new Garmin Features for March-April (unannounced)

More info from one of my contacts, @JonhW shows that Garmin is adding new features over the next few months. There is nothing Earth-shattering here, but several features plug gaps in Garmin’s burgeoning feature set and will appeal to someone somewhere.

The new featurettes will mainly target Fenix/Tactix and are as follows

• Shot timer
• Mobility workouts
• Apnea dive tracking
• Passcode tweaks
• Ovulation estimation tweaks
• Dive Gear Tracking

Shot Timer

The shot timer is for Tactix 8, probably just for the Solar: AB Elite version. It uses the new microphone to accurately record reaction times for ‘practical’ shooters, replacing independent shot timers. It’s a clever use of the latest hardware for a real-world benefit, leveraging the quaility to add new metrics into Connect and possibly onto the watch itself.

Mobility Workouts

I think these are new. Either way, they are being added to log a new form of workouts, count reps and moves, and view them on Garmin Connect. Muscle Maps are also used with this new feature, showing the muscle groups worked and (perhaps) the intensity.

Passcodes

Passcodes are a nice, recently added feature. These are being tweaked some more, but I’m unsure of the details of the new tweaks. Hopefully, it will fill the gaps of what passcode FAIL to protect – for example, it’s possible to maliciously reset a device even with a passcode and to see personal data on a watch face complication.

Apnea Dive tracking

Dive features get a new impetus to improve as they feature heavily on the Fenix 8 and Tactix 8.

Swimmers may well undergo some apnea training (I have), which essentially means swimming further than you usually might while holding your breath. Anyway, Aponea (sic) Hunt Mode and Pool APNEA are both listed as features on Descent MK3i but not on Tactic 8/fenix 8. The latter might get a fuller list of diving features, including those apnea-related. However, that’s just speculation; the intel I got implied that there would be more general reporting and analysis of apnea.

Dive Gear Tracking

If you love tracking your running shoes, you will love tracking your dive gear. This feature targets wear, tear and general usage and is not linked to how much gas is left in the tank. It requires manual input of the gear used.

Ovulation Estimates

This is an existing feature whose algorithm is being tweaked for more accuracy.

Take Out

These are some of the leaks we expect to see come to watch beta programs over the next 3 months. Apologies if some have already been released in beta.

I have to say, I’m a little disappointed and was hoping for something more substantial to indicate new features coming to the Forerunner 975/FR275

Oh. PS Here is a nice Garmin video about the Passcode feature we know about. Strangely its thumbnail talks about supplemental strength training (any link to mobility workouts?), but it’s not mentioned in the video at all.