map and compass orientation

I have a new Fenix 8 and, aside from some of the frequent crashing others report, I have a major issue with the compass. very very often when out hiking or running the orientation is unresponsive to me rotating the watch or myself. It's awful compared to my Suunto or Apple Watch. Location is accurate and the positioning arrow does rotate when I go around corners etc but, if I am faced with a split in a path I often have to guess and then see if I was correct. a factory reset or compass reset doesn't help and this issue is clear in both the map and compass screens (the compass north, for example, doesn't move when I rotate). Garmin tech help haven't been able to offer anything

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Garmin-Laurie 5 months ago in reply to jasondavis +1 verified

Hello jasondavis

I am sorry to hear you are having this issue. Ensure that your compass is set up properly: Compass Options for Garmin Outdoor Watches

If your compass is still giving incorrect headings or…

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0 7942532 5 months ago

I had the exact same problem, and trying to calibrate failed immediately. I sent the watch back and received a new one. Again the compass did not work, but the calibration did not fail either this time. But I was doing one eight after the other and nothing happened. I thought that it can't be possible that two brand new watches have the same problem, and nearly nobody in the internet complains about this issue. So I tested different variants of the calibration eight. When I was holding the watch just on one strap and the watch was hanging down during calibration it vibrated and voila, the calibration worked. Afterwards the compass was working properly.

0 jasondavis 5 months ago in reply to 7942532

Hi, many thanks. By calibration, you mean manually asking the watch to calibrate its compass? And this was showing as a "fail" for you?

+1 Garmin-Laurie 5 months ago in reply to jasondavis

Hello jasondavis

I am sorry to hear you are having this issue. Ensure that your compass is set up properly: Compass Options for Garmin Outdoor Watches

If your compass is still giving incorrect headings or does not work properly, ensure that there is no interference. Then calibrate the compass outdoors in an area away from large metal objects and magnetic fields: What Affects the Accuracy of the Electronic Compass on my Outdoor Device

If there is no change, please feel free to reach out to me via Private Message. I will collect the details of this concern, including a video of the issue.