Sometime ago, (12 months, co-incidentally) updates to Fenix 7 made it incompatible with Basecamp on Windows. It looked like it connected when plugged in via USB but Basecamp complained it couldn't transfer files. A further update to the fenix 7 fixed that. Well it looks like the problem is back in watch firmware version 16.3 (Which I just realized is a beta version, I think, so maybe I'm ranting in the wrong space...)
I just spent hours trying to sync my Fenix using Basecamp to draw my route, export via GPX into Explorer app and then run Connect app on my phone to try to sync the routes into the watch. Multiple attempts were needed as the selections I thought I had made about which collections got synced seemed to be forgotten or reset. And then it turned up replicated 4 times on the watch as if they had been banked up waiting for something and then like busses do, all came at once.
Plus, all the 'Saved Locations' on my watch have disappeared, probably because they were synced away because of my selections in Explore. At least the new ones I wanted are there now.
Plus, the Explore App on my phone does not appear to be in sync with the Explore website.... How do I get them lined up, I wonder?
I guess I'll have to go back to Explore and select the ones I want and get them put back. Syncing is such a PITA! It's so much better being able to see what is actually on the watch (as you can in Basecamp when it is ^^&%-ing working properly!) Plus having only one app to bother with.
Wait, but no! Those replicated routes were in fact the 4 parts of the GPX collection that something had renamed with the same name (except for a numeral at the end that I couldn't see on the watch...) Aaargh so I gotta go get the ones I deleted again. Sheesh!
Is this how people get lost in the wilderness? The freaking software screws up their files and they find out when it's too late? Just as well I'm paranoid, but am I paranoid enough?
Really, it was so much more usable when I could just transfer things from Basecamp via usb. Have I made that opinion clear yet?
Is Garmin trying to make life difficult by not letting Basecamp work with this watch? Or is the Fenix 7 software broken again?
Rant over.
Terry
