Garmin is rolling out some of the brand new features from the Forerunner 955/255 to the Fenix 7 and Epix sports watches.
The company has just launched an alpha release of 9.14, which brings a host of improvements.
The Fenix 7 is getting the new Training Readiness feature, which uses heart rate variability and a host of other metrics to give you a score on your recovery. This will be available in Garmin Connect and on the Fenix 7/Epix via a glance. The feature launched on the Garmin Forerunner 955 in June.
This Training Readiness score has been a big missing feature, that has been well implemented by the likes of Whoop, Oura and even Fitbit.
Garmin is also rolling out its Running Power feature, which means that the Fenix/Epix will be able to give a live output of running effort level (when paired with the Running Dynamics Pod or HM-Pro chest strap).
Training Readiness was launched on the Forerunner 955
And the Fenix 7 and Epix will also get the Race Day feature, which counts down to big races, offering training advice and shows predicted finishing times.
There’s loads more in the 9.14 update, and it’s certainly one of Garmin’s bigger updates.
The Fenix/Epix will now make use of wind data for golf and Jumpmaster activities.
Other interesting improvements are that VO2 Max data will be shown over a 4 week period, and there are improvements to the Daily Workout recommendation. This feature can be useful, but we have found the pace targets to be quite slow and it doesn’t feel that personalized.
And there’s the new Cycling Ability feature coming over from Garmin Edge.
There are 45 improvements, fixes and new features added in the 9.14 update – so it will be an essential one to download. You can read the full changelog here.
The update is an alpha release right now, and there are plenty of bugs being reported on the forums. So we’d estimate it’s still a month or so away from landing as a finished over-the-air update.
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James is the co-founder of Wareable, and he has been a technology journalist for 15 years.
He started his career at Future Publishing, James became the features editor of T3 Magazine and T3.com and was a regular contributor to TechRadar – before leaving Future Publishing to found Wareable in 2014.
James has been at the helm of Wareable since 2014 and has become one of the leading experts in wearable technologies globally. He has reviewed, tested, and covered pretty much every wearable on the market, and is passionate about the evolving industry, and wearables helping people achieve healthier and happier lives.