VO2Max no longer updating - Software v3.90 - Vivomove Style

After the update to 3.90 I had a problem with my Style no longer recording Body Battery values. After two nights of Body Battery flat lining to almost zero, I reset the watch, removed it from the Garmin Connect app, re-paired it to the app and all went back to normal.

You might be experiencing something similar, just with VO2 Max readings instead. Be aware that if you reset the watch you are going to lose all of the settings specific to the watch, like alarms, widgets order, complications, etc. You will not lose your personal statistics as those are recorded by Garmin Connect and stored in Garmin's servers. Be sure to make one last sync between watch and app before you reset it.

Also, while the VO2 Max history will still be in Garmin Connect after the reset, if you go to "Hearts Stat" in the watch and then "VO2 Max" there will be no reading anymore, as all the data in the watch will have been reset. You will see the screen that will ask you to go for a timed walk or run to update it. This is what I did after the reset and the new VO2 Max value was added to the graph in Garmin Connect.

Thanks Batman! I had the same issue with the Body Battery after update, so I have already tried to reset the watch (sync, unpair, reset and re-add to garmin connect), but I still have the same issue.

on a side note, I tried doing a vo2max walking activity and it didn’t record the vo2max either. 

thanks for your suggestion, in any case!

You are welcome. Was the VO2 Max not updated on both the watch and the app? The way VO2 Max is measured when you alternate running and walking is "interesting". By that I mean that the running VO2 Max will have priority over the walking VO2 Max, if you mix both over a period of time. If you stop running for a while, then at some point the walking VO2 Max will be used again. The running VO2 Max will always override a previous walking VO2 Max, regardless of the time between the two measurements.

Read what Garmin have to say about VO2 Max in general:

https://support.garmin.com/en-US/?faq=lWqSVlq3w76z5WoihLy5f8

And what could be the reason why the reading is not always updated:

https://support.garmin.com/en-US/?faq=HVMcrDvQ3m2xEFh1aVMbU8

I'd try again to manually force a VO2 Max update from the watch, but running rather than walking.

Check also if by any chance you see an updated VO2 Max level going to the Garmin Connect website, rather than using the Garmin Connect app.

Before the Style I had a Vivomove HR and one day, out of the blue, the VO2 Max option and screen disappeared from the app. I could still see it on the watch on online in the Garmin Connect page, but it was completely gone from the app, as if the watch did not supporte this function at all.

In that case the cure was to remove the app from my phone and re-install it. Your case seems to be different, but you never know...

Thanks Batman! this is really nteresting. After checking online and on the app, there seems to be something strange going on with the VO2Max. 

The "Most Recent" VO2Max on the app/watch/website is currently stuck at a value measured on Mar 10th (8 days ago).

From the website, however, it seems that the VO2Max has been measured across this week,  if I go to the "last 4 weeks" view of the VO2Max data. Same thing happens on the app as well (No update of the most recent, but there are some new points on the last-4-weeks view). I will try to reset the watch one again to see if it fixes the problem, and I will try to manually force a VO2Max update from the watch with running. I'll keep posting if I have news :) 

Thanks again! 

Hi all, just a quick update. Two days ago the watch stopped measuring the VO2max again, both for runs and walks, even though I had a 15km run today. This is quite annoying, and I am quite appalled there have been so many issues with this update. Is there any way to notify garmin support about all these issues?

Has anyone found a solution? I have the same problem, I did not change how I use or record activities on my vivomore style but my last Vo2max was recorded on the 8th of March. I only walk and almost never use the GPS and I always got a Vo2 max reading for every walk.

Now I've tried to record a new VO2 max using the option on the watch, I tried walks with the GPS and still nothing - there is no running activities because I don't run.

I'm on software 3.90 as well.

Oh, yeah "Houston, we have a problem!" :-)

Today I decided to run an experiment (pun intended...).

I went for an outdoor run this afternoon, I started a GPS-tracked run from "Activity" (what Garmin says is needed for VO2 Max to be recorded) and I run for 20 minutes (to be well above the 15 minutes threshold Garmin says is needed for VO2 Max to be recorded).

Stopped running, waited few seconds for the watch to auto-sync with the app, checked the app: run recorded, route tracked by GPS (could see it on the map), but NO VO2 Max recorded on today's date. Bummer...

Walked for a few minutes, then started manually another GPS-tracked run, this time using the "VO2 Max" option in the "Heart Stats" menu and went off running again. After a little over six minutes the watch vibrated and displayed a message on the screen saying something like "task accomplished" and shortly after "activity saved".

Kept running, after about 1 minute (as per standard settings) the watch started an auto activity, which I confirmed, and continued to run until I finished my usual loop around the neighborhood. Re-sync'd the watch and... what do you know, VO2 Max was updated this time. 

To sum it up, I run three different segments in a row, every time starting the "Run" activity in a different manner (first time as a regular GPS- tracked run, second time as a specific VO2 Max update, third time letting the watch do it automatically) and apparently the VO2 Max reading was updated only when I started the VO2 Max update activity from the watch.

The Garmin Connect app and Garmin Connect webpage at least show the same data, although there is still something strange: the colored wheel shows the number I got from my two last runs prior to the update, while the "4 week" graph shows the slightly lower value that was recorded after the update.

Putting it chronologically:

- March 10 the 3.90 update was released by Garmin

- It got pushed on my watch I think the day after, on March 11, or March 12 at the latest

- I went on a run the same day or the day after the watch got the update and it did NOT record VO2 Max

- After a couple of days I reset the watch, as it was also doing strange things not updating Body Battery levels after sleep. That was fixed by the reset.

- Resetting the watch all of the local data (including VO2 Max) were lost (but not those in the app), so when going to "VO2 Max" in the "Heart Stats" ON THE WATCH there was noting. I then started a manual VO2 Max update from the watch while walking, on March 17. Since the watch was empty of VO2 Max stats, it updated it (otherwise, if it had recorded a run in the previous 30 days it would have not) 

- Today, March 22, I went our for a run with the results I outlined above.

Just to err on the side of caution, today, after my run, I removed and reinstalled the Garmin Connect app. Weather permitting I will go on a run again tomorrow and this time I will recheck if the watch records another VO2 Max point just starting a GPS-tracked "Run" in "Activity".

If it still does not work, I will wait another day to try again a forced manual update from "VO2 Max" in the "Heart Stats" menu of the watch. That way I can more clearly separate cause and effect. Unfortunately, the VO2 Max graph neither differentiates between multiple runs on the same day nor indicate the time of the run that updated the VO2 Max recorded value. Due to that I cannot be 100% sure of which of my three running segments today updated VO2 Max, although I am pretty sure it was the second, when I used the manual VO2 Max update from the watch.

@Garmin-AmberD or @Garmin-Isabella, are you reading this? I apologize for the long post, this is what happens when somebody working an engineering job has troubles with your watches :-) 

It seems the 3.90 update messed up with VO2 Max and a reset did NOT fix it. I hope what I and the others provided can help Garmin in understanding where the problem might be (and solve it...)

This is so interesting. I’m an engineer too and I really haven’t changed how I use my watch - none of my Vo2max come from running (as I keep feet with cardio workouts) so I count on my walks...there is no way to revert the software back on the watch and that would be my ideal way to check if it was the software update causing the problem (my body battery was never a problem for me btw).

Batman if you  can keep us posted with your experiment results I’d be happy to try them out too and see if I get the same results (no running for me though)...I just want this to get fixed, it really shouldn’t be this complicated!

Thanks Batman! This is an interesting test. I have tried to replicate your results today: 

1) I first did a running activity from the VO2Max function on the watch. The activity stopped automatically after 6ish minutes and I synced it to the phone. The current VO2Max is not updated (stuck at Mar10) but I see a new point in the "4-weeks" view of the app. The VO2Max on the watch has changed to the new value. 

2) I did a second run (30min), but it is difficult to see if it gave a new reading on the VO2Max. 

As a next step, I tried using Python to connect to the Garmin Connect API and try to download some data. I followed this code: https://github.com/MRK132/Garmin_VO2_Max_Modelling and was able to request the VO2Max data ("vO2MaxValue") for the last 10 runs:

As you can see, the VO2Max data is not available (NaN, Not A Number, indicates a missing value) for any run following the update (my watch updated itself on 11th Mar).

I believe that the app does some calculation to estimate the VO2Max from the overall running data once these have been synced from the watch, but there is no actual measure taking place on the watch following the update.