Garmin watches are like onions: you could peel down a number of layers of settings to get to the good things (after which cry from the arduous exercises).
Each time I change from Garmin to a different watch model, I find yourself lacking simply how complete and thorough Garmin Join is, actually giving me an entire information to my health coaching.
I will even be the primary to confess that Garmin Join is a dense, convoluted app the place the knowledge and settings you want are buried and poorly defined with out a ton of Googling. To not point out the truth that you want a second app (Garmin Join IQ) so as to add new apps and customized watch faces, and that altering settings on a Garmin watch itself is simply as convoluted.
Sunday Runday
In his new weekly column, Android Central Health Editor Michael Hicks talks concerning the world of wearables, apps, and total health tech associated to operating and well being.
Once you first arrange your Garmin watch, the app fortunately walks you thru a number of key steps: including music, Wi-Fi, Garmin Pay, emergency contacts, syncing to Strava, and LiveTrack. However after that, you are mainly left to fend for your self.
For brand new Garmin watch homeowners — or potential patrons questioning what the fuss is about — here’s a set of Garmin ideas and tips in terms of taking full benefit of your new watch! Be aware: some options are restricted to newer Garmin watches.
End organising
In the event you’re something like me, you may most likely skip numerous the sophisticated Garmin watch setup and plan to get again to it later. Then you definitely’ll get bombarded with pop-ups asking, “Now do you wish to arrange Garmin Pay?” Spare your self the each day annoyance and end organising each core function.
Within the Garmin Join app, faucet the watch icon on the highest banner, then choose your present watch (or sync it if it is disconnected). Your first possibility will probably be End setup, which guides you thru the aforementioned options like including Wi-Fi and security options.
Or, when you’ve already accomplished setup however wish to change issues after the very fact, you may discover these options in the identical watch Settings menu; Garmin Pay and Music are apparent, whereas Wi-Fi is underneath Connectivity and Security & Monitoring helps you to change your Emergency Contacts or allow LiveTrack.
Change your objectives
Once you first obtain Join or arrange a watch, it will immediate you to set objectives in your each day steps, weekly depth minutes, or each day flooring climbed. You can even discover these objectives by tapping the watch settings icon > Well being & Wellness.
For steps, you’ll be able to set it to make use of an “auto common” or set a particular objective like 10,000 steps. Auto common modifications primarily based on what number of steps you usually tackle a given day, subtly adjusting greater when you match or surpass the objective or decrease when you fail to hit it. An auto-updating objective will push you to enhance however could climb too excessive so that you can hit; at that time, chances are you’ll wish to change to a handbook objective as soon as you realize what you are actually able to.
For weekly depth minutes, the World Well being Group recommends adults aged 18–64 hit 150–300 minutes of reasonable exercise or 75–150 vigorous exercise to remain wholesome. So to illustrate you select 250 minutes as your goal: Garmin will mechanically use coronary heart fee zones to find out if an exercise is reasonable (zone 3) or vigorous (zone 4+) and double the logged minutes in case your coronary heart fee is excessive sufficient. You’ll be able to change these, corresponding to making zone 2 reasonable or making solely zone 5 “vigorous,” in order for you.
I additionally advocate checking your precise coronary heart fee zones. Go to your watch settings > Consumer Profile > Coronary heart Charge & Energy Zones. Right here, you’ll be able to regulate your max coronary heart fee, lactate threshold, and 5 HR zones.
Garmin can solely estimate your max coronary heart fee primarily based in your age and health, and your lactate threshold — the extent at which lactate builds up in your blood on account of bodily exertion — will get greater the fitter you might be, in keeping with this UVA Faculty of Drugs research.
So it’s best to carry out a stress check to find out your private well being values. I adopted this information by Coaching Peaks and located my common coronary heart fee at max effort over the past 20 minutes of a 30-minute exercise to calculate my LTHR, then adjusted my zones accordingly. Ultimately, Garmin will collect sufficient knowledge out of your exercises to offer you extra correct post-run information.
Arrange a coaching plan
Most up-to-date Garmin watches have each day instructed exercises that advocate how lengthy and arduous to coach, primarily based in your current coaching knowledge, VO2 Max, restoration time, and sleep knowledge. Whereas helpful, these exercises lack context if, as an example, you are coaching to hit a sure distance or time; and so they do not account in your each day life and schedule.
Runners and cyclists could wish to arrange an precise, official coaching plan as an alternative of counting on the algorithm. In Garmin Join, go to Extra > Coaching & Planning > Coaching Plans.
Runners will select a 5K, 10K, or half marathon plan primarily based on what number of miles they run every week, their objective (whether or not to merely end a race or hit a sure time), and which type of Garmin Coach they need. Cyclists will goal for a particular mileage objective like Century or Gran Fondo, a time trial objective, or to enhance their mountain biking talents.
You can even obtain customized, self-guided Garmin Join coaching plans not accessible via Garmin Coach, corresponding to a marathon coaching plan or triathlon coaching. On the internet, go to this Garmin Join hyperlink, select a plan, and add it to your schedule.
As soon as you have arrange a Garmin Coach coaching plan, each day exercises will seem within the Calendar in your app and watch, so you’ll be able to see how rigorous as we speak’s exercise will probably be forward of time. Some newer watches, just like the Garmin Forerunner 255, actually have a Morning Report that offers you that information as quickly as you get up.
Create your personal exercises
Throughout a instructed or scheduled exercise, your watch exhibits how your present tempo or coronary heart fee falls inside a goal vary, buzzing your wrist to let you know when you’re too excessive or low, or if it is time to shift to the following a part of a exercise. It is a implausible self-training too, however as I discussed in my current Garmin function wishlist, you’ll be able to’t simply edit a exercise previous to beginning it, in case you feel too drained or wired for what the Garmin algorithm is suggesting.
I like to recommend making your personal customized exercises and saving them to your watch so you’ll be able to entry them at any time. Return to Extra > Coaching & Planning and choose Exercises > Create a exercise. You’ll be able to arrange a run or biking session, reserve it underneath a customized identify, after which ship it to your Garmin watch by tapping the telephone icon.
When you’re on the exercise begin display screen, maintain the Menu button (left-middle) on 5-button watches or the Again button on 2- or 3-button watches. Choose Coaching > Exercises > Customized exercise identify > Do exercise.
I’ve a number of generic exercises saved, like “Future,” that warns me if I fall under a sure tempo, or extra particular Observe Run coaching plans for intervals. That approach, if I do not like what’s on the Calendar for the day, I can simply drag and drop it to a unique day and do my very own exercise as an alternative.
You are in luck when you’re extra keen on indoor energy coaching, yoga, HIIT, or different actions than operating. On the Exercises display screen within the app, you’ll be able to Discover a exercise and select between a ton of exercises centered on finishing reps, both at house or within the health club.
Garmin has over a thousand exercise sorts, and so they’re animated so you’ll be able to verify on the shape earlier than you begin a rep your self. Watches with AMOLED shows just like the Venu 2 Plus provide the greatest expertise on that entrance.
Change your knowledge screens
Every sports activities exercise exhibits important knowledge in your wrist throughout a run. For instance, the Run exercise exhibits the timer, distance, tempo, and coronary heart fee. However you’ll be able to see a lot extra throughout a run if you wish to: coronary heart fee zone, stamina, operating energy, your operating dynamics (aka stride size, cadence), a map/compass, elevation modifications, and so forth.
You’ll be able to change an exercise’s default knowledge fields in your wrist or within the app; I like to recommend the latter. Go to your watch settings > Actions & Apps, select a particular exercise, then Knowledge Screens > Add Knowledge Display.
You’ll be able to add a default display screen themed on particular knowledge (like stamina or elevation), or you’ll be able to create your personal customized screens with as much as six fields of information. The latter is very helpful since you’ll discover tons of choices that are not on the generic screens, like real-time charts of your tempo/pace/coronary heart fee over time.
You’ll be able to combine and match knowledge that might usually seem on separate screens, so you may hopefully spend much less time scrolling via them when you need to be staying within the zone. Or you’ll be able to prioritize much less mainstream knowledge fields; for instance, chances are you’ll want seeing your Common Tempo or Lap Tempo as an alternative of your real-time Tempo.
Make your GPS monitoring extra correct
The newest and best Garmin watches help all-systems or multi-band GPS, making them probably the most correct GPS watches in my exams. Lots of them use SatIQ to change to raised satellite tv for pc knowledge as soon as it detects a sign blockage or delay, however you’ll be able to select to at all times use the highest-level monitoring in order for you the very best knowledge always.
Maintain down the Menu button and choose Actions & Apps > Run (or one other exercise) > Run Settings > GPS and select All + Multi-Band for the very best accuracy. In the event you solely see GPS and UltraTrac, your Garmin would not help the newer choices.
You may most likely wish to do the identical in your Stroll or Hike exercise, which additionally auto-selects on some watches. Some will want UltraTrac, which takes rare GPS readings to avoid wasting battery; others will want one thing extra correct, particularly in the event that they’re utilizing a longer-lived Garmin watch just like the Intuition 2X Photo voltaic.
Battery life vs. options
You most likely selected a Garmin watch regardless of its lack of conventional smartwatch “smarts” due to its lengthy battery life, amongst different issues. However typically, you may wish to reduce into the battery capability for particular options — or in the reduction of to make it last more. The GPS setting above is only one instance.
On the subject of blood oxygen monitoring, Garmin is without doubt one of the solely manufacturers to supply 24/7 checks as a approach for athletes to verify their altitude acclimation or common well being, however you may also arrange during-sleep monitoring or carry out handbook spot checks In your watch, maintain down the Menu button, scroll all the way down to Well being & Wellness, choose Pulse Oximeter, and select both All Day or Throughout sleep when you suppose your battery can deal with it.
You probably have a memory-in-pixel show, chances are you’ll not like how dim the show is, particularly indoors; Garmin tends to make 20% the default outdoors of actions, which is fairly arduous to learn. Maintain down the Menu button, then scroll all the way down to System > Show > Normal Use. You’ll be able to change the default brightness, allow raise-to-wake so you do not have to press a button, alter the display screen timeout time to be a little bit longer, and even make always-on the default.
I am assuming that your new Garmin watch has a robust battery life and may stand up to extra demanding settings. However when you’re having the alternative downside and wish to delay your battery, I wrote a information on the best way to repair Garmin watch battery issues that can assist you out. Lengthy story brief, you’ll be able to activate a Battery Saver mode that disables the most typical battery-draining options.
Customise your watch face
Your Garmin watch face is what you may spend most of your time observing, so ensure that it is enjoyable (or informative) to have a look at! As soon as once more, maintain down that trusty Menu (or Again) button, relying in your watch’s variety of buttons, and Watch face must be your first possibility.
Choose it, then scroll via the generic watch faces accessible in your watch by default. Choose a watch face you want, then select Customise. You’ll be able to change the general format, which knowledge is displayed, and/or the accent coloration for the watch face.
The Garmin icon meanings are a little bit obscure, particularly when you’re first beginning out and your knowledge is empty. Go to this Garmin help web page, change the watch identify to your present mannequin, and see (A) which icons can be found in your watch and (B) what they imply.
If you would like recommendation, my private favorites are remaining restoration time (so you realize when your physique is able to work out once more), step rely (duh), earned depth minutes, weekly operating distance, and climate. I am not a fan of displaying my coronary heart fee or different well being knowledge, because the fixed replace burns via the battery and likewise provides me anxiousness if my coronary heart fee is just too excessive, nevertheless it’s as much as desire!
If you would like watch faces past what Garmin presents by default, you may must obtain a second app — Garmin Join IQ — on the Google Play Retailer or iOS App Retailer. You should use Face it to create a customized watch face with your personal private images or go into the IQ Retailer and discover/obtain a watch face made by the Garmin group.
Arrange Sizzling Keys
Most Garmin buttons have set shortcuts whenever you maintain them down, like opening the music participant after squeezing the bottom-left button. However you most likely do not know (I did not till very lately!) that there are six different shortcuts you’ll be able to arrange on a 5-button watch: Maintain START, Maintain BACK, START + Down, START + UP, BACK + LIGHT, and BACK + UP.
With any of those shortcuts, you’ll be able to pull up a favourite function instantly, as an alternative of getting to scroll via widgets or menus to search out them. Go to Menu > System > Sizzling Keys so as to add your new shortcuts — I rely 24 choices on my Garmin Forerunner 965.
These are my private favourite Sizzling Keys that I might advocate including to your watch:
- Pockets: In the event you arrange tap-to-pay, you wish to pull up that possibility instantly as an alternative of protecting the folks behind you ready as you swipe via submenus.
- Flashlight: Most Garmins do not have a built-in flashlight just like the Intuition 2X Photo voltaic, however this setting will make the display screen 100% brilliant, serving to you see your approach at midnight in a pinch.
- Timers/stopwatch: These useful instruments do not want any rationalization.
- Navigation: It is good to have the ability to pull up your present environment throughout a GPS-tracked exercise; this solely applies for watches with correct mapping, like a Garmin Fenix or the Forerunner 955.
- Brightness: As I discussed earlier than, chances are you’ll wish to hold your brightness low to avoid wasting battery, however have the choice to boost it shortly at any time.
As a facet word, in case your watch helps emergency help and also you set it up, then you could maintain the designated button for about seven seconds, after which, the watch will vibrate 3 times and your real-time location will probably be despatched to your preloaded emergency contacts. You’ll be able to’t change which button triggers this.
Use Discover My Telephone / Discover My Watch
As long as your smartphone and Garmin watch are related by way of Bluetooth, you should use both gadget to search out the opposite. Garmin’s Discover My function is not practically as sturdy as a Put on OS or Apple Watch because it is dependent upon Bluetooth. Nevertheless it’s nonetheless fairly useful to have when you’re in a rush and your watch or telephone is buried within the sofa cushions.
In your watch, go to the Controls menu; maintain the Gentle button on a 5-button watch or the Begin button on a 2-button watch. Discover My Telephone is the icon with a telephone and query mark; choose it. Your telephone ought to ring loudly, whereas your watch will show a colourful indicator displaying how shut you might be to it.
Within the Garmin Join app, choose the watch icon and scroll all the way down to Discover My Gadget. Your related watch will vibrate till you dismiss the pop-up notification, serving to you to trace it down if it is close by.
Hopefully, these Garmin ideas and tips will enable you get extra use out of your new Garmin watch! When you do the early work of getting every thing arrange, Garmin’s analytics and algorithms deal with the remaining, so you’ll be able to simply take a look at your wrist and see what sort of exercise it’s best to do subsequent.
Not all Garmin watches share each function. The extra you pay, the extra Garmin crams into the watch. So when you’re shopping for a top-end Forerunner watch or Fenix watch, you may wish to transcend what I listed above and actually dive into menus and settings your self, so that you’re getting your cash’s price.
Now that you just’re all set in your Garmin settings, it is time to hit the monitor or path and get shifting! And even when you do not use each Garmin trick within the e-book, it is okay; we lately examined the Garmin Forerunner 265 towards different manufacturers for step rely accuracy, and it outperformed the opposite manufacturers.