Garmin Please Explain the Full Array of All Watch Face and Activity Graphs and Arcs

gregjohnson1956 over 3 years ago

I've been digging hard into this amazing watch for 3 weeks now and find out new things every day. It has a bazillion functions and options and there are always questions that you have to dig into for an answer. But the answers are always there. That said, it seems Garmin does not produce an info page to completely explain the various bar graphs and colored arcs at the top of the watch that we see on watch faces and activities.

I wore the Fenix 3 HR for years so already knew a lot. That said, there are things Garmin does not explain well. The manual on line has no mention of the various graphs one sees on the watch faces and activities. For instance, I need help with these mysteries:

- The solar bar graph on the standard watch face is a mystery so I removed it.

- What is the red dot that shows at the ten second mark? It is very prominent on the walk and hike app and never moves. What is it and why is it there?

- What is the green arc that shows at the top of the watch when you first start an activity? Id that a GPS ready meter? My Fenix HR 3 had a green arc that went completely around the watch to indicate when all GPS satellites were acquired. The Fenix 7X SS does not, but the small green arc does appear at times on activity start. What is it?

- What are those small arcs at the top of the watch that are of various colors on the walk app and others? What do they indicate? Do they change lengths? Why? What do the colors mean?

- On my standard watch face, the solar ring barely shows. It is very light and you don't see it, which is fine with me. But in the sun using the walk app, it shows bright red. What does it mean? Is it always 360 degrees all the way around the watch h? Or does it ever change lengths and become partial arcs?

0 Duggs over 3 years ago

- What is the green arc that shows at the top of the watch when you first start an activity?

-- Yes it's confirmation that GPS is locked

- What are those small arcs at the top of the watch that are of various colors on the walk app and others? What do they indicate? Do they change lengths? Why? What do the colors mean?

-- This is the Heart Rate Graph, the colours are fixed but there's an indicator that moves according to your HR. You can change the data screens in the settings (watch or phone) and this is one of the data field options. Colours indicate HR Zones that can be configured in the App

- On my standard watch face, the solar ring barely shows. It is very light and you don't see it, which is fine with me. But in the sun using the walk app, it shows bright red. What does it mean? Is it always 360 degrees all the way around the watch h? Or does it ever change lengths and become partial arcs?

-- The solar ring is Hardware, just you notice it more when sun is shining on it

- What is the red dot that shows at the ten second mark?

-- If it's what I think you mean then that is painted on to the bezel so is design purposes only

0 gregjohnson1956 over 3 years ago in reply to Duggs

Thanks. That is very helpful. The heart rate arcs in 4 different colors curving along the top part of the watch seem odd and indecipherable, especially since all my data screens and base watch face give me actual beats per minute. By the way, heart rate seems to be very accurate now and it was not with my Garmin Fenix 3HR.

0 Duggs over 3 years ago in reply to gregjohnson1956

the HR BPM should show underneath, otherwise I am confused to what you were referring too.
there are other screens with different "Graphs" that can be shown, so on training workouts it may show you if you are faster/slower than the step target.

On Garmin Connect - Go to Device Settings > Activities and Apps > Edit Settings to change the data fields to suit