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My Fenix 5X is not recording distance & gets stuck on saving.

Out of the blue my Fenix 5X has stopped recording distance on runs. It still shows time and pace, but distance stays at 0.

At the end of the activity it gets stuck on an endless Saving loop.

I found some older posts that suggested deleting old activities (which I did eventhough I have more than 8GB free memory) I also synchronized with my phone multiple times (which did nothing) and the only thing that gets it unstuck is synchronizing with my computer. But the activities are lost.
Annoyingly distance then recorded for one test activity, but when I went out for a run the same problem was there. I have confirmed that it only records distance once after each computer synchronization.

I'm running 13.10 which should be the latest software update as far as I can tell.

Any solutions? Thanks!

  • I am sorry you are having issues with your Fenix 5X. It is odd to be missing only distance when you are still receiving pace from GPS acquisition. The endless saving loop is the giveaway of the bigger issue. You might be able to get your watch to fully work properly again if you fully reset it.

    Please try the following:

    How to Reset My Garmin Outdoor Watch

  • Thanks Chris! This seems to have resolved the issue. I have done several short tests and it records distance and does not get stuck in a loop!
    I am now getting an error if I try to save and I'm not connected to the internet, but the activities still get saved. Not perfect, but I can live with that.

  • Hi Chris, 
    I have the same issue on my Fenix 5X Plus, I tried to reset, but I still have the same issue: no distance is showing, but I have the map and the speed, and when I try to save, it get stucked and I have to force the power off by holding the Light button. 
    Of course I tried to update the software, go back to the factory settings, but nothing works... 

  • I am sorry the reset did not resolve your issue. When the reset does not clear the cause, it means there are other serious issues within your watch that are not resolved. Please reach out to Outdoor Product Support for further assistance.

  • Hi Chris, 
    You are right... there are other serious issues, and it looks I am not the first one to complain about it: 

    "Garmin is aware of an issue where some users are experiencing the following symptoms:

    • Device does not display distance during an activity
    • Device gets stuck or frozen on the “Saving” or "Discarding" screen after completing an activity.

    This issue is related to our recent outage and occurs when the watch has not completed a successful sync recently."

    https://support.garmin.com/en-GB/?faq=9v3LMbxI8V8WeNH8T9V9x8 


    Looks like you are aware about the issue. Of course I followed the recommendations how to solve the issue, did a hard reset, did all the updates, but it didn't work.
    I would highly appreciate if you could find a way to help customers like me by solving some of the issues you are aware of.
    Thank you, 

  • I am sorry you are having issues with your watch after resetting it. The article you pointed to in the UK Support Center was added over a year old and only applied for a 3-4 day period that no longer applies. It should have been deleted a long time ago and slipped past us. I have sent feedback on my end to have it removed ASAP.

    Regarding your issue, when the reset does not resolve it, there are no other steps that can be tried. Please reach out to the UK Outdoor Product Support in your region.


    I am locking this thread. If you experience the same situation with your own Fenix series watch, please follow the steps given above. If the issue continues, please reach out to your regional Outdoor Product Support team.