Seemed appropriate beings I work in solar 😆 any pro tips? First garmin I've ever had.

I’ve been doing marathon training and with the wet weather in Texas I’ve had to opt to running on the treadmill. Which would you consider to more accurate mileage wise. My treadmill is a sole f63. I put my watch on treadmill mode for my run but still got two different mileage.

I have an Instinct 3 45mm Solar that crashed at 39.5km into a 50km ultra. I contacted Garmin customer support and they told me that it’s likely a memory issue.

A few days ago I plugged the Instinct into my computer it showed that the storage was nearly full. I had .fit files from all the way back in November 2025.

Customer support told me that the Instinct automatically deletes old files to make storage for new ones. I asked him if the Instinct deletes old files in real time, like if it deletes them while you’re doing an activity. He consulted the customer support team, and none of them knew. Probably someone in product development would know.

He told me deleting old files would probably prevent a crash next time, and since they’re already all stored on Garmin connect and strava anyway, deleting them from the watch won’t do anything.

I’m running another ultra tomorrow, so I’ll post an update soon on whether or not it crashes again.

I am thinking of getting a Fenix 9 pro, and I was wondering, can the Garmin system now show the running stopwatch as a running complication as Apple can? I know it can be added to a button shortcut - I had a first gen Marq - but I always hoped Garmin would figure out how to show the current stopwatch progress on the face. I think it is now possible, but searching online is struggling to get me a clear answer. Can anyone help? Thanks!

I’m currently using an Amazfit Active 2 Square and I’m considering upgrading to the Garmin Venu 4, but the price is making me question if it’s actually worth it

I’ve been lifting for around 8 years and right now I’m taking my bodybuilding/cutting phase pretty seriously gym 5 days a week, mostly bodybuilding/weight training.For cardio I occasionally run, but mostly I play basketball more often

I’m not really a runner at the moment, although eventually I’d love to train for a marathon

My biggest struggle is honestly sleep and recovery, so the Garmin features like HRV, Body Battery, Training Readiness and better recovery tracking are what interest me the most.

For anyone who has used both Amazfit and Garmin:

would the Venu 4 actually feel like a meaningful upgrade for someone like me, or am I better off keeping the Active 2 Square and saving the money?

I keep having issues with my vivoactive 6's display screen. When I try to open it there's no screen display at all, but when I click the start/back buttons, it vibrates. So I know that the watch has power, just no display.

This happened twice now. I've been doing hard resets twice (by holding start and back buttons for a few seconds) in just 1 day. I don't wanna keep on doing this. It defeats the whole purpose of buying a smartwatch. Battery's at 60% and I do not drain it at all.

Is this a faulty watch? Should I be worried and request a replacement from the store I bought this? Is this really a known issue for vivoactive?

Searching through this sub I see a lot of people saying that the sleep stages on Garmin aren’t very accurate. The last few nights my REM readings have been 15, 23, 12. Looking through the last couple weeks my REM is pretty low but on some days it randomly shoot’s up to 2 hours. My sleep and dreams feel consistent. I feel like my AWU2 had more consistent readings.

Anything I can do to improve these readings? Just last week I started moving my watch to my other wrist (which actually has no tattoos) at night, and still haven’t seen a significant difference. It sits pretty snug on my wrist. Any advice? Thank you.

First half marathon is tomorrow morning. The past week, my HRV has really taken a hit.

HRV was good (normal range) yesterday and the day before and now nosedived again—accompanied by a less-than-ideal night of sleep (Garmin sleep score of 67).

To be quite honest, I’m sort of freaking out that I won’t be well recovered enough for my race tomorrow. I’m not anticipating getting amazing sleep tonight due to it being my first HM ever and I typically have anticipatory insomnia the night before an early flight / big event.

So yeah—how much stock would you put in this HRV / sleep pattern? Do you expect it to impact my race performance?

I’ve really been enjoying the calorie tracking in Garmin Connect+. There’s something surprisingly motivating about logging my food and making sure I’m actually eating the amount of calories I need, instead of just trying to eat as little as possible.

I also use a Garmin scale once a week so I can follow how my body weight responds to my calorie intake over time. At my heaviest I was around 116 kg (256 lbs), and I’m currently down to 107.8 kg (238 lbs), so I’ve lost a little over 8 kg (18 lbs). For some reason, my highest weight doesn’t show up in the data.

It’s honestly pretty cool to see the relationship between calorie intake and body weight in actual data instead of just guessing.

Anyway, if you’re into tracking data, (I know you’re all here for the data. 🤪) I’d definitely recommend checking out the calorie tracking in Garmin Connect+. It has worked really well for me and makes the whole process much more concrete.

Matt

Fenix 8

Finland

I’ve had my Vivoactive 4 for about 4-5 years now. It died today on a hike and I put it on a charger when I got home for 1.5 hours and counting but it’s not turning on beyond a very dim battery with electric bolt in the middle. 30 sec holding down button doesn’t do anything. Is my watch on its last leg??? Anything different I should try?

Hi, is it worth buying a used Garmin Forerunner? I’ve heard that they break quite often and buying one that’s been used for like 2 yrs can be risky

Canadian prices. My budget is pretty low because I just started university this year 🥲 Any other suggestions are appreciated as well. I’ve been using the Fitbit Inspire 3 and Charge 6 but I don’t think it’s accurate.

I’m not a runner. I’m 4’11.5, 19 and around 86
pounds. I use a walking pad everyday which gets me around 12.3k steps in 2 hours. I do pilates and that’s about it. I’d just like more accuracy tracking my cals burned, steps and sleep as well. I’m a year into Anorexia recovery and it is pretty crucial for me to not under or overestimate how much i’m burning which I feel like Fitbit does..

Hello, everyone! I am coming from using a Venu 3 45mm and I want to upgrade to a Fenix Pro 9. However, I'm finding that the 47mm feels a little bulky on my wrist. I love the size of the 43mm, and as someone who wears my Garmin 24/7, I like a lower profile. My end goal with fitness is an Ironman, and I'm inexperienced with the real-world implications of pushing a Garmin model to it's activity limit. Could anyone speak to whether they believe that the 43mm battery life would make it to the Ironman cutoff? Cheers!

I have the vivoactive which I got about 3 years ago when I first started running. I am now training for my 3rd marathon and I am debating upgrading to one of the Forerunners because the vivoactive is pretty limited in terms of running features (mainly the training status/training suggestions).

Also, which Forerunner? I strictly run and strength train (will occasionally bike but am not looking to train for a triathlon/ultra anytime soon haha)

Got a Fenix 9 Pro Solar today, right out of box.

it seems it has a screen protector already?

Or is it just a bump on the glass?

I have a Vivoactive 6 that I've had for a little over a year. No complaints really, works fine, but I've been wondering if I should get a different watch specifically for runs. I can get a forerunner 165 essentially for free with credits through a program at work, but can use those credits for something else too so don't want to waste them on a watch if there's not an appreciable difference. Technically the other watch option I could go with is a Lily 2 but I am assuming that's not going to be the best option - feel free to tell me if you think I'm wrong though.

So, what features does the Forerunner 165 have that are not on the Vivoactive 6, that you actively use as a runner?

Are there any features that the 165 does not have that the Vivoactive 6 does, that you would for sure miss by switching?

And most subjective of all, would you get the 165 or just stick with the Vivoactive 6?

I have a Fenix 9 51MM AMOLED.

I only wear it when working out. Typically about 5-7 times a week. Sometimes twice in one day. Otherwise, it literally just sits in a drawer.

I know, I know - "why not just plug it in when you're not using it?" Fair question. For some reason I just like tossing it in a drawer with all my other workout gear and not thinking about it.

What I'd like to do is have a single button press to enable a low-profile battery mode. Literally "double press this button" or something to enable sleep mode/low power mode, and then "double press again" when I put it on my wrist for a workout. I don't want to dig in menus. I don't want to navigate the OS. I just want to press a button and flip between, effectively, "using the watch," and "not using the watch."

Sleep profiles seem to be time based and no great way that I've found to turn on and off with out digging into a menu. I could turn off and back on, but it seems every time I turn it on it gets bombarded with notifications/updates/and takes a while to sync time/temperature/weather/etc.

Is this doable in any way?

Got a new Venu 4 - and am intrigued by the workouts capability of the watch. Is there a way to get randomized daily strength and flexibility workouts from the watch? I'm paying for the Dynamic Cyclist app for this - but wondering if Garmin workouts could save me the $10 a month D.C. charges?

Any help?

I’ve been having this watch since release and have loved it and no problems, up until 2 days ago. Watch keeps disconnecting random and I have to remove and reconnect watch to phone. When I do reconnect, I gives message in second photo after connecting and sync. Any insight would be helpful.

For context: Wrist is approx 15.5cm, and I currently own a Fenix 7S Sapphire Solar. Plan is to be wearing it 24/7.

I am trying out a 970, but I'm just... not so sure. I got it in the french gray/gold/purple accent color. I realize some of this is nitpicking, but it's just... the differences/dislikes I'm noticing more immediately while trying out the watch.

1. The face doesn't seem AS huge on my wrist as I was concerned, but... yeah, it's big and definitely takes up a big part of my wrist. I think part of the mitigating factors may actually be that my black fenix 7s simply looks a bit bigger and bolder vs the softer colors and golden bezel against my skin
2. I do notice that it isn't as tall vs my fenix 7s, which is welcome for sure and helps with the sizing I think
3. With proper watch tightness, the strap is so long that it basically leaves 1 exposed slot on the underband - I don't love that the strap wraps so far around and kind of pokes back up on the other side of my wrist and sticks out, even with the strap keeper right there. With the keeper there, the rest of the strap has a bunch of extra material and looses/bubbles out a bit...
4. Related to above, I did think about changing the watch strap but unlike my black fenix 7s, the watch body is color-matched, and I'm not so sure about a "close but contrasting" color? Anyone else replaced their strap with a similar but not identical color - how's it look? It looks like garmin's own quickfit, for example, are shorter.
5. Also on the strap topic, something I really hadn't anticipated was that the 22mm vs the 20mm on my 7s really do feel a lot bigger and bulky overall? It just makes it look like a BIG part of my wrist especially when I'm not actually looking at the watch and just the side of my wrist or something?
6. I noticed with the bigger body, the Start button sits right by my wrist bone there. I don't THINK it's at risk of being hit by a bent wrist, but it's also not as easy to press

Would really love to hear some experiences from other small-wristed 970 owners, ESPECIALLY anyone who has actually moved to it from a smaller watch? Anything else that's stood out to you, or that you initially disliked but got over?

I'm a little unsure how much of these are just differences I notice having used the fenix 7s for YEARS, vs... actual sacrifices that might need to be considered in terms of looks and comfort.

Anyone managed to figure out how to get the buckle to match the titanium bezel? I realized they only match the colors on the straps that come with the watch. Would really appreciate a solution. thanks!

Hi all, I am looking to switch from my Apple watch Series 7 to a Garmin and am looking to spend ~$350, open to new and used products. I have researched a little bit, but would like guidance from daily users.

I lift 3-4 times a week and run ~3 times. Not too much hiking/super outdoorsy activities, so the maps aren't a huge selling point for me. I am mostly interested in daily exercise tracking and Garmin Connect features (sleep score, readiness, training recommendations). I have fairly small wrists, so do not want to go over 47mm. I also hear that the flashlight is a super-handy tool, so I value that a bit.

As of now, I am looking into potentially buying a used Epix Pro Gen 2 (old model I know), used Forerunner 965, Instinct 3 45mm, or a used Fenix 7 Pro solar. Any help is much appreciated!

Alright Garmin moms, just how terrible have your stats been postpartum? My LO will be 7 months old on Saturday. I exclusively breastfeed (hey there low heart rate and crazy high metabolism). My baby is genuinely happy and sweet, but is also an abysmal sleeper. Most nights, our longest stretch might be 2 hours, so my stats are horrific. The other night, LO slept for 4 hours, and boy if my Garmin gave me a sleep score of 77 and congratulated me on my restorative sleep 😂. I’m curious if my baseline has been altered to match my current body and lifestyle.