Fenix 6X Pro Solar crashes when searching for destination

I'm not using any unusual map, just the built-in TopoActive map for Europe, recently updated.

Here is how to replicate the bug:

Press Start and go to Navigate -> Points of Interest -> All POIs -> Spell Search

Either enter part of a nearby business name like a supermarket or the complete name.

The watch will search for a couple of seconds and then crash https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VyZSY3wsyA

The bug is not case sensitive and happens whether the business name is in one of several words and you enter them with spaces.

Basically, Spell Search doesn't work.

Any fix or is it hopeless?

  • Interesting. My Fenix 7 always crashed on spell search and I thought my Fenix 6X Pro Solar had that same problem, but it does not.

    Maybe it is a map issue. At some point the maps on my F6 updated and everything looked gray-ish, just as on my Fenix 7. I sold the F7 and bought a Forerunner 955 because the display was so much better, and the maps looked great too. I copied the maps from the Forerunner to the F6. Maps looked good again. Never tested the POI spell search until my lunch break just now. 

    F6 Spell Search took 2 minutes for the first results to appear and 5 minutes until the maximum of 50 results was found. Calculating a route to a POI timed out.

    F5 Plus the same search had first results after 45 seconds and all 50 after 1 minute 45. Calculating a route timed out.

    On my Forerunner 955 POI Spell Search only works when the watch has a GPS fix. It is very quick, around 20 seconds, but there is no clear indication when it is done. Calculating a route took 3 to 4 minutes.

    Map versions:

    FR955: 2021.20 

    F6: TopoActive Europe 2024.10 (I am not sure why/how that got updated)

    F5: TopoActive Europe 2020.10

  • Thanks

    It would have been interesting to try before I updated the map, but now it's too late.

  • Is there anyone you know who has a Garmin wearable with a TopoActive map that you could copy? Just make a full file backup beforehand just in case.

  • So far, it doesn't seem to be related to the map file. I tried to turn off all TopoActive maps and use a map extracted from BBBike instead, it crashed too. I also tried with the OpenTopoMap of just Switzerland, crashed too.

  • Strange. What version is on your watch? 28.02?

    What type of crash is it? A restart I suppose? I can't view the video.

  • The watch version is 28.02 (4a9440e)

    Yes, it's a restart after about 10 seconds. I even tried with just the basemap, same problem.

  • I thought maybe it was a watchdog timer going off because the search took too long, but only 10 seconds, that is too quick.

    Really puzzling because my F6 and F7 had the same problem, and the F6 "fixed itself".

    I hope someone else has an idea because I ran out of them. Other than try a hard reset and a reinstall. A full reset + wipe data may work if an internal database is corrupted. 

    There may be a RAM dump file on the watch amd perhaps a readable error file, but only Garmin can glean insight from those (in theory).