GarminDB

Be warned anyone that uses this - it uses Garth (<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;matin&#x2F;garth">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;matin&#x2F;garth</a>) to authenticate. It masquerades as an Android app (a single instance of one at that) and does some hacky stuff to login via web forms.<p>Garmin is such a horrible company to try to integrate with. I don&#x27;t know why they lock down their stuff so hard like this. And if you do manage to gain access to one of their offical APIs or SDKs, they are total dogwater.

A friend recently put me on to Intervals (<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;intervals.icu" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;intervals.icu</a>) for Garmin &#x2F; Strava related data nerdery and I’ve enjoyed it very much. As a rower it was nice that you can construct reports that give rowing related metrics rather than just the usual cycle &#x2F; run stuff.

What you can always do to get ALL your raw data out of Garmin connect (as FIT files) is using the data export (<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;support.garmin.com&#x2F;en-US&#x2F;?faq=W1TvTPW8JZ6LfJSfK512Q8" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;support.garmin.com&#x2F;en-US&#x2F;?faq=W1TvTPW8JZ6LfJSfK512Q8</a>).<p>There are some good OSS libraries to read and interpret those files (e.g. Python <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;polyvertex&#x2F;fitdecode">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;polyvertex&#x2F;fitdecode</a>, Go <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;tormoder&#x2F;fit">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;tormoder&#x2F;fit</a>).<p>To get your _current_ data, it is possible to pull the current .FIT files from your device (watch, bike computer, ..) when it is plugged to your computer and mounted as file system.<p>I once started a side project to do exactly that, but abandoned it after a while (<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;jo-m&#x2F;garmin-disconnect">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;jo-m&#x2F;garmin-disconnect</a>).

Garmin should really embrace this. The alternative, relying on smartphone apps, will lock them out in the long run. The big advantage of buying dedicated hardware, like a Garmin bike computer, is having more control over your data.

What similar devices don&#x27;t fight their own users wanting to access their own data ?

it always surprises me how much data is locked up in garmin&#x27;s (ancient) sdk.<p>for example, the FIT file format, used exclusively for programming workouts on all bike computers, are only supported in one or two apps!<p>I suppose that&#x27;s our fault and we should build on the sdk

It’s not only that API access is hard, it’s also they don’t listen tot the community.<p>Example: It’s not possible to filter for workouts without gear. Sometimes I forget to add my bike or a pair of shoes, so such a filter would be helpful.<p>It would be very easy for them to add add that filter to the app and &#x2F; or connect website.<p>But without a community manager, there’s no engagement possible.<p>Imagine they had a public tracker where people could request features. They could review them and use that knowledge to build better stuff, making more money.

I just got a new Garmin Vivoactive5 this week, because my old one broke (also vivoactive3). For now I am quite happy with it, but I bought it knowingly, that Garmins APIs and possibilites are not _optimal_ at all.<p>I looked into getting a Apple Watch series 10, but ultimately decided against it (battery lasting not longer than 1.5days &#x2F; no real use for messaging or smart apps a side from health &#x2F; 2x price compared to the vivo).<p>I would love to find an _open_ watch, that allows for hacking, nice APIs, self-hosting of dashboards even, nice apps et cetera. I feel like there is market for people like me. Maybe the rebirth of the pebble will be able fill this void?

I was hoping this would be a way to import and track data directly from the device, but it appears it talks to the Connect API, so I&#x27;m still tied to the official app.

I just set this up a few months ago! It stores data in a local sqlite db. I have a script that pulls in new data once a day.<p>It takes a surprisingly long time, there must be some serious inefficiencies since the watch only takes a second or so to sync all that same data to my phone. I haven&#x27;t had a chance yet to look closer at the internals.

Any fitness watch with better access to data? I&#x27;m not even talking about open source (which would be great), just interested in real-time access to health info without monthly subscription or scrapping their online portal.

Before I recommend this to a garmin-owner who rows, does it have good models for rowing specific data like the 500m split timers and your cadence? I looked and it seems like its very bicycle&#x2F;run aware, and &quot;paddle&quot; is not a term of art for rowers. (thats in the plugin) -If there is a data model for the Ergo, it probably would work because &quot;its the same&quot; (it isn&#x27;t but anyway. meh)<p>He shared some data with me to see if I could decode&#x2F;dump (2+ years ago) and I gave up. Garmin are not easy sometimes. Shame. I doubt their s&#x2F;w is making them much, people buy for the hardware not the app specifically. False benefit lockin.