new Garmin Sports Features Inbound - Self Guided Plans, A Re-Imagined Connect, 2 New Watches and quite a bit more

[caption id="attachment_62993" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Random Image...Guess The Watch[/caption] New Garmin Features Inbound There are a few new Garmin features coming. Some of them look interesting and some...less so. Let's start with the less interesting ones that have been reported elsewhere before moving on to the others that I only found out about last weekend Source: Reader JohnW Blood Oxygen Events There are some new SpO2 events coming to Garmin Connect which are probably linked to new "Low SpO2 alerts". There won't be high SpO2 alerts because...well...just think about it. The SpO2 events and alerts are almost certainly linked to SpO2 monitoring whilst asleep but might also work when linked to stays at higher altitudes. If you are of a more athletic nature these probably won't be on your radar at all. Skin temperature Changes Overnight skin temperature changes will be tracked. This seems to be from sensors that are already on existing watches. I reported on this much earlier in the year but the feature was then pulled for some reason. Here it is being unpulled. https://the5krunner.com/2023/03/05/garmin-wrist-temperature-coming-this-month/ Garmin Again Attempts To Help You Navigate The Connect Maze Edit 12 Nov 2023: This is now not scheduled for imminent release. It will still happen though. I'd guess early 2023 As an example of the problem that needs to be solved, you might be training for a triathlon and yet are bemused that Garmin Golf options show when you go into Connect. You might also sometimes have to try hard to find some sports data that, you would have thought, should be more immediately visible to a triathlete. You can already tweak how Connect looks but only within tight restrictions. Garmin is moving to give us a more personalised Connect experience. One option that Garmin had here was to go down the route of enabling a fully customisable set of menus in Garmin Connect and on your watch. Instead what Garmin is about to do is introduce the concept of a FOCUS which you might think of as a THEME or SHELL. There will be a FOCUS you can choose like PERFORMANCE, FITNESS or HEALTH. The new FOCUS feature puts stats that you are most likely interested in on your Connect home screen. A health focus, for example, will include more information about daily stats like sleep whereas a Performance focus gives more prominence to athletic training metrics. NOTE: Garmin is highlighting the changes using terms like "Welcome to the new Garmin Connect". So the scope could be much greater than what I already know. It also seems that if you have set any GOALS or CHALLENGES in Garmin Connect then metrics linked to these goals/challenges will also be given greater priority on your home screen. TAKE OUT: It looks like Garmin Connect is about to be revamped to better show the data you want to see. I've not seen the new visual renders but I've been given the impression that the look will be different to how we see Connect today and that TILES of data will be added to show your important metrics. https://the5krunner.com/2023/10/17/garmin-elevate-v5-ecg/ Garmin Introduces Self-Guided Plans Self Guided Plans are a new feature that we will soon see. I'm just not exactly sure what Garmin means by the phrase! It seems that you will be able to set normal race distance goals like SPRINT TRIATHLON or MARATHON and alongside that the number of workouts per week and difficulty. Beyond that, the details I have are sketchy!! Perhaps Self-Guided Plans create a skeleton plan and give you a suggestion of what intensities/duration of workout to have on any given day? Perhaps it goes one step further than that and, for example, allows you to choose an appropriate workout from a list for that day? TAKE OUT: Garmin might be on to a good thing here. Whilst lots of people DO like following tightly structured plans, they are definitely in the MINORITY. Perhaps Garmin has found a way to help the majority but helping us guide the tech to give us the kind of workouts we want and scheduled as we want? Garmin Workout Benefit Next Garmin will introduce a concept of Workout Benefits. This might be a standalone feature but I suspect it will segue in with the self-guided plans from the previous section. There will be a whole host of workouts that are assigned to various Types of Workout Benefits. Workout Benefits include classes like 'High Exertion', 'Improving Health', Improving VO2max and 'Maintaining Speed' Perhaps on Tuesday, we schedule a workout with a HIGH INTENSITY benefit then we choose form the list of those kinds of workouts either on the day of execution or on the day we construct the plan? Your thoughts are also welcomed! New Watches? There also seem to be two new watches inbound from the Fenix/Epis stable. My best guess here would be a new flavour of ENDURO. Perhaps different sizes (large, small) or even an AMOLED version.