Garmin Forerunner 245

Good Stuff:

• Reduced to £200
• Relatively large screen compared to body (30mm)
• Export GPX files (from web interface or USB)
• Customisable Watchfaces and Data Screens
• Garmin Linux SDK Available

Bad Stuff:

• Grey strap - grooves collect dirt
• Charge cable not magnetic
• Body not as rugged as Casio Protrek or GShock
• Garmin Web and App software is inconsistent
• Lots of training metrics and stats fairly useless

Garmin v Casio

Casio make some big chunky watches, the only problem is that the actual display real estate is small compared to the size of the watch.

Screen Sizes:

• Casio Protrek PRW-3510 - Display Diameter = 22mm = 0.86inches
• Garmin 245 - Display Diameter = 30mm = 1.2inches

The Casio GShock and GSquad line up have even smaller screens.

Ideally what I would like is a Garmin Instinct case with a ForeRunner 245 or 255 screen.

Heart Rate

All fitness watches make a big deal about heart rate zones and their effect on training.

Despite the aggressive marketing wrist based optical Heart Rate sensors have limitations.

Even with accurate Heart Rate monitoring by a Chest Strap not all is as it seems. My empirical evidence of Heart Rate does not match the advice on the internet.

SDK Environment

And a bonus with the Garmin is that custom watch faces, and custom activity displays are available in the Garmin Connect IQ Store. If that is not enough there is a Garmin SDK to create your own.

Install Visual Code:
snap install --classic code

*** The snap install worked fine for ages and then the Simulator started giving the error "WebKit encountered an internal error" when trying to edit porperties/settings.

Solution was to delete the snap and instal the deb package from: https://code.visualstudio.com/

This:
https://forums.garmin.com/developer/connect-iq/i/bug-reports/connect-iq-sdk-download-not-working-with-firefox-on-linux

But with:
wget': wget http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/universe/e/enchant/libenchant1c2a_1.6.0-11.3build1_amd64.deb -O libenchant1c2a_1.6.0-11.3build1_amd64.deb

sudo dpkg -i libenchant1c2a_1.6.0-11.3build1_amd64.deb


Then:
https://developer.garmin.com/connect-iq/sdk/

Create new project with Watch Template
https://developer.garmin.com/connect-iq/connect-iq-basics/your-first-app/#yourfirstconnectiqapp

Ok, I just tried it with VS code,  While it creates a project, there are no target devices.  Use "edit products" to add target devices, or Monkey C: Build for Device


Run then Run Without Debugging

Get Timeout so:
Need to sym plink .prg file from project bin dir to /tmp/GARMIN/APPS
ln -s /home/swatts/Garmin/Steve/Watch2/Watch2/bin/Watch2.prg .

Then we are up an running.

Time to create some Garmin Apps.

Watchfaces

Apps

Widgets

Data Screens

Garmin Connect IQ Store