Sleep mode

i do. I programmed the start/stop + down button combo to turn on/off sleep mode - that way I can easily enter/exit sleep mode based on my slightly varialbe sleep patterns.

Thank you. I was actually looking at hot keys earlier to enter/exit sleep mode. I have a schedule that typically covers my sleep start/stop times.  If I go to bed late, it’s not really a problem and the watch still tracks my sleep start time accurately.  It’s more about when I awake early and want to check my sleep metrics but the watch is still in sleep mode. I could also go into the control settings and terminate sleep mode there but I like the hot key idea better. 

Do you happen to know if you woke up an hour earlier for example but didn’t exit sleep mode, would the Epix think you sleep an extra hour or is it still smart enough to determine your wake time?  I’m not certain how much the sleep schedule is influencing the sleep start/stop time. Thanks again. 

From my experience:

- the sleep mode doesn't influence when the watch decides you are asleep or awake. Some say it does/should, but for me, it makes no difference,

- I am not 100% sure that turning the sleep mode manually does force the watch to switch sleep detection from sleeping to awake; I think I remember that I did that and I still had to do the following anyway,

- when I decide to get up, I go to the "sleep" glance and if it says "sleeping", I press the start button to select "end sleep". This is turning the sleep mode off for sure.

- I think the HRV Status glance does the same thing: "sleeping", start, "end sleep" & end sleep mode at once.

Thank you. I think I actually turned it off via the glance this morning. I only did so because I wasn’t certain if the watch would think I was still asleep, even though I was sitting on the couch drinking coffee.  I have gone to bed a couple of hours after sleep mode engaged and it still got my sleep start time correct so I think I tend to agree with you that sleep mode doesn’t influence sleep detection.  

As Etupes25, i end it with the start button and in that way i check the daily suggestion too

Regarding the sleep schedule affecting the sleep recording, i was one of those believing that it helps and Garmin said it too in some posts but, after some in-depth testing, i don't see a lot of difference.
I would say that it helps a bit when you wake up and you stay awake for more than a few minutes(let's say 20-30)...if you are outside of the sleep schedule it's more probable that the watch will terminate the recording instead of continuing it after you fall asleep again(not 100% sure of course but that's the reason why i keep my ending of the schedule pretty late also if i wake up early morning).

My experience has been if I wake up close (can't say exactly what that is, but less than an hour perhaps) to my wake time set in Garmin Connect, manually exiting does end the sleep cycle. If I wake up too early, which sometimes happens, manually ending it does not seem to... I think it is assuming I will go back to sleep, so it keeps tracking (it does track those times more or less correctly as being awake in the sleep cycle).

When I have woke up 2 hours before scheduled sleep end, I have had to go into the sleep widget and tell it I am not sleeping. On the othe hand, I find the morning report (in the current Alpha) does a good job at letting me know what the watch is doing. If i wake early and it prompts me wit morning report, it will have already turned the sleep cycle off. If I wake early and it does not, it is still tracking me as sleeping, or awake during sleep cycle, but if I manually end the sleep cycle, it calculates my total sleep time from when it entered sleep mode (auto or manual) to when I ended it.

When I wake up, go straight to widgets and check sleep/HRV status widget - these will all show as sleeping if the watch still considers you to be sleeping. Press start button and it will give you the option to stop sleeping - at which point it will then finalize your sleep tracking & HRV status.

Tends to take you out of the sleep profile too. though if this is much earlier than the stop time of your sleep profile I have noticed that the watch can sometimes switch that back on again - then I tend to use the control wheel option to switch it off.

I consider sleep mode to actually be a 'night mode'...so the screen stays dark (unless I press a button) and I'm not bothered by screen glare when I move or notifications etc after 10 at night and before 8 in the morning, same as my phone.

I'd like it if screen would stay dark based on offset from sunrise/sunset.

My sleep is tracked just fine whether I go to sleep at 9, 10, 11pm or 1 or 3am or wake at 5, 6, 8, or 10am!

I end the sleep manually either by going through the morning report (it's ready when I wake up close to my sleep cycle setting) or if it's not yet ready I go to the Sleep Glance and there it offers to end my sleep.