# Garmin fenix 3 help



## JDHutch (Sep 29, 2017)

Hey everyone, my wife got me a Garmin fenix 3 watch. Pretty cool toy. So I’ve been messing around with it and got it to link both to my iPhone and Strava. My question is what do I push when I’m ready to hit the trail? If I select the “bike” option it starts a timer. Is that tracking my GPS also? I know it’s supposed to auto upload to Strava but I’m not sure how to get started.


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## Magsrgod (Jun 21, 2006)

Hit your start button, select bike, that will take you to a screen with time, speed and where your GPS signal will show as a bar around the outside of the face. Once the bar turns green your watch should buzz, at this point hit start again. That's it your off and tracking the activity! Once your done hit the start button again to stop it and save it!

To sync with Strava you will need to connect your Garmin account to your Strava account. This can be done in the Garmin Connect App. Open the App -> More -> Settings -> 3rd Party Apps. Once your there you should be able to log into your Strava account completing the link. 

Once all is said an done the process will be this. 

- Go out and record a ride on the watch
- Finish and save the ride on the watch
- Open Garmin Connect App and Sync Watch
- Once ride is Sync'd with Garmin Connect it will auto upload to Strava.


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## JDHutch (Sep 29, 2017)

Thank you. Much easier than I thought. Any other tips/tricks? It appears Strava Live Segments won't work with the 3. Can I download trails and navigate with this?


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## Magsrgod (Jun 21, 2006)

JDHutch said:


> Thank you. Much easier than I thought. Any other tips/tricks? It appears Strava Live Segments won't work with the 3. Can I download trails and navigate with this?


I don't think live segments are available with the watch but I do believe you can do navigation with it. I'm not sure how right off hand as I have a Edge 820 that I use for maps because if my horrid eyes!

Poke around google some, if there is a way to do Nav then I'm sure someone has made a youtube video for it.


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## Magsrgod (Jun 21, 2006)

Here's the video I was thinking of


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## funkymonks (Aug 23, 2017)

You can put a route on the watch and it will show you following the route and give you an "off route" vibration when you go the wrong way. It does not do turn by turn. 

My usual route methodology is to build a route in Strava route creator, download the .gpx file, then connect my Fenix 3 to my computer via USB and copy/paste the gpx file into the Garming/Newfiles folder (note that by default the "Newfiles" folder is hidden and you need to enable viewing of hidden files on your PC).

You can do it with a phone and the Garmin connect app as well but you need the GPX file in your Garmin Connect account first.


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## JDHutch (Sep 29, 2017)

Thanks for the feedback. I've used the watch on many rides now and really like it. I use probably 5% of all the features it has now but still playing with it. 

Pros - durable, comfortable, cool looking (imo - don't wear it to work but always wear it on evenings/weekends), syncs with my iPhone so I can read alerts and texts and see missed calls without taking phone out of pocket, and most importantly the GPS is way better than my iPhone so it doesn't miss strava routes or show me way off the path or not register at all. 

Cons - its expensive and doesn't do a couple things like HR monitor and live segments. I can add an HR monitor and bluetooth it to the watch if I ever want one. The live segments seem like a cool idea but honestly probably not that practical and once I hit "start" I'd rather enjoy the ride and ignore the watch. The newer version of this watch, the Fenix 5, has live segments but its reallllllly expensive. 

So I've added it to my pre-ride checklist:
Wheels - water - watch - gloves - glasses - helmet


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