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A plethora of questions about my new watch

Mitch Peplow
over 3 years ago

Hi all,

This is my first Garmin watch or any smart watch for that matter which I bought it to replace an old Casio Solar G-Shock.

I absolutely love the watch and having spent a couple of days going through the plethora of options and activities I have a ‘few’ questions around the settings and operation etc.

There’s quite a few, so I’ve grouped them into suitable categories. Hopefully you guys can either resolve or shed some light on them.

Any help would much appreciated! Here we go . . . .

Watch face and display

  1. I’d like the date to read two ways on the display, dd/mm as actual numbers, so say 01/12 and DDD/dd/MMM, so say WED 01 DEC. Is this possible? In the ring on the face, I can get, for example WED 1 or DEC 1 which isn’t good enough. On the bottom of the face, I have managed to get, for todays date as example, WED 1 1 DEC. You can’t seem to get the date either as full numerical or with the numerical day sat between the weekday and the month? The setup I have does work as I know the numbers are separate, but it’s very annoying that it doesn’t appear to be as customizable as I was led to believe.

  2. Can you get the face to continuously display the battery percentage rather than just the icon? Currently to get the percentage you must hold down menu then it toggles between the battery icon and the actual percentage. I’d rather have percentage than the number of days left as it’s easier to understand battery drain in my opinion, plus I like to see it as a numerical value.

  3. Can you customise what’s displayed on the widgets like you can the watch face? So, say on the Event widget, it shows WED 1 in the ring, can you modify this to show say DEC 1?

Battery and power

  1. You can make the watch automatically go to battery save mode when you enter the sleep window, however can you make the watch fully shut down instead of just going to battery save mode?

  2. The watch by default has two Power Modes which I can change the settings of. When/how do these modes get selected/initiated and how does this differ from battery save mode?

 Sounds and Alerts

  1. Is it possible to make the watch sound/chine on the hour rather than have it as an alert that display on the screen and vibrates?

  2. When I set the hourly alert to on, come out the menu then go back in, sometimes it says the option is off even though it does alert every hour. Why?

Controls and operation

  1. Why don’t my shortcuts seem to work? They are all set as default, i.e. ABC+GPS = shutdown and SET+CTRL = shutdown, however when I press these either together or one after the other, the watch doesn’t shutdown.

  2. When you use the controls, it seems to remember the last one used rather than reverting to the first in the list. Is this correct or is it time-based or can you select the desired operation?

  3. I get alerts when I’ve reached a goal, however is it possible to disable these alerts rather than having to edit the number and setting it sufficiently high that I’ll never reach it? Seems silly if you can just delete the goal or turn it off.

 App and website

  1. Can you get the watch serial number from connect app? You can get the device ID if you keep your finger held down on the image, but this isn’t the serial. You can get the serial from the back of the watch, via the watch software, via the online account if registered but seemingly not via the connect app?

  2. The watch can calculate my calories burn for the day, but you can add this to the app or online dashboard without having the MyFitnessPal app. Why is this when clearly the watch is capable without? I’ve signed up and linked but it seems pointless when all I want is calories burnt as a value on the app.

  3. Can you change the device alias via the connect app? You can online when you login, but seemingly not via the app or the watch itself.

  4. If I save a GPS location to the watch, can I modify the name via the app or must it be done via the watch? Typing on the phone keyboard would be much quicker and easier than cycling through the phone alphabet letter by letter.

  5. The app and website stated my watch software was up to date (v9.4), yet when I went to the watch settings and checked update, v16.00 was sat there ready for install! Why was this and where can I find more info as to what the update includes?

  6.  Can you upload the settings from one watch to another, just like you can for the Apple iWatch and other smart watches?

Thanks in advance,

Mitch

Top Replies

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  • 0 over 3 years ago

    Congrats on your new watch.  I'll take a stab at some of your questions.

    Mitch Peplow said:

    Watch face and display

    1. I’d like the date to read two ways on the display, dd/mm as actual numbers, so say 01/12 and DDD/dd/MMM, so say WED 01 DEC. Is this possible? In the ring on the face, I can get, for example WED 1 or DEC 1 which isn’t good enough. On the bottom of the face, I have managed to get, for todays date as example, WED 1 1 DEC. You can’t seem to get the date either as full numerical or with the numerical day sat between the weekday and the month? The setup I have does work as I know the numbers are separate, but it’s very annoying that it doesn’t appear to be as customizable as I was led to believe.

    2. Can you get the face to continuously display the battery percentage rather than just the icon? Currently to get the percentage you must hold down menu then it toggles between the battery icon and the actual percentage. I’d rather have percentage than the number of days left as it’s easier to understand battery drain in my opinion, plus I like to see it as a numerical value.

    3. Can you customise what’s displayed on the widgets like you can the watch face? So, say on the Event widget, it shows WED 1 in the ring, can you modify this to show say DEC 1?
    1. You're stuck with what's in the watch
    2. Nope
    3. Nope
    Mitch Peplow said:

    Battery and power

    1. You can make the watch automatically go to battery save mode when you enter the sleep window, however can you make the watch fully shut down instead of just going to battery save mode?

    2. The watch by default has two Power Modes which I can change the settings of. When/how do these modes get selected/initiated and how does this differ from battery save mode?
    1. Don't think so
    2. The power modes can be assigned to an activity.  Within each activity's settings, you can select a power mode.  You can also create your own power modes to suit your tastes.
    Mitch Peplow said:

     Sounds and Alerts

    1. Is it possible to make the watch sound/chine on the hour rather than have it as an alert that display on the screen and vibrates?

    2. When I set the hourly alert to on, come out the menu then go back in, sometimes it says the option is off even though it does alert every hour. Why?
    1. Don't think so
    2. I have never seen this behavior.  I'm running v16.41beta
    Mitch Peplow said:

    Controls and operation

    1. Why don’t my shortcuts seem to work? They are all set as default, i.e. ABC+GPS = shutdown and SET+CTRL = shutdown, however when I press these either together or one after the other, the watch doesn’t shutdown.

    2. When you use the controls, it seems to remember the last one used rather than reverting to the first in the list. Is this correct or is it time-based or can you select the desired operation?

    3. I get alerts when I’ve reached a goal, however is it possible to disable these alerts rather than having to edit the number and setting it sufficiently high that I’ll never reach it? Seems silly if you can just delete the goal or turn it off.
    1. I have already changed my Hot Key settings to my preferences.  I don't recall a shutdown option.  I did go back and try to set one of my Hot Keys to shutdown, but shutdown wasn't one of the options.
    2. That's how it works.  Remembers the last control.
    3. You can turn your goals alerts off in the Settings/Activity Tracking/Goal Alerts menu
    Mitch Peplow said:

    App and website

    1. Can you get the watch serial number from connect app? You can get the device ID if you keep your finger held down on the image, but this isn’t the serial. You can get the serial from the back of the watch, via the watch software, via the online account if registered but seemingly not via the connect app?

    2. The watch can calculate my calories burn for the day, but you can add this to the app or online dashboard without having the MyFitnessPal app. Why is this when clearly the watch is capable without? I’ve signed up and linked but it seems pointless when all I want is calories burnt as a value on the app.

    3. Can you change the device alias via the connect app? You can online when you login, but seemingly not via the app or the watch itself.

    4. If I save a GPS location to the watch, can I modify the name via the app or must it be done via the watch? Typing on the phone keyboard would be much quicker and easier than cycling through the phone alphabet letter by letter.

    5. The app and website stated my watch software was up to date (v9.4), yet when I went to the watch settings and checked update, v16.00 was sat there ready for install! Why was this and where can I find more info as to what the update includes?

    6.  Can you upload the settings from one watch to another, just like you can for the Apple iWatch and other smart watches?
    1. You can see the S/N on Garmin Connect Web.  Select the device under the "watch" icon in the upper right of the screen
    2. Don't know, don't use this feature
    3. On the Connect Web.  In the same section as I mention in answer 1.  There is a little pencil next to the watch name.  Use that to edit it's name
    4. You can edit location name via the watch as you describe or through the Garmin Explore (app/web) or with Basecamp (PC/Mac).  But not through Garmin Connect.
    5. I leave my settings to auto update.  The latest updates are usually pinned to the top of this forum.  You'll see an update list there.
    6. Sort of if you are comfortable connecting your watch to a computer and manually moving around the .fit files from one to another.  You can look up how to backup a watch on the Garmin support pages to see what I'm talking about.
  • +1 over 3 years ago

    Please also refer to the Instinct Solar Support Center, which has hundreds of articles to help you with your new watch. Along with the manual.

    - Instinct Solar Support Center

    - Instinct Solar Manual

    If you need further assistance, you also have phone support and chat support for Outdoor Product Support in your region during normal business hours. Email Support is available 24x7 too but will be slower.

  • 0 over 3 years ago
    Mitch Peplow said:

    Watch face and display

    1. I’d like the date to read two ways on the display, dd/mm as actual numbers, so say 01/12 and DDD/dd/MMM, so say WED 01 DEC. Is this possible? In the ring on the face, I can get, for example WED 1 or DEC 1 which isn’t good enough. On the bottom of the face, I have managed to get, for todays date as example, WED 1 1 DEC. You can’t seem to get the date either as full numerical or with the numerical day sat between the weekday and the month? The setup I have does work as I know the numbers are separate, but it’s very annoying that it doesn’t appear to be as customizable as I was led to believe.

    I like your idea of joining "WED 1" and "1 DEC" on the bottom of the watch face to "WED 1 DEC". Unfortunately this is impossible so far, but hopefully it will be an option in a future update like it is already possible for sunrise and sunset at the same place.

  • 0 over 3 years ago
    Mitch Peplow said:
     Can you upload the settings from one watch to another, just like you can for the Apple iWatch and other smart watches?

    You can also enable Move IQ in Settings -> Activity Tracking -> Move IQ TrueUp in MENU -> History -> Options. Then, synchronization not only uploads the steps, the activities and whatnot to the cloud, but also keeps both watches in sync. And, of course, you don't need to keep them connected at the same time, just allow each to sync from time to time and the magic will happen.

    Now, I have used two watches at the same time for 2 days only, so I have not noticed if they synchronize anything else but steps and activities, but I suppose they do.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to Dan.Boilermaker

    Many thanks for your quick response and all the information D_Estes, much appreciated and this has helped me a lot. More questions/comments following your reply:

    1. Do you know if any of the other Garmin watches, say the Fenix 6 Solar allow for more customisation of the face and other settings or do they all follow the same pattern regardless of model, it’s just what extra features are included?

    2. Power modes, cheers for that, makes sense now.

    3. Shame about the hour chime not being available. Also, why is it that when the alert pops up, it just says ‘a’ or ‘p’ after the time, not ‘am’ or ‘pm’? Is this a bug?

    4. So in terms of update, this should be an automated thing right, so when I sync the update gets pushed? So why did the watch have the update ready but the app said it was already up-to-date at v9.4? Can you install Beta version from the app and how do you know what bugs/features have been squashed/added per release?

    5. My hotkeys as per my original post are all set to the ‘Off’ option which I assume is watch power-off?

    6. If deep in the menus, is there a quick way to get back to the main time/watch face?

    7. Serial number and name change wise, I’d already seen this on the web but I was wondering if this can be done via the app?

    8. Annoying I need the Garmin Explore app to change names, to me all functionality should be in one app however I will download it as I might change my mind once I’ve fiddled around!

    9. So no simple ‘save config file’ you can save either locally or to the cloud, you have to mess around with .fit files? Unless it’s simply copy and paste from folders once connected to PC/Mac?

    Cheers

    Mitch

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to arminamstad
    arminamstad said:
    I like your idea of joining "WED 1" and "1 DEC" on the bottom of the watch face to "WED 1 DEC". Unfortunately this is impossible so far, but hopefully it will be an option in a future update like it is already possible for sunrise and sunset at the same place.

    Hi arminamstad,

    Yeah I think it would be an excellent modification. I've asked this in Q1 of my response to D_Estes, but do you know if any of the other Garmin watch models like the Fenix 6 Solar allow for more customisation of the face such as what I'm trying to achieve?

    Is there a feedback form available where suggestions like this can be posted?

    What about WiFi connectivity so alerts and notifications could be pushed over the air when out of range of the phone bluetooth? Do you think this would be beneficial and/or is it implemented on other models already?

    It's good to know that updates are possible though with future releases from what you've said. Nothing worse than buying tech and it being locked down and obsolete within 6-months!

    Cheers

    Mitch

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to sspanak
    sspanak said:

    You can also enable Move IQ in Settings -> Activity Tracking -> Move IQ. Then, synchronization not only uploads the steps, the activities and whatnot to the cloud, but also keeps both watches in sync. And, of course, you don't need to keep them connected at the same time, just allow each to sync from time to time and the magic will happen.

    Now, I have used two watches at the same time for 2 days only, so I have not noticed if they synchronize anything else but steps and activities, but I suppose they do.

    Hi sspanak,

    So I've got Move IQ on already, are you saying if I purchased another watch I could sync the activities and the entire profile/user settings as well or would I need to move the .fit files around as D_Estes stated?

    Cheers

    Mitch

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to Mitch Peplow
    Mitch Peplow said:
    Do you know if any of the other Garmin watches, say the Fenix 6 Solar allow for more customisation of the face and other settings or do they all follow the same pattern regardless of model, it’s just what extra features are included?

    The fenix series opens the door to all sorts of customization through the Garmin Connect IQ store; watch faces, apps, data fields.  The Instinct line does not support Connect IQ so you are limited to what is built into the watch.

    Mitch Peplow said:
    Shame about the hour chime not being available. Also, why is it that when the alert pops up, it just says ‘a’ or ‘p’ after the time, not ‘am’ or ‘pm’? Is this a bug?

    Don't know.  I use military time :)

    Mitch Peplow said:
    So in terms of update, this should be an automated thing right, so when I sync the update gets pushed? So why did the watch have the update ready but the app said it was already up-to-date at v9.4? Can you install Beta version from the app and how do you know what bugs/features have been squashed/added per release?

    Don't know the answer to your first question.  The beta versions are manually installed.  Any available beta version will be pinned to the top of this forum.  16.41b is the currently available beta version.  Follow the link and there is a list of updates and instructions to install.

    Mitch Peplow said:
    My hotkeys as per my original post are all set to the ‘Off’ option which I assume is watch power-off?

    "Off" means there is no action assigned to the Hot Key, not turn the watch off.

    Mitch Peplow said:
    If deep in the menus, is there a quick way to get back to the main time/watch face?

    I'm not aware of a way to shortcut back to the watch face from within the settings menus.

    Mitch Peplow said:
    So no simple ‘save config file’ you can save either locally or to the cloud, you have to mess around with .fit files? Unless it’s simply copy and paste from folders once connected to PC/Mac?

    I have not found an automated way to do this besides manually moving files from one watch to another.  As sspanak mentioned, Garmin Connect will sync your activity and physical tracking data from multiple devices.

    Mitch Peplow said:
    Serial number and name change wise, I’d already seen this on the web but I was wondering if this can be done via the app?

    I don't think so.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to Dan.Boilermaker

    Cheers for the additional info D_Estes, really do appreciate it.

    I'll certainly check out the IQ store/app (is it an app?). If I can get the date format as I want, I might be upgrading the watch sooner than planned . . . . Grinning

    Just on the goal alerts, found it in settings thanks to your help, however this applies to all the alerts and it doesn't appear as though you can turn each goal alert on/off, it's a blanket setting.

    Also on the hotkey, this make sense now you've said 'Off' means do nothing, I just expected it to say 'None'. My bad!