What the parent comment is saying is that you can connect via usb and access the data that way.
Of course, the easiest way to see the raw data is to write a python script to plot it, so it’s not exactly the most user friendly, but it’s technically possible.
Even better than that, while some of them can sync over wifi directly, most of them sync over Bluetooth, to your app which must be logged in, which does nothing except use the phone’s internet connection to upload the data to garmin, and then the app needs to re-download all the data from garmin’s server before it can be displayed in the app.
So they can sync over Bluetooth… but in a format that garmin’s app can’t use or understand so you must be connected to the internet to actually see the data.
For a device which generally should work with bad/no internet, it’s completely insane.
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[ 2.8 ms ] story [ 28.9 ms ] threadMost all of their current watches sync via Bluetooth to app on phone.
Instead they sync over the Internet.
If you know of a GPS fitness watch that syncs over Bluetooth (not over the Internet, no account required), I'd be very interested for you to name it.
It does not sync over Bluetooth.
https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/621802
Of course, the easiest way to see the raw data is to write a python script to plot it, so it’s not exactly the most user friendly, but it’s technically possible.
https://github.com/arran-nz/fit-geojson
So they can sync over Bluetooth… but in a format that garmin’s app can’t use or understand so you must be connected to the internet to actually see the data.
For a device which generally should work with bad/no internet, it’s completely insane.