new Garmin Feature Inbound

Must Read: Garmin Fenix 7 PRO Review & Where to buy

Two months ago I reported on Hill Score and a few weeks later on Endurance Score. These and a few other metrics have only recently been confirmed to be on the new Fenix 7 Pro and Epix 2 Pro. At the time readers sceptically asked ‘How did I know?’ and the answer was ‘via @JohnW’….it’s the same this time around, thank you, John.

This post is alerting you to some new features that will materialise in a few month’s time but I’ve just added several links below to the various new features that will be arriving imminently on the Fenix 7 Pro and Epix 2 Pro.

Today’s new sports-related features are linked to EVENTS and AUDIO NOTES.

new Garmin Fenix/Epix Map/MAP+ features

Here we have some more inbound features which are perhaps not quite as exciting for sports devotees and you can choose to believe whether they are real or not (they are!)

I’m not fully sure of the details so I’ll have a crack at guessing what they will do based on what I do know.

Garmin to Add Enhanced Hill Score as a Notable New Feature to Forerunner Watches

Audio Notes

It looks like Garmin’s microphone-enabled watches eg Venu 3 ( 😉 ) will now let you use the microphone to make a 15-second audio note and attach it to a completed workout. That sounds fairly trivial but it will likely be synced and stored on Garmin Connect so you can review your thoughts and ponderations on your performance at a later date on your smartphone.

This is likely to be a new feature for Venu 3 and other new watches going forwards and does not seem to be destined for the Venu 2 plus which I find strange.

Garmin Fenix/Epix – new PRO Models Get Improved displays and improved flashlight

I could be wrong in interpreting the info I have and this might, instead, be a feature that is for Garmin Connect ie the note is made on Garmin Connect and not on the watch. In which case it will potentially be a widely available feature and perhaps also a useful way to send notes to your coach?

Dance Metrics

Dance steps and cadence/tempo are recorded and when you press the lap button on your Venu (maybe other watches) it will advance to the next song. There will also be distanced danced and a ranking of tempos/cadences for all songs. There are other dance metrics too but if I write about them I could just lose the will to live.

Q: Really?

A: Yes. Really.

Garmin adds RED SHIFT Mode to Epix Pro Models

New Event Management

I completed RideLondon earlier today and was able to add the event to my Garmin calendar and the Race Day feature via active.com – https://www.active.com/london/cycling/races/ride-london-essex-100-2023.

I think, but could be wrong, that Active.com was the only external provider of race information outside of Garmin.

It looks like new external providers AND certain Garmin users will be verified as race info sources for us to pull race data down from.

I guess this simply means that a wider selection of race events will be available. Probably also non-race events will be included eg a dance competition or climbing competition.

confirmed new hi-res Watch Faces for Garmin Epix 2 PRO

Group Activities

I’m not entirely sure what the new ‘Group’ activities are. There are quite a few new group activities to be supported such as RUN and BIKE.

These could either be high-level sports profiles/activities that are used as a way of grouping activities on Conenct or your watch/Edge to improve usability OR they could be personal events that cover these sports where you would invite a group of friends or clubmates to participate. I suspect/hope it’s the latter as that would link in with the new event management feature. Group activities could be a good way for Garmin to increase social interaction on Connect.

new Garmin Fenix/Epix Map/MAP+ features

Timescale

I think Venu 3 is coming out in a few months’ time and some of these new features will appear with that. However, the Event Management one will probably come out later and be linked to the Epix 2 Pro and Fenix 7 Pro (post-launch)

Garmin Fenix 7 Pro first picture reveals AI secret.