When I’m training for a long-distance race, such as a marathon, there’s one feature I use on my Garmin Epix Pro—and now the Garmin Fenix 8—that I find more useful than almost any other: route creation. With a few taps on Garmin Connect, I can ask the app to automatically generate a circular route that starts and ends in the same location. Occasionally, the distance needs adjusting (it can offer an 11.5-mile run when I selected 12.4 miles), but overall, the feature works like a charm.
Once I have the route, I send the GPX file to my best Garmin watch by syncing it (in a snap) and, boom!, I have turn-by-turn directions on my watch via maps and alerts to turn at the right time. This allows me to stop having to navigate the course and just focus on my run.
Many of the best running watches are packed with this kind of automation, from virtual pacemakers to target heart rate zones, which take some of the mental load off of a long run. However, during my extensive testing of nearly every running watch brand, only Garmin can pull off this kind of route-creation feature so it's easy and simple to use on the fly. And thanks to the new Garmin Fenix 8 and Garmin Enduro 3, things are only about to get better.
In an exclusive chat with TechRadar, Jon Hosler, product manager for the Garmin Fenix 8 during its development, told us about the new dynamic routing feature on the Garmin Fenix 8 and Enduro 3. Dynamic routing allows you to run a set distance, finishing at your starting point, without having to plan too much. Even if you stray from the route you originally planned, your watch will intelligently recognise what you're doing and reroute you based on your originally selected distance.
“We've noticed that a lot of people like to veer off course and do something slightly different, or, you know, a road is closed that day and they need to take a different route,” Hosler said, “and that can really derail that race completely if you don't know where you are.
“It is now more adaptable. If you change routes midway, [your Garmin watch] “You'll remember that you wanted to run that 5 or 10 kilometers and you'll create a new route on the fly, allowing you to return that same distance. If you want to run around the lake for a second and then come back 5 kilometers, you know, we're trying to make that possible.”
During my time in Paris during the Olympics, I had to deviate from my planned race route due to road closures for the cycling events and this feature would certainly have helped me stay on track. But dynamic routing has much more to offer – it can also guide you back to your starting point during unplanned races with set distances.
“The second half of [this feature] Some people know where they are running, but they need a little confidence that they can easily get back to where they started. If you start running and set a goal, we remind you during the race, but we don't give you step-by-step instructions.
“At 40%, for example, once you get to two miles, we would start creating a route back to the start automatically and ask you 'Would you like to go back?' and [if the runner selects yes] We are giving you this route suggestion, only for the second half of your career.”
These changes to one of my favorite running watch features will be of great use to people like me: runners who travel a lot and train for long distance races. It's often difficult to find circular routes to run the distances we need in training, especially in new areas, but Garmin is determined to make it easier.
