Garmin Fenix without a smartphone

Sounds interesting. I have 4 questions:

1. How do your all-day (outside of activity) metrics sync to Connect? I know saved activities can sync over wifi, but I don't understand how the all-day metrics would sync to Connect without a bluetooth smartphone/tablet connection.
2. How did you do the intitial watch configuration and setup with Connect, without a smartphone/tablet? I had to do a factory reset in the field one time, and the initial setup of the watch without my smartphone was a complete nightmare, and nothing really worked right until I got home and was able to set it up correctly with my phone. It "sorta" worked, but it wasn't great.
3. ...or are you just using a Tablet for all of this, in lieu of a smartphone? (My son's Garmin watch is set up that way, it's basically the same thing as using a smartphone, since a smartphone is pretty much just a miniature tablet). Or maybe you're running Connect Mobile on a computer using a mobile OS emulator?
4. ....or are you just not using any of the all-day metrics and other Connect functionality?

Edit: After reading your segment about the Fenix in your article, it sounds like my question #4 is the answer - you are not using the watch on Connect at all, and aren't using the watch for all-day health/fitness tracking.

Personally, that wouldn't work for me, as my Fenix is far more than just a mapping and music playback device for me. But it was interesting reading about how you made it work for your own needs.

1) I used the activities and metrics at the beginning, but after Garmin was hacked I stopped using their cloud. The watch was able to sync itself automatically without a smartphone using the wifi (all-day health/fitness included). You can also force manually a sync in the watch settings. Garmin Express (desktop app) also allows you to sync all the metrics to the cloud when plugged in USB.

2) I used somebody else's smartphone, I didn't try to configure it with the desktop app but I think it is also possible. I reset my watch after a year and only configured it manually (without smartphone or desktop app). I didn't had a bad experience with the watch configured manually but I don't use that much the health and sport data.

3) I used Garmin Express for a while to update the maps, but the experience wasn't great. I stopped using it after a switched to Open Street Maps (works a lot better for long gps navigation than the Garmin ones but some POIs are obsolete).

4) At the beginning yes, now I don't to save battery (I don't use the metrics that much). However I looked into open source software that analyzed locally the FIT files from the watch to give the same experience as the Garmin Cloud but with added privacy. Didn't worked that well, but if one day I have time I will put together something.

Have you played much with Basecamp, for map management? Just the other day I bought a Birdseye subscription, and loaded my local areas into the watch, so now I have real satellite imagery on my watch maps, kind of like Google maps can do. It's pretty neat, and once you download the imagery onto your watch, it works totally offline. In fact you can even cancel your subsription and the imagery you've already downloaded on the watch will keep working.

So, to be clear. you still have a Garmin account to sync your activities?

when i had a 735xt and the 920xt i did not had a Garmin account, activities could be donwloaded from the watch itself with the usb cable. Update the EPO file (GPS) could be done by downloading the file yourself.

currently searching this for the Garmin 6. Sony chipset. I don't track heartrate/sleep/steps.

I think he said he does software updates with Garmin Express (desktop software, uses USB). I'm not sure if that requires a Garmin account or not. You can pull activities off the Fenix 6 manually over USB as well, just copy and pasting the .fit files.

I use Linux, jmtpfs for copy fit-files, updates, OSM maps, local sync., GoldenCheetah as analitycs software 

The Gramin.Connect website is only used as an intermediary for synchronizing workouts. 

garmin-backup - Python library and script for sync workout to local computer. 

All Firstbeat features it's per device functions they don't need a website. 

Update the EPO file (GPS) could be done by downloading the file yourself.

Proof URL link to EPO file, please. 

curl -o EPO.BIN -r0-64512 http://epodownload.mediatek.com/EPO.DAT

download via linux only the first 65 kb

Fenix 6 use a Sony GPS chipset, not  MTK3333 

i know, i used this on my 735xt and my 920xt. looking now for the sony chipset