New firmware version 2024?

Beta versions have been tested for almost a year, but there is still no new firmware. Version 26.00 is bad. Does anyone know when it will be? We keep hearing, soon, soon, but this has been talked about here for 6 months.

  • How much longer can I expect my Tactix Delta receive firmware updates?

  • I am on 26.96, is there a problem?

  • Yes, several:

    • GPS is not as ridiculously bad as before, but is still meh. The stone-age Polar V800 I used to use before I bought the Fenix 6 and that cost less than half of the amount I payed for the Fenix was much more accurate.
    • RD Pod is unusable because of sampling errors that render the running data and all derived metrics unusable.
    • Altimeter is basically useless because of gross measurement errors. All derived metrics (e.g. height gained during running, hiking or biking activities, running power etc.) are therefore wrong.
    • Pool lane count and swim style recognition during swimming activities are inaccurate.
    • CIQ watch faces (Garmin and 3rd party) are basically unusable because activating such a watch face causes the UI of the watch to lag for approx 2 sec. after each keypress.

    Garmin has been promising fixes for all of the above issues, except for the GPS accuracy, for years now, but hasn't delivered yet. The GPS issues will most likely never be fixed because of the crappy GPS chipset Garmin used for the Fenix 6.

  • I don't think that the Fenix 6 series GPS will get better any time. It's more of a hardware issue. And it is not the chipset in my understanding. There have been tests with the Fenix 6 watch staying face up while tracking route with GPS and it is way better than having it on your wrist and therefore more or less sideways...

    I'm on the beta as well for two weeks or so and it fixed that annoying "sync failed" notification bug for me. I didn't find the beta to make anything worse. Possibly battery life..

  • I am not a Garmin apologist, when something doesn't work correctly I say so but I have stared hard at my Fenix 6 Pro's GPS tracking on all my runs ever since I wanted a good pretext for spending on a new Garmin that has multiband and I have come up empty for glitches worthy of the name. I also cannot reasonably complain about battery life, charging once a week worn 24/7 and doing 6 or 7 runs is fine I think.

  • Two examples from runs with FW 26.9x (x < 26.97; haven't had time yet to log a run with the new firmware):

    The straight blue line is a small river besides the track that I definitely did not cross in any way, BTW.

    These tracks are flawed in several ways:

    • The zig-zag tracks should be a straight line, roughly on the blue dotted line.
    • The zig-zag tracks are off up to 30 m, according to Google Maps. The area around the track is free open space, no high buildings near the track, and only a few and far between trees. There is no reason why there are such gross errors.
    • The in and out tracks should roughly overlap. Instead, the track going out is always far out to the north, while the track coming back in is off to the south.

    This is typical of tracks my Fenix 6 produces. In areas with lots of buildings, not even high-rise ones, the tracks are even worse. My stone age Polar V800 that I used to use before the Fenix 6 produced better tracks under more challenging circumstances.

    Maybe you now understand why I'm quite frustrated by the performance of my Fenix 6 and that I'm not really willing to accept that from a premium device I paid > 800 $ for. Especially considering the other bugs I described above.

  • So you're o.k., for example, with ordering an S-Class @Mercedes, being sold a car that looks like a Mercedes, but drives like a Dacia and is reduced to the quality of a Lada by software updtes later on?

  • My watch works just fine and a Garmin was NEVER an S-Class Mercedes. OK, sport. 

  • Consider yourself lucky. I can document all of the bugs I briefly described above.

    And regarding the topic of which equivalent car model we're talking about: Come on, don't be stupid. Even if it was "only" an E-Class, my analogy would hold true.