Garmin’s May 2025 Update: Exploring the New Health and Hiking Features
Garmin’s feature update for May 2025 unveiled a combination of high-end tools and practical enhancements for users focused on outdoor activities and health. While certain features such as premium golf tools, a passcode lock, and a marksman stage timer are aimed at niche groups or paying subscribers, the update also presented multiple improvements that serve a wider Garmin user audience. Notable among these are the new Garmin Trails platform, rucking mode with pack weight tracking, and breathing variation monitoring — all assessed on the Garmin Fenix 8.
Let’s delve into how these new features perform in practical situations and what they signify for Garmin’s advancing wearable ecosystem.
Garmin Trails: A Proprietary Alternative to AllTrails and Komoot
Garmin Trails is the organization’s newest effort to provide an integrated trail discovery and navigation tool within the Garmin Connect app. Users can find local hikes by applying filters for distance, elevation gain, difficulty, and attributes such as dog-friendliness or seasonal popularity.
Although this tool shows promise, there is an important consideration: complete functionality, including the ability to save trails to your Garmin watch, requires a Connect Plus subscription. This paywall has faced backlash, especially since similar capabilities were once offered for free through Garmin Courses or third-party applications.
In testing, Garmin Trails proved beneficial for discovering curated hikes with specific filters. For instance, in California’s Bay Area, the app revealed numerous trails that matched particular criteria like ascent range and trail type. However, the platform presently lacks the depth of established apps like AllTrails. Numerous trails are devoid of user reviews, photos, or thorough descriptions, and several well-known routes are entirely absent.
Garmin Trails also heavily depends on user contributions to enhance its database. Features such as trail conditions (e.g., closures, bugs, or crowding) and trail characteristics (e.g., kid-friendly or forested) are limited due to insufficient community input. Over time, this could improve — but only if Garmin’s user base actively participates.
Rucking Mode and Pack Weight Tracking
Rucking — walking or hiking with a weighted backpack — has become a popular fitness trend, and Garmin now includes support for it natively. The newly introduced Rucking activity profile allows users to record the weight of their pack, resulting in more precise metrics for calorie burn and training load.
During testing, the Fenix 8’s Rucking mode displayed typical hiking metrics like heart rate, elevation, and distance, with the extra benefit of considering pack weight. However, the feature currently lacks advanced analytics that could distinguish it significantly. For example, there is no load-adjusted pace or stamina tracking, nor is there a “Load Score” to represent the stress of carrying additional weight.
Despite this, it is a commendable first step. Garmin’s choice to differentiate rucking from hiking ensures that VO2 Max scores remain uninfluenced by the added effort, maintaining the accuracy of fitness tracking.
Breathing Variation Monitoring: A Step Towards Sleep Apnea Awareness
Another subtle yet significant addition is the monitoring of breathing variation during sleep. Utilizing the watch’s Pulse Ox sensor, Garmin now tracks variations in breathing rate, providing insights into potential sleep issues.
While not a diagnostic instrument, this feature can assist users in recognizing irregularities that may require further medical assessment, such as sleep apnea. Coupled with Garmin’s existing sleep score, HRV (heart rate variability), and blood oxygen monitoring, this new metric enriches the brand’s comprehensive health monitoring suite.
The breathing variation information is clearly displayed in the Garmin Connect app, highlighting how often variations occurred and linking them to sleep quality. It’s a valuable addition for users who focus on recovery and long-term wellbeing.
The Verdict: A Beneficial Update with Opportunities for Improvement
The May 2025 Garmin update presents a mixed experience, but it is largely advantageous for health and outdoor aficionados. The new rucking mode and breathing variation tracking are practical enhancements that improve Garmin’s fitness and wellness offerings. Garmin Trails, while promising, is still evolving and requires both user engagement and broader geographic support to rival established platforms.
Key Takeaways:
– Garmin Trails provides curated hikes with advanced filters but falls short in depth and community content compared to AllTrails or Komoot.
– Rucking mode enables users to track pack weight, increasing accuracy in training load, though it currently lacks advanced analytics.
– Breathing variation tracking introduces a new aspect to Garmin’s sleep monitoring, potentially identifying sleep-related health concerns.
– Some features are still restricted to the Connect Plus subscription, which may discourage casual users.
In summary, Garmin continues to enhance its ecosystem with features catering to both niche and mainstream users. As long as the company remains dedicated to refining these tools and fostering community participation, updates like this one will ensure Garmin remains a leader in fitness and outdoor wearables.
