Five Hacks Every Garmin Fenix 9 Pro User Should Know

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Garmin’s new Fenix 9 Pro is a damn good watch. Mapping is fast and clear, the titanium case feels durable yet lightweight, and the built-in flashlight is a must-have—although this all comes at a steep price of $1,099.99. Whether you were first in line to order this latest Fenix, or you’re still considering if it’s right for you, here are five tips to get even more out of one of the best adventure watches money can buy.

Garmin Fenix 9 Pro Solar 47mm Titanium GPS Smartwatch Pebble Gray Band

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$1,121.99
at Amazon

Display your live stats over your map

The Fenix 9 Pro is Garmin’s most advanced mapping watch yet, so it’s fitting that there’s a lot of ground to cover here. One of my favorite small-but-mighty upgrades has been to add my route map as a dedicated data screen, and then overlay live stats, such as pace, heart rate, and distance, along the top. The payoff is that you can see where you are on the route and how hard you’re working in one glance, with no flipping between screens mid-climb or mid-intersection.

First, make sure you have your map as its own dedicated data screen. 

1. Press the START/STOP button (top right) from the watch face and select your preferred GPS activity (e.g., Run or Trail Run).

2. Scroll down and select Activity Settings.

3. Select Data Screens.

4. Scroll all the way down and select Add New.

5. Select Map. 

Next, here’s how to overlay your live stats. 

1. While still in the Data Screens menu, scroll to your newly added Map screen and select it (press START/STOP).

2. Select Layout to change how many data fields overlay on the map. Scroll or use the UP and DOWN buttons to cycle through options (typically allowing one to two data fields overlaid at the top or bottom). 

3. Select your preferred layout.

4. Select Edit Data Fields.

5. Click on a specific flashing field, browse through the data categories (e.g., Pace, Heart Rate Fields, or Distance), and assign your desired metric to that slot.

Experimenting with different display options.
Credit: Meredith Dietz

While messing around with maps, here are few more tricks worth mentioning:

• Use “Record Only” mode as a breadcrumb trail. On an unfamiliar route, the watch quietly lays down your path without following a preloaded course. If you get turned around, you can use that trail to retrace your steps back to the start.

• Try a round-trip course. Tell the watch how far you want to go, and it generates a loop that starts and ends where you are. It’s ideal for traveling, or for days when you want a run or ride without planning anything.

• Turn on tilted perspective maps. The 3D-style view makes terrain easier to read at a glance and pans more smoothly while you navigate trails.

For the best GPS accuracy, choose the multi-band, all-systems GPS mode in your activity settings. Then stand still for a few seconds outdoors and let the watch lock onto satellites before you hit start. Keep the sync and software updates current, too, since fresh satellite data speeds up locking. The tradeoff is battery life, so save the most accurate mode for races, technical terrain, and city canyons where signals bounce.

If you hike, add Climb Pro to a data screen. When you’re following a course, it shows the climbs coming up, including how much ascent is left and the grade. You can add it in the activity’s data screen settings. Knowing a steep pitch is 400 feet away is a big help when you’re deciding how to pace yourself.

Customize your shortcuts to reduce fumbling with buttons

Go to Menu > Watch Settings > System > Shortcuts and assign quick actions, such as saving your current location or launching the stopwatch, to button combinations like hold Start + Up.

It’s always worth messing around with the defaults. For instance, I love running in the rain, so I assigned “Hold Start + Up” to Touch Screen Toggle, which lets me lock the screen quickly in inclement weather. Another favorite is having the Down button toggle Do Not Disturb. The default route means holding the LIGHT button to open the Controls Menu and then selecting the Do Not Disturb icon, which is a few too many steps when I’m in a “do not disturb” mood.

If you’re a regular interval trainer, I recommend assigning your lap button to also trigger auto-pause. It sounds small, but it’s a nice way to cut fumbling when you’d otherwise have to manually stop and restart the clock between laps.

When in doubt, remember you can access the full watch manual easily: Just open Garmin Connect, tap your watch icon at the top right, and select Help to search specific features on the fly.

Strip down your data screens

Your Fenix 9 can show you a huge amount of information, but sometimes less really is more. Mid-interval, pushing at an intense pace, your brain does not have the bandwidth to process eight fields of numbers. Pace, heart rate, and cadence is plenty for most workouts. Everything else, like elevation, calories, and lap count, can live on a secondary screen you glance at during recovery jogs rather than hard efforts.

You can customize in the Garmin Connect app or directly on the watch:

1. Press START/STOP and select the activity profile you want to edit.

2. Press and hold UP (or swipe) to open Activity Settings.

3. Select Data Screens.

4. Choose the screen you want to edit.

5. Select Layout to pick the number of fields, anywhere from 1 to 8.

6. Select Data Fields to change what displays in each box.

Broadcast your heart rate to improve your training

When you’re stripping down your data screens, consider updating your training settings so suggested workouts use heart rate zones instead of pace. As a long distance runner, I know that pace targets fall apart on hills, in heat, or on tired legs. Heart rate, meanwhile, tracks how hard your body is actually working.

Start by using the instructions above to strip your data screens to focus on heart rate metrics. Then you can take it a step further by broadcasting your heart rate.

You can customize the activity settings to broadcast your heart rate data automatically when you begin an activity. You can also do it manually:

1. Hold down the middle-left button and select Watch Settings.

2. Select Health & Wellness > Wrist Heart Rate > Broadcast Heart Rate.

3. Press the upper-right START button.

4. Open the pairing menu on the receiving device (like a bike computer or treadmill) and connect to your watch.

When you turn on the broadcast heart rate shortcut for gym sessions, compatible stair-steppers, rowers, and indoor bikes can read your pulse directly off your wrist—no chest strap required.

Stack duplicate activity profiles

If you own a Fenix, I’d wager you’re a multi-sport athlete. Instead of constantly editing your primary Run or Strength profile, duplicate it in Garmin Connect and build specialized versions, such as “Track Run” and “Easy Trail Run.” Each can have its own data layout and alert settings, so switching workouts means picking a profile instead of rebuilding screens on the fly.

I’ll also assume that you’re the outdoorsy type, so here are two must-know features:

Green night-vision flashlight. The built-in LED flashlight lets you cycle past white and red to a green mode, which helps preserve your night vision.

Water eject. After a swim or a downpour, hold the upper-left button (or whichever button you’ve assigned to open your Controls menu), scroll to Water Ejection, and select it. The watch plays a series of tones to push water out of the speaker. Wipe it dry afterward. If you don’t see the option, add it to your controls in the watch settings. The feature also runs automatically after you save or discard a swimming or water-related activity, and you can start a fake swim workout to trigger it.