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Activity auto start?

Ian J
over 5 years ago

Hey there

I've come over from a Venu and one feature I really liked was that you could set up auto-detect of activity just in case you forgot to press start. You can set it to auto-detect after 5mins of say walking or running.
I can't seem to find this feature on the Fenix unless it's somewhere on the watch itself.

cheers

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    I don't see the point. The Fenix series' target audience is the serious athlete. I have an active lifestyle and cannot imagine that I would start a run (or any other activity) without having checked whether my external heart rate monitor is connected, have good GPS signal and ultimately having started the activity. 

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to aleksiz

    Absolutely agree.

    The typical Fenix user is never going to "forget" to start an activity. The typical Fenix user will find activity data to be virtually useless if the data at the beginning isn't accurate. And the typical Fenix user doesn't want the watch to automatically record an activity every time they walk the dog outside.

    So this feature is pretty pointless on the Fenix, it's a feature better suited towards simple fitness trackers.

    That said, I wouldn't be opposed if Garmin added this feature to the Fenix, as long as the majority of us who don't want it can disable it.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to aleksiz

    You fool yourself if you think that Fenix buyers are only serious athletes. There is not enough of those people in the world to make money for Garmin.

    This watch is used as a statement by a lot of wannabe athletes that they're "serious".

    Regardless... what is the issue of adding functionality that is already implemented by Garmin. You will just disable it...

  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 4 years ago in reply to Ursus

    I maybe speaking out of turn here, but I believe aleksiz means anyone concerned with their metrics and training and the word "serious" might not have been the best choice. But I agree they have a great point.  Anyone concerned with metrics and their training is going to check that their sensors are connected, calibrate their barometer and altitude for correct elevation readings, insure they have a good GPS fix and definitely have the correct activity chosen.  I can't provide evidence, but I believe this is by far the major of Fenix users so the feature would be useless.  Those that want the feature (in my opinion), just want to log an activity and see how many calories they burned.  That's why you find this feature on "lifestyle" watches; as Garmin refers to them, like the Venu or fitness trackers like Fitbit bands. 

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to Former Member
    but I believe this is by far the major of Fenix users so the feature would be useless.

    Even if it is not true (which I agree that it is), certainly the “serious” athletes and outdoors enthusiasts are the target market for the Fenix watches.  Based on a lot of the posts and comments on the threads in this forum over the past year, I believe that a lot of people are buying the Fenix as a lifestyle watch because they have the money and they want “the best” instead of buying a Vivoactive 4 or Venu which would probably be more appropriate for their use case.  Maybe this is an untapped market for Garmin and they should make a Venu Pro that has the rugged looks of a Fenix with the OLED screen but the same feature set as the Venu.

    Anyway, I also agree that the auto start would not be an interesting feature for me but sure, why not include it.  On the my wife’s VA3 it was asked during setup if she wanted it enabled, so the same can be done on the F6 and people like us who would prefer not to have it can disable it.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to Ursus
    Ursus said:

    You fool yourself if you think that Fenix buyers are only serious athletes. There is not enough of those people in the world to make money for Garmin.

    This watch is used as a statement by a lot of wannabe athletes that they're "serious".

    Regardless... what is the issue of adding functionality that is already implemented by Garmin. You will just disable it...

    And that's fine, anyone can buy a Fenix 6 for any reason they want - but people in this thread are seemingly getting VERY upset about the fact that a particular aspect of the Fenix 6 doesn't work the same way as a fitbit.

    If Garmin decides to add this feature to appease the fitbit folks, then that's fine to me as long as I can turn it off. But it's unreasonable to get so upset/angry about the Fenix 6 not acting like a fitbit. Regardless of the fact that all kinds of different people buy Fenix's, it's designed and marketed for people who are very active, want accurate data, and wouldn't ever use that feature. People who want a watch that acts like a fitbit can always just... buy a fitbit.

    It doesn't make sense to buy a product designed for a totally different type of consumer than yourself, and then complain that it doesn't have some feature that a totally different product (a lifestyle band that IS designed for consumer like you, but you opted not to buy for whatever reason) sometimes has.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to C.sco

    It’s not just Fitbit, Garmin’s own range of products have the auto start feature. It does seem odd that it’s not at least an OPTION on the f6.

    As for the accuracy argument, well it appears the Fenix is only really accurate if you start adding a whole array of external sensors to it, the watch itself seems to be a long way from “accurate”.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to Tim_B_
    Tim_B_ said:
    It’s not just Fitbit, Garmin’s own range of products have the auto start feature.

    Maybe you skipped it, but that was already mentioned : 

    you find this feature on "lifestyle" watches; as Garmin refers to them, like the Venu

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to bluefish

    Maybe you skipped it, but I was replying to G.sco who mentioned Fitbit

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to Tim_B_
    Tim_B_ said:
    I was replying to G.sco who mentioned Fitbit
    C.sco said:
    functionality that is already implemented by Garmin.