Breathing variations

I'm guessing it's written that way so Garmin can avoid even the appearance of giving medical advice as far as this feature is concerned. The (US) 970 manual is written similarly.

So they just give you some neutrally-presented data with a vague recommendation to consult a doctor if the data somehow alarms you.

You mentioned the prominent warning at the top of the page about how Garmin wearables are not medical devices:

WARNING: The data and information provided by Garmin wearables is intended to be a close estimation of your activity and metrics tracked, but may not be precisely accurate. Garmin wearables are not medical devices, and the data provided by them is not intended to be utilized for medical purposes and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Garmin recommends you consult your doctor before engaging in any exercise routine. For more information see: Activity Tracking and Fitness Metric Accuracy.

Seems like something a lawyer would write, right?

However, the 570 APAC / Singapore manual seems to have older text (and possibly refers to an older version of the feature where the levels are explicitly referred to as *severity* levels, with values of None, Low, Medium, or High).

https://www8.garmin.com/manuals-apac/webhelp/forerunner570/EN-SG/GUID-7A3AD87F-9ADD-47F4-8D95-7B0DC9442897-4669.html?q=variation&nav=search_pane

Same with the 970 Singapore manual: www8.garmin.com/.../GUID-0BF928BB-E0E9-4065-A6E5-BA48D9F13368-5682.html

Note the detailed explanation of what's being measured and the use of the term *severity level* with the implication that higher is worse. And note the lack of the warning about how garmins are not medical devices.

I bet Garmin's lawyers made them change the presentation of the data (and the overall feature) to be vague and somewhat neutral, but they just forgot to change the FR570 APAC manual. Or maybe they change was made specifically with the US (and EU?) in mind?

[I'm not suggesting that the feature will work differently in APAC regions tho, especially since there's only one software part number for both of WW/APAC for each model. I guess Garmin could detect regions from your GPS location the same way they apparently do for the ECG functionality, but I doubt they'd go to all that trouble just so they can display different UI text / help for the breathing variations feature]

flocsy🤠 said:

I'm talking about your explanation of what is breathing variations. Why does it matter? What is better? Minimal, or frequent?

I don't think you gave Garmin enough credit here. The warning about how Garmins are not medical devices and the suggestion to consult a doctor if you're worried should've been big clues that Garmin made the feature lame and vague on purpose, not that they somehow forgot to make it useful.

I guess they could've gone the other direction and made it like ECG, where:

- the functionality is medically certified

- it's only available in certain countries; other countries have to wait years to get it, or never get it at all

- as soon as you enable it, you have permanent 2FA on your Connect account

At least this way you're still getting the same data (I assume). EDIT: or maybe not. See: forums.garmin.com/.../1938794

Btw, I don't think Garmin is alone here. iPhones have a built-in hearing test feature that works with AirPods, but not in Canada (although 3rd party apps are available which do the same thing).

flocsy🤠 said:

Then stop adding gimmicks!

We both know that will never happen

flocsy🤠 said:

How do I know it's bullsh+it?

C'mon, you can do better than that: bullsh​it

In all seriousness, I see this interesting contradiction where users get mad when Garmin adds gimmicks to new devices, but at the same time, users are also upset that these gimmicks aren't backported to their own device. (Yes, I think there is significant overlap between these 2 groups).

For example, in your case, you already own an FR965, right? So what does it matter if Garmin adds useless gimmicks to your watch? You're free to ignore them. If Garmin *didn't* add breathing variations to FR965, then ppl would be complaining that they're missing out on a feature that FR970 owners get.

Same as everyone is free to not buy an HRM600 and FR970 if they don't care about step speed loss (which nobody even heard of until this month).

It's like Garmin is playing all of us like fiddles, introducing these new features that we suddenly have to have, even though we never knew they existed until now.

Honestly, the only action that Garmin will notice is if we stop giving them more money. Complaining that Garmin introduces "gimmicks" won't work, people have been complaining about that for 10+ years.

Iow, we should all try not to be like this guy:

[I feel like they're being sincere, but if they're trolling, all I have to say is "well done"]

LOL, I didn't know it accepts that suffix with the bull :) 

It doesn't matter who is who. :) All sports junkies has two and more FRs, fenixes etc. The next level is to reach all the people who are trembling for their health. Here we are

It matters, because based on the comment it looks like they're a Garmin employee

What does it matter if Garmin adds useless gimmicks to my watch? Well, it means they do not spend their resources on fixing features that were supposed to work when they introduced the watch. Or fixing features that used to work, but somehow they managed to break them. So, yes, it does matter to me.

Nope, guess again.

It has nothing to do with the "bull" prefix.

e.g. sh​it

(Hint: I did something similar to you, but with a different character than "+").