established, but as soon as I return to the watch face, the connection is lost.

I have tried switching off the watch and the phone, disabling Bluetooth, removing the watch from the app, and reinstalling everything, but the result is the same.

Does anyone have any ideas or have they had the same problem?

Thanks

RE: Connection phone and Fenix 6 S

Garmin - LF — Wed, 21 Oct 2026 21:22:34 GMT

Hello 1743072 For the phone connection concern, I would recommend trying these steps:

It is recommended to only connect the watch with a single smart device. So if you have this paired with 2 phones, I would recommend to remove pairing entirely from one of them.
If this continues, I would recommend completing a reset with these steps:

Ensure the watch is powered off.
- You may need to hold LIGHTfor up to 30 seconds to turn the watch off.
Press and hold BACK and START/STOP.
Press LIGHT to power the watch on while holding these two buttons.
After the first beep release START/STOP.
After the second beep release the remaining button.

If this continues, you will want to reach out to Garmin Product Support.

RE: Broken skin from whrist strap

gaijin — Wed, 21 Oct 2026 15:35:57 GMT

^^^^^

This post by 1795048 is spam, most likely generated by a bot, and shilling for an allergy clinic in India.

HTH

Broken skin from whrist strap

Former Member — Mon, 06 Apr 2020 17:28:03 GMT

Anyone else having this? Strap not too tight and i wash it often. Allergy or something?

Training effect changes when I download HR data when using only the chest strap HRM with optical HR is turned off.

DenHaese64 — Fri, 07 Jun 2024 18:04:06 GMT

During an activity I turn off the optical heartrate monitor and capture the heartrate with a chest strap heartrate monitor (Garmin HRM). The training effect is captured after the activity , but changes when I download HR. Why, does the training effect data change? Should it not be the same?

RE: Training effect changes when I download HR data when using only the chest strap HRM with optical HR is turned off.

RinseRepeat — Wed, 21 Oct 2026 12:21:34 GMT

ah that is helpful feedback

so it's independent of the HRM device

my guess is that Garmin simply has copied the download code from model to model and it must be some kind of legacy code that they have not bug fixed for ages

basically the realtime HR/HRV data from the HRM device is not matched/synced or does not use the same re-calculation method on the post-downloaded analysis

it's either a FirstBeat bug, or the HRM-PRO/600 is not capable of exactly marking the start of an activity so the download incorrectly includes warmup and other HR data before the activity started

basically the time window is out of sync for the analysis

it's so stupid this bug exists, the realtime vs download data should be exactly the same

RE: Training effect changes when I download HR data when using only the chest strap HRM with optical HR is turned off.

3533194 — Tue, 20 Oct 2026 19:10:43 GMT

I am still seeing this same behaviour on an Instinct 2, with up to date firmware, and a HRM-600. It does not look to be limited to Fenix series devices.

RE: THAI font for APAC Fenix 5x plus

trux — Tue, 20 Oct 2026 16:15:58 GMT

Unfortunately, with Fenix 5 you have no chance to install additional unsupported languages or fonts, so if Thai is not supported by your model, it can't be added.

THAI font for APAC Fenix 5x plus

6001391 — Tue, 20 Oct 2026 08:54:52 GMT

when stay at taiwan i don't care but here in thailand i just take my old fenix apac and they not show me thai language and thai charecters .
Firmware 17.20
where to find thai language, or just fonts

RE: Solar charging stopped working

TCB — Mon, 19 Oct 2026 13:39:24 GMT

I’m considering switching to the 7X Pro Solar, specifically because of the price, but before I do, I’d like to try and revive the solar charging feature on my 6X. Thanks for the reply.

Solar charging stopped working

TomSawyer68 — Tue, 14 Jul 2020 14:59:00 GMT

my solar charging is not working anymore since one week on my fenix 6x pro solar.

is it a hardware failure ?

i did two hard reset, still not working.

All days are sunny days. Last time it worked was on July 6.

RE: Solar charging stopped working

HAngelOFF — Mon, 19 Oct 2026 13:29:54 GMT

Hi, the solar charger did work for awhile , but later on it turned out that the heart rate sensor stopped working after disconnecting and connecting it's cable... so actually the watch functionality went down alot ! This was the first time that such a malfunction has accured to me just by connecting and disconnecting a cable... So pick your poison. I'm now using a 7x pro solar which has its own problems, but newer models don't bring nothing substantial, but they 're THICCC (for the mips that is)

RE: Solar charging stopped working

TCB — Mon, 19 Oct 2026 13:04:46 GMT

Considering doing the same, did it continue to function normally after a while?

RE: Update 28.02

1574443 — Fri, 16 Oct 2026 00:30:30 GMT

Hi, my Garmin Fenix 6 Sapphire updated to version 28.02 and it’s freezing up terribly—please help!

Update 28.02

ihor kusiumov — Sun, 30 Mar 2025 16:25:22 GMT

Today the update 28.02 started to install itself, but the watch just hung on the update screen and nothing can be done with it, it only responds to the power button. It is impossible to do a hardreset, because the watch just starts to install the update, but when it reaches halfway, the update hangs. Garmin Express and WebUpdater define the watch as Fenix 6X Pro V03.10. Is it possible to somehow revive the watch, because before your update it worked perfectly?

RE: fēnix 6 Sapphire – GPS never gets a fix, GPS Test value keeps cycling back to 0

Garmin - LF — Thu, 15 Oct 2026 23:05:25 GMT

Hello 9554994 Based on what you have already tried, I would recommend completing a factory reset with these steps:

Ensure the watch is powered off.
- You may need to hold LIGHTfor up to 30 seconds to turn the watch off.
Press and hold BACK and START/STOP.
Press LIGHT to power the watch on while holding these two buttons.
After the first beep release START/STOP.
After the second beep release the remaining button.

Then once this is reset, try syncing with Garmin Express again.

fēnix 6 Sapphire – GPS never gets a fix, GPS Test value keeps cycling back to 0

9554994 — Thu, 08 Oct 2026 16:55:04 GMT

Hi everyone,

My fēnix 6 Sapphire has stopped getting a GPS fix. In the diagnostic menu (GPS Test), the value starts at --.- and then shows numbers like 38, 28, 17, 9, 0, then climbs to around 8–14 and drops back to 0, over and over. It never stabilises or gets a position.

What I've tried so far:
- Garmin Express says everything is up to date (GPS firmware version 6.60)
- Deleted CPE.bin from GARMIN/RemoteSW and resynced with Express
- Hard reset (holding the light button ~20 s)
- Tested outdoors for 15–20 minutes, GPS only (GLONASS/Galileo off) [adjust if you haven't done this yet]

One thing I noticed: there's a gup4197.gcd file sitting in GARMIN/RemoteSW. Could this be a pending update that keeps failing to install?

The watch hasn't had any repairs. [Add: any knocks/drops, and whether the issue started suddenly or after an update]

Photos of the GPS Test screen attached. Has anyone seen this behaviour before? Is it a known firmware issue, or does it point to a hardware failure (GPS chip/antenna)?

Thanks!

RE: Connection phone and Fenix 6 S

1743072 — Thu, 15 Oct 2026 18:22:44 GMT

Hi, again,

Connection is on just only after an activity. Just a short connection , before and after it 's impossible to have a connection.

RE: No longer possible to join the Beta program for Fenix 6/6x users?

Garmin - LF — Thu, 15 Oct 2026 15:56:03 GMT

Hello. This should now be correct. So if you are still having trouble signing up for the Beta program, try these steps:

Ensure the phone's OS is up to date.
Ensure your Connect app is up to date.
Remove the watch pairing from the Connect app.
Remove the watch from Connect.
Remove the watch from the phone's Bluetooth menu.
Powercycle the watch and phone.
Pair the watch with the phone again.
Try Enrolling in the Beta program.

Please let us know, if you are still experiencing trouble with this.

No longer possible to join the Beta program for Fenix 6/6x users?

kukubau — Fri, 02 Oct 2026 18:12:11 GMT

In the Beta forum it was posted the other day

"Hello Fēnix 6 and MARQ customers,

We have our next Public Beta version now available for your watches!

This update is available via 'Check For Updates' on your watch. You can download this update via Wifi on your watch, go to Menu -> System -> Software "

This is impossible to do as there is no Join Beta link in garmin connect. I am on latest 28.02. The 29.02 will not be offered otherwise OTA or through garmin express.

Someone from Garmin replied to other posts stating that joining the Beta program is no longer possible for Fenix 6/6x users. Is this true?

Cheers