Garmin releases major new update to flagship smartwatches with over a dozen improvements

Earlier this week, Garmin surprised fans by returning to v15.xx beta development for the Enduro 3, Fenix E, Fenix 8 and Tactix 8 (curr. $1,299.99 on Amazon). Swiftly transferred to the company's stable software branch, v15.33 sought to resolve an issue that caused automatic shot detection to stop working in certain circumstances.

Without warning, Garmin has now reverted to v17.xx builds ahead of a future stable rollout. For context, the company issued Beta Version 17.14 with a few bug fixes compared to its predecessor. However, Garmin has now moved onto Beta Version 17.17, skipping public versions 17.15 and 17.16 in process.

Nonetheless, Beta Version 17.17 is a far more substantial update than Garmin's previous v17.xx beta update. This time, the company has introduced 16 new changes, including a new subtext line for custom focus mode volume levels. Primarily, Garmin has focused on bug fixes though, of which there are 14 by our count. As a result, the current list of v17.xx changes from System Software 15.33 sits at nearly 100, with more v17.xx beta builds likely to follow before Garmin finalises a corresponding stable build. The full list of changes between Beta Versions 17.14 and 17.17 is as follows:

• Added Subtext to Custom Focus Mode Volume.
• Fixed Colour Shift Not Turning On When Watch Goes into Sleep Mode.
• Fixed Device Lock Shortcut Immediately Re-locking.
• Fixed Find My Phone Prompting to Navigate Back to Phone When Phone Connection is Manually Disabled.
• Fixed Issue Where Automatic Shot Detection Could Stop Working if the Device Stays On for Multiple Days.
• Fixed Notification Time Inconsistencies.
• Fixed Passcode Not Being Set Properly After Backdating to Earlier Software Versions.
• Fixed Restoring From Backup Failing After Setting a Passcode.
• Fixed Running Economy Glance Not Showing Data When in a Folder.
• Fixed Running Economy Tip Not Working With Buttons.
• Fixed Sight N Go Not Starting From Map Navigation Menu.
• Fixed Stair Stepper History Showing Bad Data.
• Fixed Stock Glance Chart overlapping With Chart.
• Fixed Using Places Of Interest as an Outdoor Maps Plus Download Location.
• Fixed Voice Notes Not Sounding After Renaming.
• Updated Evening Report Sleep Advice to be Scrollable.