Forerunner 935 - Airplane Mode?

ummmmm... why? There has NEVER been a case of an aircraft crashing, or even having any problems, due to interference from portable electronic devices. The only reason you have to "turn your devices off for takeoff and landing" is because the airline companies didn't feel like testing every single brand and model of device to make sure there was no interference. Your watch has neither the power nor the capability of interfering with any aircraft systems. All of the aircraft wiring is shielded and tested to make sure there are no adverse affects from high intensity radio frequency transmissions. The levels they are tested at are much, much higher than anything that a personal electronic device can produce.

also, to expand on that... wi-fi is now provided on many aircraft and the FAA has stated that blue-tooth is also acceptable. The only reason cell phones are still supposed to be put into airplane mode is because the FCC has said that you shouldn't make phone calls while airborne. Here is a link to the FAA press release and accompanying data that basically says that there is no reason to ban them, but in typical FAA fashion requires all airlines to individually verify(so that it is the airlines fault not the FAAs fault if something does happen) https://www.faa.gov/news/press_releases/news_story.cfm?cid=TW189&newsId=15254

I agree that the thought of a phone putting an aircraft truly at risk is comical. It is long suspected that the disabling of various consumer equipment was more about focusing passenger attention (in case of emergency), as opposed to preventing RF risk. Indeed, the advent of in-flight Wi-Fi pretty much kills the RF danger argument.

Unfortunately you are assuming FCC/FAA requirements apply globally. You are also assuming my question is exclusively about airline travel. There are some laboratory and high-risk scenarios where emitting an unwanted frequency could be an issue.

So, while I largely agree with your reasoning, it's still tangential to my question.

Not sure but how about the Do Not Disturb mode?

Not sure but how about the Do Not Disturb mode?

Ah, thanks for the idea - I hadn't thought of that.

Manual says "you can use do not disturb mode to turn off the backlight, tone alerts, and vibration alerts. For example, you can use this mode while sleeping or watching a movie", so it doesn't seem promising.

While we mention sleeping, some people may want to turn off radios at night to save a bit of battery.

Of course, the guaranteed way to stop any watch transmissions is to turn it off...

You are also assuming my question is exclusively about airline travel. There are some laboratory and high-risk scenarios where emitting an unwanted frequency could be an issue.

You didn't explain why you're looking for this information, except tangentially in the above quote. The watch designers presumably go to great lengths to minimize power (battery) use; therefore, I would expect that the watch spends most of its time 'listening' rather than transmitting. But if you're concerned about even minute transmissions being an issue, almost all electronic devices (even dumb watches, phones, etc.) would need to be excluded from sensitive ares.

Of course, the guaranteed way to stop any watch transmissions is to turn it off...

As I'm sure you can imagine, the intent was to retain basic watch functionality.

You didn't explain why you're looking for this information, except tangentially in the above quote.

Thanks for the appreciation of my earlier wording, but no tangent on my part - merely omission, if anything. :)

Just for my edification though, if I explain further does that change your answer? I suspect not.

In any event, I travel in some countries with, let's say high corruption rates. I do not wish to pack my watch, and turning it off and putting it in carry-on can lead to questions. A colleague of mine had an older sports watch (much chunkier) which drew scrutiny from security. They wanted assurances that radios could be turned off completely, which apparently means the "airplane icon". My friend would up having his watch confiscated (thankfully it was older), which we all know is BS because he could not prove this.

My hope is to plainly show that my watch is in airplane mode, to avoid any of this crap. The 935 looks like a normal watch, so I'm probably over-cautious, but it would be painful to have something like that happen to me.

Of course, the guaranteed way to stop any watch transmissions is to turn it off...

As you can imagine, I am looking to retain basic watch functionality.

You didn't explain why you're looking for this information, except tangentially in the above quote. The watch designers presumably go to great lengths to minimize power (battery) use; therefore, I would expect that the watch spends most of its time 'listening' rather than transmitting. But if you're concerned about even minute transmissions being an issue, almost all electronic devices (even dumb watches, phones, etc.) would need to be excluded from sensitive ares.

No tangent - omission maybe - but I didn't realize more detail would affect your answer. I'm thinking there's no de facto method of turning off the radios, aside from what I proposed in the OP.

If you would like more background, the concern is around airport security in some countries. A colleague of mine had a watch confiscated because he could not adequately show that it was "airplane friendly", and part of this he was told was the "airplane icon". It was a flimsy attempt to get a bit of a payday in his opinion. The 935 looks much more like a regular watch, but I was hoping there was a quick and easy way to show that all radios were off, aside from digging into the menus. (Checking the watch is not something I'd do, and keeping it off in carry-on is a bit suspicious - at least on some countries.)

I agree that the thought of a phone putting an aircraft truly at risk is comical. It is long suspected that the disabling of various consumer equipment was more about focusing passenger attention (in case of emergency), as opposed to preventing RF risk. Indeed, the advent of in-flight Wi-Fi pretty much kills the RF danger argument.

Unfortunately you are assuming FCC/FAA requirements apply globally. You are also assuming my question is exclusively about airline travel. There are some laboratory and high-risk scenarios where emitting an unwanted frequency could be an issue.

So, while I largely agree with your reasoning, it's still tangential to my question.

you didn't stipulate... you said "airplane mode". Typically "airplane mode" only cuts off cellular transmission to meet FCC requirements as mentioned above. If you are concerned about any electrical frequency transmission due to a laboratory or high-risk scenario then the only way to prevent such interference is to not wear the watch in that environment or turn it off.

For any other scenarios you might imagine i'll just say this:

• GPS is a receive only function and does not transmit anything.
  
• Turning the "Phone" function off does not necessarily turn off bluetooth, as BLE is also used for sensors.. i would imagine it would still send out a BLE signal if there is a BLE sensor configured for your watch.
  
• Wi-Fi is only triggered when you hit the "connect to Wi-Fi" or you have auto-upload configured and complete an activity. If wi-fi was always trying to connect to a network, battery life would suffer greatly.
  

So really, it would seem that the BLE and Ant+ signals are the only signals that would be a problem. Those are known frequencies and very low energy so probably not a major concern for most situations. It also should be noted that if there are no external sensors configured on your watch it is entirely possible that there are no BLE or ANT+ signals sent out. The only way to know for sure would be to test it and see.

Is there a way to put the Garmin 935 into an "airplane mode".

They wanted assurances that radios could be turned off completely, which apparently means the "airplane icon".

The 935 looks much more like a regular watch, but I was hoping there was a quick and easy way to show that all radios were off, aside from digging into the menus.

You're talking for two related but logically different things there:

• Functionally disabling all radios on the watch (to your satisfaction that it is done) in a single step.
  
• ‘Proving’ to others (some of whom, we can assume, are not familiar with the watch and its features, and might not even have a real interest in gaining knowledge of such) that all radios are disabled.
  

You're not going to get an airplane icon to make it easier for you to prove to others. ‘Airplane mode’ and the airplane icon are common on mobile devices and therefore familiar to most people these days, but there is certainly no requirement or agreement for all other types of radio-equipped devices to adopt the parlance.

I think it's safe to say that switching a device off completely is understood by everyone that the radios are disabled, through not being powered, at a hardware level. If offering to switch your watch off where requested will not satisfy security requirements, then neither will having an airplane mode and/or displaying an airplane icon on the device, because nothing stops you from taking it out of airplane mode when others aren't looking (any more than anything stops you from switching a device back on from the off state).

If you want to actively display an airplane icon for the sake of convincing others that the radios are disabled, you can develop and/or install a Connect‑IQ app (say, a watch face) that just displays the clock and an airplane icon, irrespective of whether the radios are actually disabled.