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Need help with many key issues with Fenix 6 Pro

Former Member
Former Member over 5 years ago

I'm a recent retired tech exec from Silicon Valley.  I wanted to get the Fenix6 so that I don't need to wear chest strap while biking outside or in the gym, and be able to keep track with all of my gym activities without needing a cell phone and using multiple different apps while most of those don't even talk to each other or to Garmin Connect.  I used to wear Fitbit HR device and found it to be so inaccurate, particularly when it comes to activities like BodyPump.  For biking outdoors, I have Edge 520 and Polar strap as well as Garmin basic strap (which I hate due to the plastic).  For indoor, I use Precor AMT elliptical machine, Concept2 rowing machine, Life Fitness treadmill, Life Fitness weight machines, ICG IC7 spin bike, and attend BodyPump classes.

I have compared the HR of Fenix6 versus both straps, and found them to match each other quite well, shockingly even for BodyPump it was good, with average HR are almost always identical, the peak HR are also very close.  The Fenix6 lags behind slightly in both direction, but for all practical purposes, this is great news for HR Wrist base device.

Now the questions:

1) Calories count - it's always lower whether it's compared to Precor AMT (33%), Concept2 (15%), ICG IC7 (10%), Edge520 (15%), LF treadmill - this one is weird, 2 measurements, the one with higher HR and steep incline, almost identical calories, the one with lower incline and lower HR, both distance and calories are way off, so need more experiments.  I was very careful making sure all personal data are correct in all machines, and these collected over multiple sessions. After HR, calorie burned is the most important data for me to collect, I based heavily on this to know when to eat again between exercises, and also to not over eat or under eat.  I need to know why it's lower, or why it's correct and other machines are not.  I tend to believe the other machines data because they have all the information, while Fenix6 does not.

2) Ant+ - although Garmin website says it supports LF, it doesn't (I tried multiple LF treadmills and ellipticals).  I managed to get Concept2 to take HR from Fenix6.  I got Fenix6 to receive cadence and power from IC7, but couldn't get Fenix6 HR to IC7 (but Polar chest strap is OK).  I couldn't get Fenix6 HR to Precor AMT (although it took the Polar chest strap without issue).  I was able to get Fenix6 to broadcast HR to Edge 520.  Are there any plans to work with these companies so Fenix6 HR will work with all these machines?  Without this Fenix6 working with these machines, my hope of getting rid of the strap is not possible. 

3) Max heart rate - how do I supposed to set this?  I know my max is well above 220-age, some times I can peak at almost 220, but what do I supposed to set here, and this number seems to affect many other items, including calories count, load, etc...

4) VO2max - this is actually very good, I got my FTP from IC7 and converted to VO2max, and I have been hovering right at that point and added a couple more points on extreme sessions.

5) Reps count - this is completely useless.  I can understand it's not useful for BodyPump where there are many movements for same category of movements, but it is also useless when I did repetitive motion on the LF weight machines (12 different machines).  What I don't understand is why even for squat, it's 5+ minutes of repetition of the same movement, albeit at different rates of up and down based on music, the count is way off.  Can Garmin create an activity called BodyPump so that I at least can enter the weight I used for each exercise (there are 10 same sets every time, just different pace rhythm depending on the songs).  I am not sure how weights used would affect calories count or not at all?  Having said that, the calories count I have been getting is within the range of Les MiIls projected for male, but it's a wide range.  The HR is lagging behind straps a little bit, but at least it didn't think that I was asleep like the Fitbit did after the ridiculous incredibly hard back routines with a bunch of clean and presses and power presses consecutively at high pace.

6) Navigation - another the reason I wanted to get the Fenix6 Pro, is to be able to navigate while walking on the streets, as I have spent many nights in different cities walking with frozen hands to navigate with cell phone, so I hope with this watch, I can actually walk with navigation and with gloves on.  Unfortunately, the map data is way outdated, POI that have closed down for a couple of years still show up (if I walk half mile to reach some place that is closed for good, it would be very upsetting).  Even with spelling POI, they don't work well if you don't remember the exact spelling.  There is no way to get rid of the phone other than when you're in a pinch, just needed anything and willing to accept any destination in a foreign county, it may help but very limited.  These are actually the same problems I had encountered with my other fancy Garmin for automobile navigation, I eventually dumped it in favor of the cell phone.

7) Music - Spotify works great, drains battery like crazy but it's OK since the spec said so.  However, connection with blue tooth ear buds is horrible when walking out on the streets, but OK while in the gym on elliptical or treadmill.  Why?  I would assume that running would be even worst, correct?  Are there recommended earbuds that would work well with Fenix6?

8) Temperature - I understand that body heat affects the temperature read out, but what is this temperature is supposed to tell me?  The case temperature? The temperature to calculate hydration?  All I know is it's drastically different than the Edge520 and the gym's thermostats.  How do I supposed to interpret this?  Can I truly rely on the hydration estimation if the temperature appeared to be so off?

9) Is there a way for Garmin Connect to collect Fitbit Aria2 scale data? I just got this Aria2 a few months ago, really don't want to get rid of it for a Garmin scale.  This industry non-interoperability is just driving me nuts.

10) Pulse Ox - during the day is pretty accurate, but I am more interested in during sleep to see if I have sleep apnea, but the data is not correct depending on my sleep position and how my arm is contorted, folded, or whether I lay on top of it or not.  So not a real solution.  Don't know about the altitude adjustment yet, have to wait until skiing season.

So after a month, I can't get rid of chest strap, can't consolidate all exercise data into one platform, whether Fitbit, Strava or Garmin Connect, or anything else if anyone can suggest, can't get correct calories burned data, can't truly get rid of cell phone for navigation walking in foreign cities, don't need this for biking since I already have Edge520, can't truly listen to music walking on the streets, I don't hike, so why do I need this expensive watch?  

I would appreciate any expert users here or Garmin experts to give me any comments/suggestions to any of the above topics.

  • 0 over 5 years ago

    3) Set it to whatever makes sense for you. I just did a few "all out" runs with mine, to get a good idea of what my max is, and it was pretty straight-forward for me. I always seem to max out around 190-194. So I set my max HR at 192. Or, if you're asking HOW to set your max HR manually, use the Connect mobile app, click the watch icon at the top, scroll down to "User Settings", select "Heartrate Zones", and enter your Max HR in the box at the bottom. Alternatively, you can just let the watch determine your max HR automatically, if you don't care that it might be off by a few BPM.

    6) You might try using one of the several different Connect IQ apps for navigation. I haven't tried them myself, but I've heard good things. Basically, you would use your phone to enter the destination (in Google maps or whatever), and then the turn-by-turn directions get sent to, and displayed on your watch. The problem with any offline GPS device is that the maps are always going to be outdated to some extent. You can also check for more recent map updates use Garmin Express on your computer.

    8) It's the internal temperature inside the watch casing, and yes it's almost completely useless for most things. Exceptions are: It's good for showing water temp during swimming, and it's good for showing ambient temp if you take the watch off and leave it alone for a while. However, the best reason to have a temperature datafield in your activities is that you can pair a Tempe external thermometer to your watch, and get accurate ambient temperatures without needing to take off your watch. When you pair a Tempe sensor, the watch automatically stops using it's internal temp sensor, and uses the external (and FAR more accurate) sensor instead. You can pick up a Tempe sensor for like $30 online, and I highly recommend them. I attach one to the bottom of my backpack when I'm hiking, and have found the temperature data to be very reliable and useful.

    10) Yes, it will of course not give good readings if your sleep position causes the sensor to lose good skin contact. Try tightening your band before bedtime. I had good experience with sleep OX when I used it for a few weeks.

    The Fenix line is primarily designed with outdoor adventure sports in mind, like mountain climbing and backpacking, things like that - so it sounds like maybe this isn't the right product for you since you're more interested in smartwatch features and standard urban activities. Most of the things this watch does really, really well, are things you're not ever going to use. I'd check out the Garmin lineup and see if maybe something else is a better fit.

  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 5 years ago in reply to C.sco

    Thank you C.sco.  

    3) I know how to set HR max on the watch or using the App.  I know this number will affect HR zone, and appeared to affect calorie count significantly (not 100% sure, but it seemed that way with the first week of usage).  Would the watch readjust my HR max over time? I wish there is a test that I can take so that it will find out what it really is.

    8) My goal is to minimize gadgets with this watch.  In an ideal world, I can just walk into the gym with this watch and a pair of earphones, so temperature sensor doesn't make sense.  The thermal inside the watch can easily be simulated and can be measured versus case temperature, and the software can easily estimate the ambient temperature if Garmin wants to do it, it's not that difficult.  However, my bigger interest is how this temperature affecting the hydration estimation? Is the hydration number correct?

    10) I tried both tight fitting and loser fitting (more comfortable), the loser fitting kind of messed up the resting HR, but both fitting messed up my Pulse OX depending on the position of my arm while sleeping.  I guessed using the watch for this function is not ideal.

    Yes, I thought about Vivoactive4 before I chose this Fenix6 Pro, mostly because of the bigger battery, and I was hoping that I can use it for navigation while walking on the streets in the cold, and then perhaps useful for up coming skiing season.  However, neither Vivoactive4 nor Fenix6 solve the interoperability with all the gym equipment.  Why is it the Garmin Ant+ not the same as Polar Ant+? At first I thought my watch might be defective, but the fact that it works with Concept2, and works with Edge520, so the transmitting part works.  I can also receive data from Garmin Cadence sensors from my bikes, HR from both chest straps, it can also receive both cadence and power from IC7 spin bikes, but IC7 cannot detect Fenix6 HR.  Is there a setting I'm missing?

  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 5 years ago in reply to Former Member

    While there are a variety of formulas for indicating your general max HR, I prefer the Karvonen method since I have an resting HR of 42, but you can also take a lactic threshold test or a HR stress test at a lab and use that data to get something specific to you.  

    Link to a Karvonen calculator - http://www.briancalkins.com/HeartRate.htm


  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 5 years ago in reply to Former Member

    CC, thanks for the tip about Karvonen method.  However, it somehow does not take my resting heart rate under consideration even though I changed it from 40-100 in increment of 10, it is basically just give me 220-age every time.  I'm trying to avoid to going to a lab to get these data, but thanks anyway.

  • 0 over 5 years ago in reply to Former Member

    You can do the math yourself:

    HRR% = (HRmax - HRrest) x intensity %age + HRrest

    For example, to calculate HR for 60% heart rate reserve (HRR) with a HRmax of 185 and HRrest of 50

    (185 - 50) x 0.60 + 50 = 131

  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 5 years ago in reply to Dr Phil

    Philips, are you suggesting I do the reverse calculation from HRR% to find my HRmax? However, how do I get my HRR% (although I read somewhere that the Fenix6 does have this information), and what is intensity%?