Fenix 6 Series - 20.30 Public Release

Hello Fenix 6 customers,

20.30 is our public release that will be rolled out in phases starting this afternoon. We’ve posted it here for our forum users who wish to install it immediately.

Thank you to our beta testing community for your continued persistence in reporting issues observed with altimeter performance.  We know the issues have been numerous and are grateful for your feedback and continued effort to resolve specific use case problems.  We believe we’ve improved all known bugs with the altimeter performance.  However, we do see feedback on a few issues that mainly pertain to auto-calibrating to a higher value overnight or upon first calibration under certain conditions.  We believe these issues are related to bad calibration points that have occurred across the various beta updates.  If you are experiencing excessive elevation spikes or drops, please follow the guidance below to resolve this issue:

  • If the change occurs overnight, please manually calibrate to your correct elevation directly before you go to bed. (This step is important.  Calibrating in the morning will not resolve the issue)
  • If the change occurs during an activity, please manually calibrate to the correct elevation just before pressing the start button at your given location.

Thank you again to all who’ve helped improve this feature.  We understand the process can be challenging, but certainly value your input.

Please ensure that you are downloading the correct beta software for your specific device.

Instructions for installation are available below the change log on each of the above pages.

20.30 Change Log Notes (if updating from last public release candidate, v20.20):

  • Improved altitude calibration.

20.30 Full Release Change Log (Since v19.20):

  • Added ability to turn off recording an activity during a golf round.
  • Added an alert to notify user when battery is critically low during a music sync.
  • Added HRV Support from chest strap for Yoga and breathwork.
  • Added pop-up to Pulse Ox Measuring feature if the device detects too much movement and cannot get an accurate measurement.
  • Added support for new biking activity profiles: eBike, eMTB, Cyclocross, Gravel Bike, Bike Commute, Bike Tour, and Road Bike.
  • Added support for the HIIT activity profile and workouts.
  • Added support for the Pickleball profile.
  • Added support for the Padel profile.
  • Added support for the snowshoe activity profile.
  • Added support for the tennis activity profile.
  • Added new tips to indicate which activities support Incident detection.
  • Improved Explore Sync app waypoint load times.
  • Improved Lactate Threshold and Altitude Acclimation algorithms.
  • Improved measurement loading UI when taking an SpO2 measurement.
  • Update the altimeter’s auto calibration to be either be “On” or “Nightly”. Setting to “On” will set the device to periodically calibrate altitude throughout the day. Setting to “Nightly” will set the device to calibrate altitude at night and before the start of an activity.
  • Fixed issue with alarms intermittently not going off when the device is set in Max. Battery Mode.
  • Fixed display issues on the device after navigating to a point initiated by the Garmin Explore App.
  • Fixed issue where selecting a single point on a map that contained multiple items would not display the items properly.
  • Fixed issue that would corrupt open water swim activity files.
  • Fixed issue where PacePro bands would not be recognized by the device.
  • Fixed issue with activities reporting incorrect Activity Calories and Training Effect data.

Current beta peripheral software version numbers below. New versions are indicated in red.

GPS: 5.30
Sensor Hub: 11.01
ANT/BLE/BT (Pro models): 6.11
ANT/BLE (non-Pro models): 3.00
Wi-Fi (Pro models only): 2.60

Please note, the beta updates released on these forums are not compatible for APAC region devices.

Please send all bug reports to [email protected], and indicate which model of the Fenix 6 Series you have in the subject line.

We know this post states it is a public release, yet the URL states it's a beta.  This is simply a method of delivery for public beta.  We use the same channel and therefore the 'beta' term follows each of these links.  We only note it is a public release so that you are aware it's the version to go live to the public.  

  • if you don't want nightly calibration you have to manually enter the altitude each night before going to sleep. Otherwise it will calibrate to it's last known location via DEM

    No : 

    The watch calibrates the altimeter once per night during the user's sleep window. A Garmin Connect app connection is required for this feature to work as it uses location data from the phone and compares it to the DEM (Digital Elevation Model) data.

    So not the last known position of the watch, but the current position of the phone.

  • What happens if you switch your watch off each night? I don’t sleep with mine, put it back on in the morning.

  • What happens if you switch your watch off each night?

    Someone from Garmin should explain this.

  • Then switch to nightly and you'll be prompted to perform a calibration before each ctivity

    They say "

    • Update the altimeter’s auto calibration to be either be “On” or “Nightly”. Setting to “On” will set the device to periodically calibrate altitude throughout the day. Setting to “Nightly” will set the device to calibrate altitude at night and before the start of an activity."

      So although it will try, if you have no connection it'll fail but you still have the pre-activity option, or switch to on and have the daily periodic one

      I have my watch in power saving mode in sleep and use the "nightly" option. It works for me as I prefer the prompt before each activity. I'm fortunate in that I don't see any drift but even if I did, the only time altitude is really important is during activities as its not stored anywhere otherwise so a small error outside activities is ok for me as the prompted auto-calibration would show me if there was one and I could correct it before starting the activity.
  • If I'm not wrong Garmin enable the temperature again for Fenix 6 series

    Edit: I searched for the post with the information and it seems that the temperature reading during swimming was indeed removed. 

  • I think this is the manual calibration before go to bed is mentioned in this post. Not sure if that avoid the drifting. It will depend on the new 'sensor mode': auto, altimeter, barometer. In barometer mode it shouldn't drift at all. 

  • What would be really great, and I can’t understand why it doesn’t work this way, is why it doesn’t auto calibrate to known saved locations if starting an activity at (within x metres) of that location like my Edge 510 and Edge 530 do.

  • For me is the most reasonable procedure, you are outside and at the ground level to start an activity. At least for normal ones, without having in mind others ones like parachute or others more specific

  • The main problem in my opinion remains on the automatism of the auto mode of the watch.

    In version 19.20 it was stable and if you stayed in one position for a long time the altitude did not change and the pressure changes were associated with the weather while in the 20.x versions the altitude fluctuates continuously.

    It would also be useful to have the option to disable automatic calibration of the altimeter.