[Closed] Help from the Garmin Fenix crew, please

You need to track the session on the watch as well. This is because the training load etc is tied to the device. (It's to do with licensing the calculations from firstbeat, Garmin actually bought them out so there's hope it will change. But for now it's device based).

ANT+ is one to many, so you can pick that data up on as many devices as you like. If you are using bluetooth on the laptop, still use ANT+ on the watch. But connect as powermeter/HR strap/cadence sensor etc NOT as smart trainer. You want the data, not the control.

If you sync zwift/sufferfest to connect you'll end up with duplicate entries. There's no good solution to this yet. (There might be no good reason to sync sufferfest, I don't know. But zwift gives you the virtual map, elevation etc from in world which is good to have)

This is helpful, thank you.

Further question: If I hook up as suggested does that get me around the need to do outdoor runs that the watch suggests to establish a baseline?

I've a Fenix 5 and pretty much gave up what you are trying to do! (although mostly because I wanted to get a decent bike computer for navigating long road rides) As a result I now have more data collectors than I probably need. In a nutshell:

1. Fenix 5 for running and open water swimming
2. Wahoo Elemnt Roam for riding (road and MTB). Use HRM and speed/cadence with this.
3. Wahoo Kickr Bike for indoor training, use HRM and Sufferfest with this (tried Zwift, like it, but prefer the structure of Sufferfest)

All of this rolls up to Strava so I can track effort across all disciplines. Pretty expensive way to do it, but works well.

Further question: If I hook up as suggested does that get me around the need to do outdoor runs that the watch suggests to establish a baseline?

Yes. My Fenix 6 started spitting out VO2max calculations based on Zwift rides within a few sessions.

It should in theory be able to get workouts from Sufferfest onto the watch via TrainingPeaks and Garmin Connect, but I never got it to work. Even copying them over by hand was pointless.

Yes indoor trainer can replace the need to run. I don’t run and as long as I do semi regular turbo sessions you get a VO2 reading.

I just log everything on my Fenix. If I need my Garmin Explore on the bike I use it for mapping and then just delete the ride after.

As above, link the turbo to the Fenix as a power source (and add a cadence sensor if you have it), and record and save the session on both Zwift and Garmin. I always save the Zwift session first to Strava - sometimes Strava sees the duplication and doesn't list the Garmin session, and sometimes I get both (so delete the Garmin one).

I also use the Fenix 6 to broadcast heart rate to Zwift. It works well for me, but I hear mixed reviews of wrist based heart rate.

VO2 Max and Recovery calculations work fine.

I might start doing all this.. I have my garmin Edge (not fenix..though I have a fenix..) connected to my crank PM when I'm zwifting, just to check it's still broadcasting, and to 'zero offset' before each ride.

I just delete the garmin 'ride' once it's finished, but I guess I should save it, let it upload to connect AND strava, then just delete the strava bit.,..

DrP

I have had issues with Garmin connect in the past when uploading the same ride from both my Edge and my Fenix - they seem to fight each other and then neither upload and Connect hangs for hours - full Bluetooth etc resets needed. That’s why I started just not saving the Edge data.

Thanks for all the pointers - very helpful.

I had a crack this morning with partial success, and now that I think about it ... I assume the correct order will be to hook up the laptop and Bluetooth connections first, and then look for ANT+ connections on the watch?

Think I'll need to make a note of the numbers of all the devices so that I can remember what's what...