Last month, Garmin announced access to its ECG feature within the European Union (and Australia) for Fenix 8, Venu 3, and Venu 2 Plus users. However, Fenix 7 Pro & Epix Pro users were left in the literal January cold. As I said at the time, “this is one of the more baffling decisions I’ve seen in recent times from Garmin.” After all, it made no technical or regulatory sense. The ECG App is certified by regulators at the app + sensor hardware level. The Fenix 8 & Fenix 7 Pro units share identical hardware at that level, as demonstrated by the US release (and for that matter, Venu 3 release in the EU).
Adding fuel to the fire, when I asked Garmin at the time why the Fenix 7 Pro & Epix Pro units were getting skipped, they basically sidestepped the question and essentially implied only future “forward-looking” devices would get it.
Obviously, that didn’t go well with either me or the Internet.
And, as a Valentine’s Day gift to European Union and Australian users, you can now enable ECG on your Fenix 7 Pro and Epix Pro units. This also includes the D2 Mach 1 Pro, Quatix 7 Pro, and Tactix 7 AMOLED – all of which have Garmin’s Gen5 optical HR sensor in them (whereas the Tactix 7 non-AMOLED uses the Gen4 sensor).
To activate this, you’ll simply walk through the steps outlined in my previous post on this. It takes all of 1-2 minutes to get started, super quick and easy:
Note that, as before, the UK is excluded here. Obviously, with the UK no longer in the EU, the regulatory process is different and, in turn, requires more approvals. Of course, as before, you can always activate your device when traveling to the EU (or US), and then it remains activated permanently. I suggest a warm sunny location.
As for Garmin’s change of heart, who knows? Perhaps after the GPS fiasco a few weeks ago, they’re looking for some love. Or perhaps it was the heavy pushback from users. Or perhaps they just wanted to get into the Valentine’s spirit. Who knows. That said, what is clear is users are more and more pushing back on the concept that recently released watches shouldn’t get new features via firmware.
Garmin had been doing really well on that front in the last few years in the case of Forerunner, Edge, and Fenix/Epix (save Venu/Vivoactive, cause it never gets back-love). But it feels like since the fall, and the release of the Fenix 8, that approach was shifting. Given the Q1 2025 update list is almost exclusively new hardware units (at least in terms of the most interesting features), I’m not convinced that approach is changing, at least anytime soon.
In the meantime though, Fenix 7 Pro & Epix Pro users can enjoy the new feature.
With that – thanks for reading
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And a good thing too! It was an absurd decision for all the reasons you cite. Didn’t directly affect me as I don’t own that generation, but it did make me wonder about just how badly I wanted to stick with Garmin in the future.
that is a great news, and customers of Fenix 7 “Pro” Series are happy with it.
Now, if Garmin could work on Software Quality this will be the next goo objective. Fenix 7 Series, all models and version are now playing with a very bad new branch 20.xx.
Very very bad version with crashes during Course navigation, HRM issue, GAP, Vo2Max, etc…… :-(
I’m thinking about buying Epix Pro, it’s 599€ here in Finland at many online stores. Does it has crapware software/firmware also, with not much updates?
Or should I buy Apple Watch? Series 8, Series 9, Series 10 and Ultra 1 & 2 all have the latest sensors for measuring vitals (skin temperature, respiration, heart rate…). Is a second hand series 8 or ultra 1 as good as latest series 10 and ultra 2 for measuring nighttime vitals?
That depends on whether you want a sports watch or a smart watch. I never use the Ultra 1 currently on my wrist for anything resembling an actual activity. But an Apple Watch is the best smart watch in existence (assuming you have an iPhone, otherwise don’t get one). For actual activities, it sucks compared to my Epix 2 or the Edge 1040 I use for cycling. When I’m doing an actual activity (until the weather breaks using a MacBook Air running Zwift), my Ultra goes on the charger. But I wear it all of the rest of the time. The software on the Epix is still regularly updated, and I hasn’t given me any trouble since I got it. And I’m on the beta track.
As for nightime vitals, they’re vastly overrated. I’ve only had one night since WatchOS 11 came out where one of them was out of range. Otherwise, they, like sleep tracking itself (been doing that for about a year), really isn’t telling you anything useful.
Quite unhappy to hear that! Just was prompted today to upgrade to 20.16 and gave the go-ahead. Was not aware of the issues
The ECG functionality is now also available in Canada as of a few days ago.
It might seem a bit reactionary of me but, with this laggardly release plus the GPS fiasco I’m dive with Garmin.
I love my gen 2 epix pro but, at the price, I not only expect premium treatment but demand it.
I may as well go with a cheaper but functionally equivalent brand like Coros.
Coros don’t offer anything functionally equivalent to the Fenix.
Agree. The Vertix is interesting in certain ways and competes more realistically against Suunto & Polar, and to probably a greater extent versus the Forerunner 955. But it doesn’t have anywhere near the functional features of a Fenix (6, 7, or 8). In particular in navigation.
As a general rule of thumb, when people talk about reasons to flee one brand to another, I strongly recommend citing believable reasons. Companies call your bluff otherwise. There’s plenty of reasons to be upset at Garmin (e.g. the update strategy), and plenty of ‘moves’ one can make (e.g. Instinct 3 vs Suunto Race or Vertix). But they have to be moves that are believable, otherwise Garmin execs consider them hallow threats.
But even the FW update strategy is hard to leverage here, because Garmin knows that when they do deliver firmware updates, they typically deliver more meaningful features in a single quarterly update than their competitors do in 1-2 years. COROS does have some strong ones here and there, but nowhere near the frequency that they used to (but still well beyond Polar/Suunto/Wahoo of course).
I don’t think that was the point. Coros and Suunto have been amazing in the last year making sure that their older devices get all of the new features that the older devices have.
With Coros and Suunto getting better and better it will become more of a question of do I really need all of these things that Garmin offers. There will always be the DCs of the world who want the million bells and whistles, but many just want reliable watches that look cool and refreshed. I would say there are few that use 75% of the features offered on a new Fenix. Having said that, getting a new UI or more exciting turn by turn would go a long way with the loyal user base. I say this as someone who is only a runner and use an Edge device on my bike. If I am really in a jam while on trail (and I have been) my phone is usually the one to come out. Sure it doesn’t need to, but I guess my point is people like shiny new things and a new UI would go a long way. I am sure the Fenix 7 and & pro could run the new UI, they just don’t want us to have it.
My comment was for Dave, not you Ray. Bad timing
Fair, but those users aren’t the target for Fenix in the first place. In the last year I’ve used mine to run, trail run, hike, road, gravel, electric and MTB, SUP, snowboard, race using maps and up next, indoor row, indoor bike, pool swim, weight train…it goes on. If someone doesn’t need all that, they’re better to use something else. What’s nice with Fenix is that you just might want to try something new..and it’ll probably be supported.
Except Rucking…
For those of us who have served or are still serving, I’d agree (to some extent). For the over-militarised cosplay bro brigade, I’m a lot less bothered.
Totally fair. I hope you know what I meant. I think a lot of us use only a few sport profiles
Despite my comment at the top, I think I’m sticking with Garmin. I took a good look at the Suunto Race and decided against it. Only one HRM paired at a time (I swop between a chest strap and a Tickr Fit armband); can’t as far as I can see load maps from different sources (such as TalkyToaster); doesn’t have the Up Ahead list of waypoints; only imports GPX courses, not FIT with the much superior turn/waypoint features…
I actually hate their new quarterly update strategy as it makes me nervous every time I see a firmware update. By adding new (mostly useless) stuff, they break core functionality of their watches. I think Ray should write something about it and put them in the spotlight, just look at Garmin forums and see how many issues are reported by beta testers and more often than not they make their way to the final release. Gone are the days when they worked a couple of months on squashing bugs and released a stable firmware. Beta program wasn’t supposed to change that for worse :/ Tired of a once reliable watch crashing, burning through battery and not showing GAP properly.
Yes, the random breakages and regressions are much much worse than the lack of feature updates (which were never promised anyway)
Maybe I’m in the minority, but I’m on beta releases on my Epix Gen2 Pro 51mm and have not had a single core functionality break on me throughout my entire time with the watch (got it at launch). Perhaps I use it relatively simply (stock watch faces, run/trail run/strength, navigation following courses, etc) and don’t swim or ride much at all. I do use it *a lot* though, recording at least one GPS activity every day I’ve owned it.
I guess you don’t use planned workouts much? There was one beta recently that would crash the watch with reboot every time it automatically advanced to the next step. That did get fixed pretty quickly.
I definitely didn’t spoof the GPS on my phone and VPN it to the US and then install ECG from the comfort of my UK home. Which is for the best.
Will it be available for the Fenix 7x sapphire solar?
The non-Pro first gen 7 series don’t have the hardware to support it.
I think I’m going to give in and go to an 8 Pro from my 7XSS, if one appears. I’ve no plans to do a miler and the 8 series batteries will last for a 100k no problem. Also, the boot screen graphical contour lines very nicely match the seat tube artwork on my new bike haha
Hopefully Garmin wises all the way back up and realizes their strengths are getting as many devices to use the features and metrics that Garmin can provide to work with the training plans for running, riding and strength that Garmin also provides.
Garmin is starting to feel a little like RIM/Blackberry in the early iPhone days. The lack of consistency and bugs across all the devices is a problem.
Yeah would agree . There are many other things that garmin could do like work with other brands to give us users better integration like adding the core body temp sensor to the work out metrics as body temp does affect your training, or working with trek e-bikes and use the inbuilt pedal power sensors in the e-bike to measure your power vs having to pay thousands of dollars to buy garmin pedals with clip in’s ( which personally I don’t like on a mountain bike ). These are just some of the things that’s these big brands could do
My Specialized Creo 2 power meter pairs with my 7XSS and my Edge 1050 without a problem. I’ve only used core sensors as a lab test subject in a PhD trial but if they use ANT+ or BTLE and are in those specs I suspect they’d work fine too.
That sounds like it might be on Trek. My Specialized eMTB works fine with my Edge 1040 and Epix 2. It pairs as a power meter as well as an e-bike and a speed/cadence sensor.
Thanks for your advocacy on issues like these Ray
The fact that I did not fake the GPS on my phone and then VPN it to the United States followed by installing ECG from the convenience of my home in the United Kingdom is perhaps for the best.
Delighted to see how Garmin rectifies its mistake. Anyway, I think the ECG on a watch is little more than a gimmick.
Garmin, like other manufacturers, focuses a lot on selling new products and does not worry as much about including new functionalities in old devices. This is not to say that the products do not work well. My 10-year-old Forerunner 920XT still works.
However, I would like Garmin give more attention to the software. Tacx app has become obsolete compared to the competition. Additionally, Garmin Connect could include greater data analysis functionalities as Intervals.icu does.
Let’s hope that the competition (Suunto, Polar, Coros, Wahoo, Hammerhead…) makes Garmin step up.
Apple Watch ECG confirmed atrial fibrillation on my Dad (the trace was read by my wife, a very experienced anaesthetist) and got him treated in hospital before he suffered what would probably have been a debilitating stroke. It’s not a gimmick.
Great to read this and thanks to Garmin to re-evaluate this decision.
A bit off-topic but any news regarding a new Venu variant coming soon?
Was wondering the same, the statement of the Venu series not getting love cut deep.
They didn’t ‘backtrack’, it was planned all along. Different devices get updates at different times.
Lol. Sure, sure…
UK F8 user here currently in France but not getting the option to “finish setup”
Any ideas ?
Have you changed your country in your profile in Garmin account? You need that as well as GPS location to enable ECG.
If not you can go here :- link to garmin.com Then “edit” and change location to France. That should then pick up in the Connect app on your phone and be able to enable ECG
This would not apply to the Enduro3 would it? I forget what the Enduro3 best aligns with from the Fenix series.
It should… GPS app on Enduro3 in EU/Australia was made avaialable at the same time as on the Fenix8 back in January:
link to dcrainmaker.com
Where’s the love for New Zealand!?