ANT+ connection to Fenix 5XP

WD over 6 years ago

So, with all of the latest official firmwares installed on both devices, I'm still experiencing ANT+ dropouts between the two devices when

- Tracking an activity like a hike on the 5XP
- Tracking enabled on the Mini

These had seemed to improve in the previous firmware, but it was so bad in the latest firmware that I just had to completely disable ANT+ on the Mini all together.

What happens is the 5XP says its constantly searching, then the Mini widget screen will show tracking data, then it flips back to searching.

The mini on my left backpack strap about 18-24 inches from my left wrist, where the 5XP is. Nothing in between.

If I disable the activity tracking on the 5XP things improve to a normal operation. Its like the MINI/5XP or both are not powerful enough to handle all the tasks simultaneously(underpowered).

I was curious if anyone else was running those two devices together as well.

0 twolpert over 5 years ago

Have not tested this recently. As you state, it started off with a lot of problems, then did improve markedly. I am a release behind on the mini F/W, so I can't test definitively at the moment. Adding it to my list.

0 WD over 5 years ago

I turned off ANT+ and its worked fine that way. But I bought the two devices to work as a pair. Not had a lot of success with then connecting consistent across the updates. Would love to hear what you see.

0 twolpert over 5 years ago

Finally got around to some testing this weekend. Used my moderately challenging configuration - watch on my left wrist, iR in a cyclist's fanny pack (rearmost pocket) between two full water bottles. Independently tracking on the iR while running a GPS-assisted activity (hiking) on the watch.

I saw a LOT of "searching for inReach" messages. Both when I first opened the iR widget from the control wheel on the watch and while poking around within the widget. Sometimes even while just sitting on the tracking info screen in the widget. OTOH, I did not see any of the full-screen "be sure the inReach is in range" messages, nor did I get the vibrating alert that goes with them. As far as I could tell without removing the iR from the fanny pack, the tracking info in the watch widget was correct. The number of "searching for inReach" messages was much higher than I remember form the last such test I ran.

I also had some really weird problems sending preset messages from the watch. All the sends were ultimately successful. One of the messages was sent 3 times, which is irritating but not a new symptom. Message send status on the watch AND on the iR was incorrect, leading me to believe that one of the messages was never sent at all. Even though I received it 3 times on my phone.

On the plus side, I did not see any device lockups. Messages were sent relatively promptly (as opposed to being delayed until ending the GPS activity on the watch). Saw both of those with earlier f/w releases.

Bottom line is that I think it's a small step backwards but not catastrophic. However, I do think that the message status problem is kind of serious since the message appeared to remain unsent...

0 P_W_P over 5 years ago

Thanks for sharing your experience, twolpert.

That scenario sounds more than moderately challenging to me. 2.4 GHz radio signals don't penetrate water very well at all, and this configuration pretty much surrounded the InReach with water (either in your body or in bottles.) I'm surprised that communication with the watch worked as well as it did.

Out of curiosity... what's your most challenging scenario?

-- Pete

0 twolpert over 5 years ago

I agree about the water and ANT+ signal.

This is pretty much the worst-case real-world scenario that I ever consider. I called it "moderately challenging" because that's the way I think of it - not because I have a worse case in mind. The real issue here is that the latest f/w release appears to be a small step backward. With somewhat earlier f/w, I got much better results with this exact scenario than what I saw this weekend. In particular, with earlier f/w, I saw "searching for inReach" much less frequently than with the current f/w. I strongly suspect that the searching message indicates a break in connectivity, which may well be responsible for the strange message behavior.

Of course, it's also possible that this is a one-off situation which I can't repeat. Sample size of one is never entirely reliable. Also possible that the difference in f/w is in how it reports problems, not in how many problems it has...

Unfortunately, I did not have time to try my "ideal" scenario - watch on the left wrist, iR in my left hip pocket or left jacket pocket. That works much better with ANT+ connectivity, although you do have to be careful to allow the iR Mini to acquire a fix before burying it in your pocket. Sky exposure is much better for the Mini in the fanny pack than in a hip pocket.