The existing Garmin Fenix 5, 5S and 5X have JUST had GALILEO support rolled out in beta. It doesn’t yet appear to be available for the Forerunner 935 but will surely follow in due course.
To be clear: This is NOT the Garmin Fenix Plus (review ed here) series. It’s the regular 5 Series
This is beta software and it’s race season…update at your peril. But, yes, I’m going to 🙂
My understanding is that this is single band GALILEO…so hopefully it’s better than GPS-only but there are hopefully more improvements to come in future watches. Fenix 6 anyone 😉
Galileo on the Fenix 5 + Chronos
Full details of the beta release are shown below and here are the links…enjoy! :
- Fenix 5x firmware – link to: Garmin.com
- Fenix 5 firmware – link to: Garmin.com
- Fenix 5s firmware – link to: Garmin.com
- Fenix Chronos firmware – link to: Garmin.com
Double check your GPS version is v4.40 (mine is v.4.4 even on the FR935…which hold out hope for the same GALILEO upgrade on the FR935)
Details:
Changes made from version 9.20 to 9.53:
- Added GPS + GALILEO support (Activity Settings > GPS). (Requires GPS version 2.20)
- Added abnormal heart rate alerts. Enable these in Heart Rate widget > Heart Rate options > Abnormal HR alert. An abnormal heart rate will be detected if your heart rate exceeds the entered threshold for an extended period of time while sedentary.
- Fixed a bug causing Cadence values to be ‘stuck’ when not pedaling instead of returning to 0.
- Fixed a crash seen when viewing SwimRun activities.
- Fixed a crash sometimes encountered when selecting apps.
- Fixed a bug causing some activities performed on multiple devices to be double-counted when viewing Training Load on Physio TrueUp devices.
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Do you expect the 645 to get Galileo too? I think the chipset is compatible.
i would tentatively expect: edge 1030, 645 and maybe vivoactive 3. maybe also forerunner 245 and edge 830
Fenix Chronos also with Galileo support in beta: https://www8.garmin.com/support/download_details.jsp?id=11421
good find thank you!!
I think Descent and Tactix will receive either, and F935 and F645 because of M5 GPS chipset (1621) now in version 4.40: https://www8.garmin.com/support/download_details.jsp?id=10475. This is version of F5 that receive now Galileo support. Simple logical.
yes i have 4.4 already on my 935.
what you say is logical. But…..
When available, please bring us some tests of accuracy. Generally people have curiosity to see if things improved.
Thanks for this link. My f5x was stuck on GPS v4.3 despite having system software v9.20. The 9.20b package has GPS_v430 and Garmin Express won’t offer me just the GPS update. I was able to download the GPS firmware from your link. The USB version is virtually identical to the GPS_v430 firmware .gcd file from the recent betas except for a small range of bytes at the end of the file. I was able to add this to the /Garmin/REMOTESW directory on the watch and update the GPS. That’s consistent with a minor tweak.
On the other hand, the v2.20 GPS firmware that enables Galileo is totally different in a binary diff and is almost 25% larger.
Galileo won’t fix bad antenna design. As well as most of the part is dependant on software algorithm which interprets data from antenna. We will have Galileo system support, but it has nothing to do with GPS accuracy until antenna design and interpeting algorith is fixed. I suggest to keep expectations low.
List of devices that will get Galileo support (no specific timeframes yet):
• Forerunner 645/Forerunner 645 Music
• Vivoactive 3
• Vivoactive 3 Music
• Edge 820
• Edge 520 Plus
• Edge 1030
Source: DCR (https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2018/06/tech-tidbits-friday-powerpods-new-199-model-fenix-5-non-plus-gets-galileo-tacx-lowers-prices-eurobike-preview.html/comment-page-1#comment-2910702)
yep i just got the same info.