Has anyone read anything in regards to the durability of the screen on the 920XT? I was pretty disappointed with how easily my 620 scratched and am hopeful that they have changed/reinforced the screen with this model.

"for you." Just like some people see no value in Di2, or carbon frames, etc.

LiveTrack is definitely an improvement over Find My Friends / Google+ Locations as there's no set-up required btw. the follower and the followee. Also, LiveTrack includes the ANT+ data in the stream, so that's not "adding nothing."

Until an earlier responder mentioned it, I didn't know that the livetrack included sensor data as well. That is indeed pretty cool. I can certainly see some use in that during a race.

From a safety standpoint, I like the roadID app...but that would drain through the battery more than I would like.

I was really hoping they would include a data radio in there (like the bio and timex). I rarely run with with my phone.

I would take the lessons of 910xt early adopters and wait for the updates to hit. I know some people like to be early adopters so they can be part of the update process. I prefer a product that works when I need it too. The 910xt is about 80% there. No way in HELL Garmin is getting my money for the 920xt despite some of the intriguing features.

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The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design.

Shortly after getting my 310, the 910 came out. At the time I figured that there would be a replacement within a couple of years so I decided to wait. Turns out it was more than a couple of years and now that the 920 is out I figure I'll end up living with whatever happens. I attempted to us a Fenix 2 but ran into some issues. I suspect that if I had spent more time with it, it could have worked out but decided to return it to wait for the 920. Now, we'll see.

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BC Don
Pain is temporary, not giving it your all lasts all Winter.

I must either be lucky or one of the majority who quietly enjoys a perfectly functioning watch. I got in May 2012 (~3 months after launch) and have since put almost 900 workouts on it. I never had any crazy issues with the altimeter, instant pace or anything else. Garmin connect can be finnicky at times, but for me...the watch has been 100% from day 1!

I think the recent updates to GC clearly show that Garmin have no qualms about breaking something that is already working, so waiting for bugs to be 100% sorted could leave you twiddling your thumbs for quite a while. I bitch and moan, because I'm sure they could do better, but regardless I will probably be getting the 920 first chance I get.

I would say 80% is close to how I feel. Instant pace not working as well as it did on earlier models. More frustrating is you can not use the 910 to follow courses. I was an early adapter of the 910 but will sit this one out until the reviews start coming out. If IP and more importantly the courses work well I will probably get one too :)

...of course you can. I've used it a few times. Sometimes the line lags and you might get to a corner and not know which way to go. A few seconds later, it'll catch up and you are good to go.

Edit...the quality of the course is huge. It is very annoying if the loaded course is not spot on. It'll keep beeping "Off course" then "course found"...over and over and over.

By IP, are you referring to IQ? If so...yeah man, I am pretty jazzed for that as well.

FTFY.

Of course I can, but then I risk getting so frustrated and being tempted to throw the 910xt into the woods out of frustration. I tried it again this passed weekend on a simple 25 mile loop. It lagged and paused and lagged again, and guess what? What I tried to stop biking and let it catch up it just froze. I rebooted and tried again with the same results. If you think that its acceptable to follow a course and then pull over and wait for the device to catch up, and maybe do that a dozen times during your ride then god bless you. I am sure that Garmin really appreciates your tolerance. Me, not so much, especially since I also had the 305 device which had this feature working perfectly.

Hopefully, the Connect IQ thing would allow programmers to improve that and perhaps the new antenna location would be more reliable for stuff like that. I tried to use this feature as well on a simple bike ride to help remember turns but it was futile.

I've found courses to be adequate with the 910xt with a few stipulations
1) Make your routes on Bike Route Toaster
2) Set your warnings at an appropriate distance for the activity (i.e. running routes I usually use a 50 ft warning, for biking routes 200-500 foot warning)
3) Don't expect that it will re-route you. It's not a turn by turn guidance system
4) Set the route width one that is acceptable for your route.

With these tips I find no trouble using courses with running. I rarely use it for biking, because I use my Edge 800 which is much better (and safer) for this.

this...

I bet by March/April 2015 this watch is going to work great...

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The entire event (IM) is like "death by 1000 cuts" and the best race is minimizing all those cuts and losing less blood than the other guy. - Dev

Cool! I will give this one a try. I have always just used tcx files with varying success. (It has never been so bad that I wanted to chuck the watch into the woods though, haha.)

Didn't even know you could change the "warning" distance...thanks for the tips.

Yes, when you export the route, you can choose your warning distance and a prefix for the warning. I use "Up next" as the prefix, so when I'm running, It will say "Up Next: Left" 50ft before the turn.

Also in the the Routing section you can select to have the route on the side of the road or the center of the road (you can also choose which side of the road). You can also choose how many feet off the center of the route it will warn you.

Following the thread on DCRainmaker's site, he did a sprint My-athlon and posted the results. Regarding GPS accuracy, he said, "I think you'll be impressed. I'm not sure I've ever seen that perfect of GPS running track files...ever." I guess Garmin has figured it out using GPS and GLONASS.

Not a chance. Connect IQ is a high level API, not a firmware development kit.

Connect IQ is an open platform for third-party developers to create apps for Garmin products. The backbone of Connect IQ is a new language called Monkey C. It has a class which seems allow access to various attributes provided by GPS sensor(s). It is absolutely awesome that it is available to third-party developers, but it also relies on firmware to actually fetch information from the sensors. I think that is what sharkbait is saying.

Yeah, you can't change anything about the underlying system, just add stuff on top. It's pretty easy stuff if you have any programming experience. I have already made a few simple apps for the emulator.

This

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Today is the second day of the rest of your life if you started keeping track yesterday

Has anyone's order shipped yet?

Perhaps not...
The main problem with using the course feature on the 910 is that the map lags, and you can no longer see how the course curves. Can you write an app that could access a saved course and just pre-cache a lot more of the course so that it could keep up better? (It tends to get behind in spurts, not cumulatively.)
Another problem is that it'll say "off course" a lot. The app could be more forgiving of varying off course (due to small course or current GPS errors). I'd assume that both of those would probably sit on top of the main FW.

Then again...maybe the course feature in the 920 is already improved with those tweaks.

Is ordering direct from Garmin usually the fastest way to get a new release?

I'm in Canada so it'll take longer. I've ordered locally because when I compare prices to what I could get from the U.S., it'd cost more to order (although perhaps I could get it sooner). Conversion from U$ to C$, along with the inflated exchange rate whenever I charge US$ to my Visa, Shipping Charges because I don't have a U.S. Address. Canadian Taxes of course, a handling or shipping fee depending upon who is doing the delivery. Plus, once it arrives here, I can go and pick it up and, if I have any issues I can return it (within 30 days) for a full refund. When I ordered the estimated arrival date was November 20th. Some time out unfortunately.

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BC Don
Pain is temporary, not giving it your all lasts all Winter.