Garmin Connect services were down • Hacker News Board

Re: Garmin Connect services were down

#51

Post by wisosim » Wed, Jan 08, 2025, 1:37 PM UTC

hihungryimdad wrote: post #45

rojeee wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup, I have a Garmin Fenix 8 AMOLED. It's an excellent watch. I run for 6-8 hours a week and I only need to charge it once a week. It is very hard wearing and has so many capabilities I don't know where to start. It even has a flashlight with red LED for during the night. With Garmin connect down I can just grab the FIT file from the watch and upload to Strava manually or perform my own analysis locally.

Rojee, could you provide more information about grabbing the FIT file from the watch? Also, what kind of analysis do you do locally? ... Sorry, what type of file is it? Just a CSV?

FIT is the file type, from Garmin specifically. You can upload that directly to other tools like Strava, Runalyze, etc or do your own analysis.

https://docs.fileformat.com/gis/fit/

Re: Garmin Connect services were down

#52

Post by altcognito » Wed, Jan 08, 2025, 1:41 PM UTC

Nabati wrote: post #12

I wonder if this is another ransomware situation

Already back so I don’t think so

Re: Garmin Connect services were down

#53

Post by altcognito » Wed, Jan 08, 2025, 1:42 PM UTC

It was back up about 45 minutes after this was posted.

Re: Garmin Connect services were down

#54

Post by notachatbot123 » Wed, Jan 08, 2025, 1:44 PM UTC

https://gadgetbridge.org/ ahoy sadly only few Garmin devices are supported so far

Re: Garmin Connect services were down

#55

Post by mabedan » Wed, Jan 08, 2025, 1:47 PM UTC

Who do they need a platoon of cookies for a user checking out the status?

Re: Garmin Connect services were down

#56

Post by avg_dev » Wed, Jan 08, 2025, 1:48 PM UTC

Tangent: is it possible to use a Garmin watch without turning Bluetooth on on my phone and still get the data synced somehow?

Re: Garmin Connect services were down

#57

Post by OnACoffeeBreak » Wed, Jan 08, 2025, 1:48 PM UTC

hihungryimdad wrote: post #45

rojeee wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup, I have a Garmin Fenix 8 AMOLED. It's an excellent watch. I run for 6-8 hours a week and I only need to charge it once a week. It is very hard wearing and has so many capabilities I don't know where to start. It even has a flashlight with red LED for during the night. With Garmin connect down I can just grab the FIT file from the watch and upload to Strava manually or perform my own analysis locally.

Rojee, could you provide more information about grabbing the FIT file from the watch? Also, what kind of analysis do you do locally? ... Sorry, what type of file is it? Just a CSV?

To add to what others have posted... Activity (i.e. running, walking, cycling, etc.) FIT files are found in the GARMIN/Activity directory on the watch after connecting it to a computer over USB. File names are date time stamps.

Re: Garmin Connect services were down

#58

Post by darrenf » Wed, Jan 08, 2025, 1:50 PM UTC

avg_dev wrote: post #56

Tangent: is it possible to use a Garmin watch without turning Bluetooth on on my phone and still get the data synced somehow?

Yes, some (many?) Garmins have wifi which it can use to sync activities. For example my Venu 2 supports syncing with Garmin Connect over wifi: https://www8.garmin.com/manuals/webhelp/GUID-D93137A9-B374-4...

Re: Garmin Connect services were down

#59

Post by Mainsail » Wed, Jan 08, 2025, 1:51 PM UTC

wsdookadr wrote: post #14

People who rely on maps would have them downloaded onto their navigation devices. Nobody needs Garmin to be up 100% of the time.

I haven't looked at what is directly impacted yet, but this is an oversimplification. Assuming it is all Garmin services down, I've personally used my inReach for the following situations that have no real map involvement:

- Coordination of supply drops during multi-day backcountry ski tours.

- Weather updates in the Rocky Mountains where weather can change in an instant.

- Contacting a personal dispatch POC over messaging during an avalanche injury that required SAR without having to hit the SOS button.

Additionally, my wife relies on her inReach mini every day as a safety net as a biologist in remote areas of Colorado. Most people I encounter in the outdoors space rarely use their Garmin for navigation. Instead they use an app akin to onX, Gaia, CalTopo, etc.

Re: Garmin Connect services were down

#60

Post by lukeschlather » Wed, Jan 08, 2025, 2:11 PM UTC

avg_dev wrote: post #56

Tangent: is it possible to use a Garmin watch without turning Bluetooth on on my phone and still get the data synced somehow?

What's the motivation behind keeping Bluetooth off? If you're just trying to avoid Bluetooth, I would just turn on Bluetooth, it works better than the Wifi sync and at the end of the day it's doing exactly the same thing, just with your phone as a bridge.

Another option for syncing is the desktop app, or just manually copying the fit files to somewhere. I sometimes copy the fit files and convert them to gpx to upload GPS traces places. Also I can view the GPX files in e.g. gpxsee which shows them on a map.