Instinct Solar - 18.01 Public Release Candidate

Hello Instinct Solar customers,

Please read the instructions below to update the software for your Instinct Solar device. We've made some changes to how we deliver beta updates for our customers, so this forum post is now the primary resource for reading the change log notes – they are not available on another webpage. We look forward to your feedback!

18.01 Change Log Notes (changes since 18.00):

  • Improved altimeter performance.

New Software versions listed are in red.

  • System Software18.01
  • GPS: 5.40
  • BLE/ANT: 3.02
  • SNS: 18.00

Instructions for updating software:

  • Download the .zip folder containing the update HERE
  • Connect the watch to your computer.
  • Unzip and copy the included gupdate.gcd file to the Garmin folder on your watch.
  • If there is a SensorHub_XXXX folder, copy the GUP3467.GCD to the Garmin\RemoteSW folder of your watch.
  • Disconnect the watch from the computer and it will prompt you to update software.

For any issues that you encounter, please send an email to [email protected]. In your email please include the software version, and a detailed description of your issue, along with any steps to reproduce. Please note that you may not get a response to the email unless we need more information on the issue you report.

  • I am one of the affected users, today I installed and tested this version. Altitude reading is slightly better, but still not optimal. See image. Start and end of cycling activity was on same place. 

  • @Luke_ODQA : 

    A question for the developers: The problem with the much too high intensity minutes still exists ? I have already reported the problem with screenshots with FW 16. The Instinct solar records up to 5-10 times as much intensity minutes as the tactix delta and tactix 7 Pro.

    You have confirmed to work on this problem and report when the problem is fixed. So far there has been no feedback in the forum for months, nor a note in any of the changelogs.

    Are you still working on a solution ?

    see here: 

    https://forums.garmin.com/outdoor-recreation/outdoor-recreation/f/instinct-solar/288781/instinct-solar---16-91-public-beta#pifragment-1292=2 

  • Thanks for this update,

    My main issue was incorrect altimeter readings. After this update, do I still have to manually calibrate the altimeter sensor (e.g. using GPS), or can I leave it on auto calibration?

    Thanks for working on the updates!

    Kind Regards,

    Danie Ludick

  • This beta improved the altimeter issue for me (elevation is now only like 700ft off instead of 20000ft off over a 40mi bike ride on 17.50) but it's still not good enough. The random dips in the elevation profile that are the known source of this issue are much less frequent, but still present. Additionally the resolution of the altimeter readings seems to have been reduced dramatically, leading to a very blocky looking profile that's not as smooth as it should be. I was still getting much better results on 17.00, so I'm rolling back to that version for now.

    I would upload an image of the altitude profile, but I can't figure out how to upload a file instead of using a URL link.

  •  and 

    I also have quite strong altimeter issues on 17.50, 17.00 seemed fine. By request, I tried 18.01 with the following result.

    We can see a sudden jump of 390 meters on a flat road, the tiny blip after the sudden drop is a 50 meter peek. On 17.00, I wouldn't even see the 50 meter jumps, let alone 390.

    V18.01

    Same file in GPXSee shows good tracking of expected altitude initially, then a massive jump followed by a medium jump - only to recover again near the end. The recovery is also not complete, but within 10 meters.

    Comparing the lines in GPXSee, it very much seems like the altimeter decides to use GPS as the altitude reference for a while, only to jump back a while later.

    I'm not sure this is an improvement, unfortunately. I'll keep doing a few activities on 18.01 to see if this keeps up.

  • When I disconnect the watch from the computer, there is no prompt to update the software.

    How do I force my Garmin to update with the new version?

  • How do I force my Garmin to update with the new version?

    If your Instinct is an APAC device, then you cannot. Otherwise, just make sure you copied the file to the //GARMIN/ folder, and not to the root, or to any other folder.

  • If your Instinct is an APAC device, then you cannot.

    Looks like non-APAC (available languages are varied and plenty of European ones) but confirming with Garmin in the morning. I copied the file to the "Garmin" folder.

    When I unplug the USB from the computer, nothing happens on the Instinct (no prompt to update the software like it does on my Edge 830, for example). When I plug the Instinct back in, the "gupdate.gcd" file is no longer visible in the "Garmin" folder.

    I also have auto update turned off. Should I turn it back on? Or does that have nothing to do with it?

    ETA: 

    After trying this several times, it finally worked. Not sure why the 8th attempt at copying finally did the trick, but I'm now at version 18.01. Fingers crossed it fixes this altimeter issue, because there's no way I climbed 40,000 feet on my flat run yesterday.

  • I was still getting much better results on 17.00, so I'm rolling back to that version for now.

    How do you roll back to 17.00? I tried copying the 17.00 file the same way we're supposed to do the beta, but nothing happens when I unplug the watch from my computer (similar to the issues I had installing 18.01 in the first place, which eventually ended up working after several attempts).

  • Perhaps you are unplugging the watch too fast, before the file fully copies to the storage. Make sure to use the USB tool for disconnecting/removing the Garmin watch before unplugging. Also delete old activities from the folder //GARMIN/Activity and unused languages from //GARMIN/Text to assure that there is sufficient space on the storage.