New Fenix 6X Pro - Pace completely off, turn by turn navigation not working

Regarding the pace, I complained about that a long time ago. The problem is much worse when running on a tree covered trail vs. an open terrain

See https://forums.garmin.com/outdoor-recreation/outdoor-recreation/f/fenix-6-series/226504/instant-pace-is-neither-precise-nor-accurate-and-has-bias-towards-slower-than-actual-pace

Regarding the changing screens, that is auto-climb enabled by default. I think that was a pretty stupid idea for Garmin to enable it by default - a lot of people get confused by it. You can disable it.

silentvoyager said:

that is auto-climb enabled by default.

Never realised it was enabled by default. I'll have to check next time I reset as this suggests something might have changed. I've always had to turn on Climb Pro and Auto-climb...unless my aged memory is failing.

alexrobbo said:

But is it not possible to look at the map if I pause my run? The map disappears and I have to resume to see it.

You can also use back button (right-down-button) to get back to data pages when in pause mode w/o resuming. This is unfortunately a timer on this. After unknown time it will take you back to pause mode and you need to hit back again. During the time on data pages you can use all map functions like zooming and panning.

Regarding the pace, I complained about that a long time ago. The problem is much worse when running on a tree covered trail vs. an open terrain

Pace only works with foot pods, there is no other solution

alexrobbo said:

Is it possible to get turn-by-turn navigation to work exactly like the FR735XT?

If I understand what you mean, I would say yes. This is in 'Follow Course' mode.

You can get a count down to the next tbt visible all the time at the bottom of map and you can have a shorted description visible transparent on the map like below attached screenshot.

Settings-> Navigation-> Data Screens-> Map-> Data Field=On
Trail Run Settings-> Data Screens-> Scroll to map-> 'Edit'-> Layout=1 field, Data Fields= Next waypoint

When you get 30-50 m before the tbt, you also get a bigger turn warning notification. I think that what you saw. What I know, you can't turn that off.

Your position on the map and tbt are lagging 10 - 20 m during normal trail running. If you are willing to use other tools outside Garmin ecosystem, you can easily move all tbt for instance 15 m before at time for course downloading.

Regarding navigation, the Fenix6 has two navigation modes. This is selected in the activity settings, under navigation if I recall. The watch defaults to the "Follow course" mode which does not require the watch to compute a pink like and it simply follows the course GPX blindly. In that mode the turn arrows you see are only those embedded in your course if you have any, and those get inserted on the server side by the Connect service when you use the "Send to device" function. The second mode is "Use Map" and I think that is what you are looking for. In that mode the watch will do what the Edge devices are doing, and that is computing a pink route that match as closely as possible the magenta line but based on the actually map data. In that mode you get the "Calculating..." message as the watch computes a map-based route based on the course you provide. When you use that mode the turn prompts are those computed by the watch, not those embedded in the course. So experiment with both modes and see what you prefer. Note that for the "; Use Map" mode to work you need a map database that includes all the trails and roads your course is based on, and that is probably why it is not the default on the watch while it is on the Edge.

That is what Garmin Support is trying everyone to believe. Fenix 6X is my 6th GPS watch. Pace was far more accurate and stable in every one of my previous GPS watches, including some previous models of Garmins (e. g. FR 610), all without using footpod. The best one was Ambit3 with its FusedSpeed technology. But Suunto 9 which uses the same Sony GPS chip as Fenix 6 also has more accurate instant pace. I also asked a friend who owns Coros Apex (also the same Sony GPS chip), and they had no complains about the pace even when running on trails.

Instant pace doesn't come from GPS alone. Modern watches use sensor fusion - combining input from GPS and accelerometer - and Garmin already does that in Fenix series. But I believe Garmin's algorithm is faulty, or perhaps it is tuned to be more accurate at hiking speeds. 

Yes I saw your thread about pace. It seems we are not the only ones complaining:

https://forums.garmin.com/outdoor-recreation/outdoor-recreation/f/fenix-6-series/220076/fenix-6-pro---wrong-distance-calculation-and-pace-is-just-broken

https://forums.garmin.com/outdoor-recreation/outdoor-recreation/f/fenix-6-series/251521/fenix-6-still-showing-pace-off---underreporting-pace-while-exercising

https://forums.garmin.com/outdoor-recreation/outdoor-recreation/f/fenix-6-series/256145/issues-with-pace-being-way-off#pifragment-464=2

https://forums.garmin.com/outdoor-recreation/outdoor-recreation/f/fenix-6-series/220617/accelerometer-pace-and-gps#pifragment-464=4

It beggars belief that a newer device costing considerably more money should deliver worse performance on a key feature, and has apparently done so for some time without it being addressed by Garmin. 

As to your suggestion about auto-climb, that might very well explain it. I think I started a climb when the screen changed.

Thanks for your advice. 

I own FR945, but I guess very similar to F6, the pace is unusable only with GPS. You rightly indicate a synergy with the integrated sensors, but these are on the wrist and not the foot, how do you get exact data without being influenced by the movement of the hand? With the foot pod I also found less battery consumption, perhaps due to fewer calculations with the GPS.