Garmin has released a new software update for three of its most popular watches, the Garmin Fenix 7, Epix (Gen 2), and Quatix 7, making over 80 changes in total.
Like the Garmin Instinct 2, these three watches are getting the new heart rate variability (HRV) status tool, which was first introduced with the launch of the Forerunner 955 in early June. Your heart doesn't beat like a metronome; instead the time between beats varies depending on how your autonomous nervous system is reacting to the stresses and strains of daily life,
The HRV status tool tracks HRV for a couple of weeks to establish a baseline, then monitors HRV each night and plots it against this baseline so you can see if your body is responding differently to normal.
However, as TizenHelp reports, this update for four of the best Garmin watches includes dozens of other new features, in addition to a vast package of bug fixes. Most of these additions are small, but put together, should make the overall experience of using your watch feel smoother and more polished. For example, the Race widget now shows a course map preview and a course elevation preview to help you prepare.
Daily suggested workouts now include a plan overview so you can see what's coming up, you can check historic sleep data in the Sleep widget, you can reorder stocks in the Stock widget, and you can check your heat acclimation history in the Training Status section.
Fun tweaks and bug fixes
Other tweaks are just fun. For example, after finishing a race you'll now see a graphic of a trophy on your watch's face to celebrate your achievement.
Bugs identified and squished include an issue where your training status and race time predictions might disappear, a problem where battery saver mode would enable automatically, and an issue where recovery time would sometimes show 'hours' instead of ;days' (oops).
Garmin's forums include a full list of all 80+ changes, plus links to download the alpha update for each watch. If you'd rather wait a little longer to be certain that the patch has been fully tested, you should receive the finished release candidate through the Garmin Connect app within a few weeks.
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