This is a weekly roundup of significant sports tech problems that the endurance community has encountered and, where possible, resolved. Each entry covers the issue, the affected hardware or software, and the current best fix or workaround known to the community.
Garmin Fenix 8 heart rate alerts sounding late since software 23.31
Fenix 8 owners on software 23.31 say high and low heart rate alerts arrive late during runs and rides. One user set a range of 135 to 150 beats per minute with a chest strap connected, and the alert did not sound until the rate had fallen to about 127 or climbed to about 158. Another measured a delay of roughly 30 seconds on a maximum heart rate alert.
The fault is not limited to the wrist sensor. A Fenix 8 Solar owner on 23.39 sees the same delay with both the internal sensor and an external strap, so a chest strap does not help. Five other users describe the same behaviour on 23.31 and later.
Garmin staff suggested turning off the High and Low Abnormal Heart Rate Alerts under Notifications and Alerts, power cycling the watch and turning them back on. Those are the all-day alerts, not the range alert inside an activity profile, and nobody has confirmed the step shortens the delay. Staff say the team is reviewing it. Until then, a wider alert range leaves more margin, and the live heart rate data field shows the true value without the delay.
This issue remains unresolved — if you have encountered it and found a fix, the discussion is open on r/the5krunner.
Garmin Forerunner 970 Training Status VO2 Max chart missing its line after firmware 18.29
Forerunner 970 owners on firmware 18.29 and 18.32 report that the VO2 Max screen inside the Training Status glance shows the current number but draws no line on the chart. Installing 18.32 did not clear it.
The data itself is not lost. The VO2 Max view inside the Cycling Performance glance still draws its line on the same watch, which suggests only the Training Status chart fails to plot the history. A second owner has seen the same thing since 18.29.
Garmin product support suggested removing the Training Status glance and adding it again. That did not bring the line back, and the original poster had already filed a bug report. For now, the Cycling Performance glance is the place to read your VO2 Max trend on the watch.
This issue remains unresolved — if you have encountered it and found a fix, the discussion is open on r/the5krunner.
Garmin Edge 1050 cannot be rolled back to earlier firmware
An Edge 1050 owner on firmware 30.18 asked how to go back to an earlier version after reading reports of problems with newer releases. The first answer in the thread is that Garmin offers no rollback, so the unit stays on its current version until the next release.
A manual method circulates among forum users. You create an empty file named force.tmp, copy it into the Garmin folder on the device together with a gupdate.gsp file for the older version, then restart the Edge. It depends on having the file for your exact device and version, and the process changed about two years ago when Garmin changed the file system format.
Nobody has confirmed the method on an Edge 1050. The one shared archive covers the Edge 1040 only, and the original poster found no 1050 files in it. The method has worked on a Forerunner 745 for someone who had kept the old file, but the poster warned it could brick the device. Without a saved file, waiting for the next release is the only option the thread offers.
This issue remains unresolved — if you have encountered it and found a fix, the discussion is open on r/the5krunner.
Garmin Edge 840 course completed prompt deleting the rest of the ride
When you stop recording at the end of a course, the Edge 840 shows a course completed prompt that offers to save only the course portion. One rider picked that option by accident and lost about 45 minutes of riding that came after the course ended.
Recovery looks unlikely. Another user opened the FIT file and found the device had deleted the records between the end of the course and the real end point. Deleting the activity and uploading it again manually still showed only the course portion in Garmin Connect.
The fix that stops it happening is to switch the prompt off. Go to Navigation, then Courses, open the three dots at the top right, and turn the Suggested Finish toggle off. If you want to cut the end off a ride, trim it afterwards in Garmin Connect or Strava, and keep the original untouched until you are sure, because trimming in Garmin Connect cannot be undone.
Garmin Enduro 3 syncing only the latest activity recorded without a phone
Enduro 3 owners describe a sync fault where several activities recorded away from the phone never upload together. In one report only the most recent activity reached Garmin Connect through the Android app on watch software 22.41 and later 22.44. The poster links it to an older bug about FIT files with an empty File ID and missing Record messages.
Garmin support gave a sequence of steps: update the phone and the Connect app, sync with Garmin Express on a computer, and if that fails, delete activity files from the watch, power cycle it, record a new activity and sync again. A factory reset was the last step. The rider found that restarting the watch and phone did not help, but Garmin Express uploaded the stuck activities after a few syncs.
Garmin has not confirmed a fix. For now the dependable route is to plug the watch into a computer and sync with Garmin Express instead of waiting for the phone app to catch up.
Garmin Edge 840 showing Vector 3 as connected but reading 0 watts after T1
A triathlete reports that his Edge 840 connected to Vector 3 pedals after T1 in four of five races, but current power stayed at 0 watts and average power and normalised power were not calculated. The sensors menu still showed Connected. A Fenix 8 recorded power normally, and the heart rate strap connected to the 840 without trouble.
Turning the pedals off and on did not help. Restarting the Edge was the only thing that got power flowing again. He suspects a bug in the latest release and had not tried a factory reset.
Another user suggested removing the sensor pairing, power cycling the Edge, and pairing the pedals again over ANT+ only. That user, who rides Assioma pedals, said power returned after about 10 minutes, but nobody has confirmed it for Vector 3. Check the power field in the first minute of the bike leg, because the sensors menu shows Connected even when no data is arriving.
Garmin Fenix 7 Pro Virtual Run stuck on Ready to Pair with Zwift on software 27.18
Fenix 7 Pro owners on software 27.18 report Virtual Run staying on Ready to Pair. Heart rate reaches Zwift, but pace, speed and cadence do not. The original poster found that the Running Speed and Cadence service is advertised before the connection and then unavailable once connected.
The usual fixes failed for those who tried them: restarting the watch, forgetting the Bluetooth device and pairing again, and closing Zwift and Garmin Connect. A Garmin staff member suggested resetting the activity app to defaults and reinstalling the software from the About menu, and two users say neither helped.
One runner paired a Technogym MyRun treadmill foot pod directly to Zwift and recorded a Treadmill activity on the watch at the same time. That avoids the Ready to Pair problem, but distance and pace came out inconsistent between the two. Garmin has not confirmed a regression in 27.18, so when you report it, note your software version and whether heart rate alone works.
This issue remains unresolved — if you have encountered it and found a fix, the discussion is open on r/the5krunner.
Garmin Edge 1050 Grade field stuck at 1 to 2 percent on a steady climb
An Edge 1050 owner on firmware 32.20 reports a Grade percent field that sat at about 2 percent, dropped to 1 or 0 at times, and never went above 2 percent on a near-constant climb of about 10 minutes. The 30 second VAM was around 500 metres per hour at roughly 14 kilometres per hour, which works out at about 3.6 percent.
You can run the same check on your own ride. Divide VAM in metres per hour by speed in metres per hour, so 500 divided by 14,000 gives 3.6 percent. If the Grade field sits well below that figure for several minutes, you are seeing the same fault rather than a short smoothing error.
Garmin staff have not replied. Another rider recommends the Adaptive Grade Plus data field from Connect IQ, which lags the real gradient by about seven seconds but suits steady climbs. The original poster planned to test it on the next ride and no result has been posted yet.
This issue remains unresolved — if you have encountered it and found a fix, the discussion is open on r/the5krunner.
Garmin Fenix 8 freezing when playing Spotify or personal mp3 playlists
A Fenix 8 owner on software 22.39 says the watch freezes when playing music from either source. A personal playlist synced through Garmin Express freezes the watch, and a soft reset then takes at least five minutes. Spotify plays two songs and then shows a blue spinner for five minutes or more, with scrolling stuttering and speaker sound either very quiet or crackling.
A full factory reset did not help, so it does not look like a corrupted setup on one watch. Deleting the personal music removes the freeze from the playlist, but it does nothing for the Spotify spinner.
A second user suggests going back to 22.38 or 22.44 using rollback instructions from the unofficial beta forum threads, and nobody has reported trying it. Backdating generally resets the watch to default settings, so back up your watch face and data field layouts first. No Garmin staff reply appears in the thread.
This issue remains unresolved — if you have encountered it and found a fix, the discussion is open on r/the5krunner.
Garmin Forerunner 265 heart rate and elevation spikes in the first 5 minutes
Forerunner 265 owners on software 29.05 report heart rate and elevation readings that spike for roughly the first five minutes of a run or ride and then settle. One user dates it to early June, another to around August, and a later reply says it now appears mid-activity as well. Versions 27.09 and 28.05 were also mentioned.
A factory reset did not change anything for the original poster. Power cycling the watch is the first thing worth trying, and the original poster re-paired sensors outdoors and saw normal data the next morning, although they could not say that was the cause.
One user lets the watch sit on the activity ready screen for a few minutes before pressing start, which they say gives the optical heart rate sensor time to settle. That is unconfirmed. No Garmin staff member has replied, though in a separate thread Garmin asked only that the altimeter source be set to Auto.
This issue remains unresolved — if you have encountered it and found a fix, the discussion is open on r/the5krunner.
Garmin Forerunner 265S and 165 battery draining fast after software 29.05
Forerunner 265S owners report battery life collapsing after software 29.05. One poster says the battery fully drains within 24 hours and loses more than 50 percent overnight with GPS off. Forerunner 165 owners describe the same drop, going from about 14 days to under 2 days, and from 10 days to just over 3.
A power-down restart is the fix one user says has helped some people, though not everyone. Reinstalling the firmware and power cycling again is the next step, and nobody has reported the result. A factory reset and a soft reset made no difference for 165 users, and turning off PulseOx and Always-On display did not help one of them.
Garmin staff said the drain can usually be fixed by changing watch settings and pointed to support articles, without acknowledging a firmware fault. One 165 owner says Garmin is sending a replacement. The battery-remaining estimate also reads too high on the 165 after the update, so the percentage on screen is not a reliable guide while testing.
This issue remains unresolved — if you have encountered it and found a fix, the discussion is open on r/the5krunner.
Suunto Race 2 temperature reading 6 to 10 degrees too high
Suunto Race 2 owners report an activity temperature that reads 6 to 10 degrees too high. One runner saw 21 degrees in the run statistics for a night run in Norway where the map showed about 7 degrees. Restarting the watch changed nothing.
The sensor measures temperature at the watch itself, so on the wrist it reads a mix of air and skin temperature. A forum member explained it suits water temperature while swimming better than air temperature while running, and another said the behaviour matches the user manual.
For an accurate outdoor figure, use the weather widget. If you need the watch sensor, take the watch off and leave it in shade outdoors for 15 to 20 minutes so it settles to ambient temperature. No Suunto staff member has offered a firmware fix.
Garmin Fenix 8 running HR zones resetting from LTHR to max HR
Fenix 8 owners on software 23.39 report that running heart rate zones quietly revert from LTHR-based zones to the default max heart rate percentages every two or three runs, even with auto-detect turned off. One user only noticed because recovery time climbed higher than normal after easy runs.
Check where the zones are set first. Running has its own zone settings, separate from the general user profile, so set LTHR under the Running sport and reset to defaults there if the values look wrong. A Garmin moderator linked the problem to restoring a backup onto the watch and advised setting the watch up from scratch without restoring one. A lighter step is a software reinstall from the About menu.
The original poster solved it by deleting all backups in Garmin Connect web, deleting the Connect app and its data from the iPhone, reinstalling the app, re-adding the watch and forcing a fresh backup. Six runs later the zones had not reset, and the poster suspects the watch was pulling a bad backup from Connect.
Garmin Fenix 7 recording no heart rate on indoor bike activities
Fenix 7 owners report that the watch records no heart rate during indoor bike activities after a recent update, while heart rate works normally outside activities. The original poster uses a Wattbike. Turning the watch off and on, and deleting the activity and retrying, did not help. Others say it is intermittent during cardio.
The workaround that works is an external sensor. One rider bought a Garmin HRM 200 chest strap and it records heart rate on the indoor bike without trouble. Garmin support told that rider they could not help and pointed at the Wattbike, which another user disputed.
A Garmin moderator said engineers believe they have a fix in beta software version 28.02 and are looking for testers. Nobody has reported back on whether it works. If you do not want to run beta software, the chest strap is the only confirmed route for now.
Garmin Fenix 7 Pro Sapphire Solar battery draining 6 percent per hour with Map view open
A Fenix 7 Pro Sapphire Solar owner reports battery drain of about 6 percent per hour with the Map view open during an activity. The watch went from 74 percent to empty after about 9 hours on a hike, and from 72 percent to shutdown after 10 hours on another. Other data screens drain much less, and a Forerunner 965 with the map open lasted longer.
Another user explains it as a property of the MIP display, which uses power whenever pixels change. Their suggestion is to leave a data page with few changes open, such as the time, and switch to the map only when you need to check the route.
Garmin pointed to its battery drain support article and a reset guide, and said the watch would likely need replacing if the drain continued. The original poster had already done a full reset, and it did not fix the drain.
This issue remains unresolved — if you have encountered it and found a fix, the discussion is open on r/the5krunner.
More from last week’s Fix Files roundup.
Browse every issue in the archive at the Deep Dive Fix Files hub.
Last Updated on 30 October 2026 by tfk the5krunner
Small things I always use
- Garmin 90-degree charging adapter: Charges your Garmin from any USB-C cable. Essential when travelling. I use one.
- Body Glide: The blue anti-chafe stick swimmers and runners carry. I use it.
- Speedo earplugs: Fewer ear infections and no cold-water dizziness. I use them.
- Dryrobe Advance: My winter changing robe for open-water swims. I use one. A cheaper option is the AONYIYI changing robe.
- Maurten: Race fuel that stays easy on the stomach. I use them.
- Beet It Sport nitrate shots: Beetroot shots I take in the days before a race. I use them.
- Garmin charging puck: The quickest way to top up before a session. I use one.
- Injinji: Toe socks that stop rubbing, so you run more. I use them.
- Ultimate toe protectors: Stop black toenails on long runs. They work. I use them.
- Compressport R2 v2 calf sleeves: My calf sleeves of choice. I use them.
- Cellucor C4: My pre-workout before hard sessions.
- TPU tubes: Schwalbe Aerothan, Tubolito and Pirelli SmarTube. Light, tiny spares. I use all three.
- G8 insoles: Adjustable insoles that are good. I use them.
- Cycplus Cube: A 97g electric pump that gets a road tyre rideable in two minutes. I carry one. 5% off with code THE5KRUNNER.
Watches and sensors
- Polar H10: My daily driver for waking HRV.
- Polar Verity Sense: My backup arm-worn HR sensor.
- Nomad bedside charger: Charges my iPhone and Apple Watch overnight. I use it, and many of their bands.
- Train.Red: The best muscle oxygen sensor I’ve used.
- Tymewear: Accurate heart rate and reliable ventilatory zones. I use it to pace endurance rides over an hour.
- Garmin Forerunner 970: A pro-grade triathlon watch. I use this.
- Apple Watch Ultra 4: My daily smartwatch. No phone needed on rides.
- Garmin Fenix 9 Pro: I’ve just bought one.
On the bike
- Continental GP5000 for everyday riding, and Aero 111 on the front for special occasions.
- Helmets: Specialized S-Works Evade 3 for road riding, and Rudy Project Wing for TT-style races. I use both.
- Ravemen FR300: A front light that mounts under your Garmin or Wahoo. I use one.
- Wahoo TRACKR Radar: I use it on one bike and Varia on the other. They perform the same.
- Garmin Varia RTL515: Radar that warns you of cars from behind. I use this model.
- Wahoo ELEMNT Roam 3: The bike computer that’s easy to use. I use mine on most rides.
- Favero Assioma Pro RS2: Accurate power pedals that swap easily between bikes. I use this model.
Home and indoor training
- NPE Runn: Makes my basic treadmill smart, sending more accurate speed and distance to my watch and Zwift. I use it.
- Google Wifi: Keeps Zwift connected in my pain cave. I use it.
- Apple TV 4K: Zwift on the big screen. I use two.
- Google Nest Doorbell (wired, 2nd gen): My video doorbell, running in both Google Home and Apple Home. I use it.
Health, recovery and sleep
- FreeStyle Libre 3 Plus: Shows how my blood sugar responds to diet.
- hDrop: Measures my sweat loss in summer and indoors.
- Fourth Frontier Zone: Checks my heart under load in hard sessions.
- Oura Ring 5: My partner’s recovery tracker of choice.
- Eight Sleep: A cooling mattress cover my partner and I use nightly.
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tfk is the founder and author of the5krunner, an independent endurance sports technology publication. With 20 years of hands-on testing of GPS watches and wearables, and competing in triathlons at an international age-group level, tfk provides in-depth expert analysis of fitness technology for serious athletes and endurance sport competitors. See the gear tfk uses. ID
