Team Sports on Instinct 2 (non-X)

The question is whether adding the team sports it technically possible. 2X (and Crossover) have bigger operating memory (64MB vs 32MB at the remining models), so it is possible that the memory size may limit some extra features we see at 2X and Crossover.

Good point, but are all the current activity types stored on the watch itself? I don’t actually know.

I just counted about 72 current activity types in Garmin Connect that are available to select for my Instinct 2S. Of those I have 16 selected between my Favorites and More Activities sections. Assuming that all 72 are not actually stored on the watch, I would just like the option to select a few Team Sports to add to my current list of 16. Hopefully, that wouldn’t be an onboard memory limitation.

p.shindig said:

Good point, but are all the current activity types stored on the watch itself?

The size of the storage is not the problem, the size of the operating memory (often called RAM) is. With a computer, those two types of memory are usually separated (fast RAM memory bars vs slower HDD or SSD drive). On Instinct 2 (as well as on many other embedded devices), the operating memory is just a reserved and a fixed region on the storage memory chip. So if the memory chip is too small, the software code must respect it, and needs to be smaller, too. It means it cannot contain as much functionality as if the reserved region were larger. I am not sure whether the memory size is the true reason behind the limited choice of activities on the models with smaller memory, but consider it a very possible reason. Garmin will probably not tell you anyway what was behind their decision.

... there is a way how you could possibly see whether the team sports activities need some functionality that did not fit onto the smaller memory. If you have a friend with GI 2X or Crossover, copy some of the team sports profiles from their watch, and place them on yours. They are in the folder //GARMIN/Sports.

If the profile does not require any additional functionality, they will most likely work on your watch too (I tested it already several times by copying other sport profiles from between different models).

And if the team sports activity does require some functionality that did not fit onto the models with smaller memory, then the copied activity profile will fail to work.

Ah yes, also a good point. I hadn’t thought about the operating memory (RAM) capabilities of the watch. Maybe that’s the reason, who knows.

This is intriguing. I don’t know anyone who has a 2X or Crossover, so unfortunately I can’t really test this. I haven’t ever opened the watch on the computer to view the files, but it sounds like the activity profiles are just individual files stored on the watch and could (potentially) be manually copied over with a computer (with the risk that they might not work). Am I understanding that right?

I would test this if I could get a copy of the “Soccer” and “Ultimate Disc” profiles.

p.shindig said:

it sounds like the activity profiles are just individual files stored on the watch and could (potentially) be manually copied over with a computer

Yes, that's right. They can be copied between individual devices, and it often works even for activity profiles not available natively on given model. However, the device must be supporting features enabled in the sport definition file. If the team sports definitions require features not available on the standard GI2, it won't work.

That’s really interesting and kind of a cool workaround. I might have to start putting some feelers out there to see if anyone with an Instinct 2X or Crossover might be willing to send me some Team Sports profiles.

Also, do you think this would work between Fenix to Instinct 2?

Yes, it could. I already successfully exchanged activity profiles between rather different models. However, there is never a guarantee it really works.