April 2023 - Will we get expeditions this month?

Join the April challenges soon in Garmin Connect.

New in this month: We might see expeditions.

Other news: All standard badges that were announced in January are now active: Tacx challenges - Alpine Classic, Eleven Cities Tour and Pro Rides and the event badges - Set a Date, Sharing Is Caring and Mission Accomplished.

Updates after initial post

  • 2023-03-15 - Expeditions are here. You can join one climb and one hike at the same time. Join one of each and just log steps and floors climbed and you will eventually get the badges. They are labeled as limited time, but the end date is in 2099 so no need to hurry.
  • 2023-03-30 - 2023 Songkran Festival is confirmed to require country Thailand.

Expeditions - Update

What we saw last month was just some general details about the expeditions. Now Garmin has listed 28 expeditions. You see them in the end of this post. They are famous climbs and hiking routes. Since one of the descriptions from last month said that you only can do one expedition at a time we will have expeditions for a long time.

The longest one is the Appalachian Trail which is 3500 km from step distance. My step distance for the past year is 4496 km which means that it will take me something like 9 months. Maybe it is best to not start with that one. Start with an easier one like the Great Wall which is just 20 km and will take just a few days.

Three month challenges - Stage 2

2023 Running - Stage 2
Join this challenge and record 300 kilometers (186.5 miles) of running activities from April 1 to June 30.

2023 Walking - Stage 2
Join this challenge and record 91 miles (146.5 km) of walking activities from April 1 to June 30.

2023 Cycling - Stage 2
Join this challenge and record 675 kilometers (419.5 miles) of cycling activities from April 1 to June 30.

Full month challenges

April 15K
Join this challenge and record a 15-kilometer running activity in April.

April Tour
Join this challenge and record 400 kilometers of cycling activities in April.

April Warrior
Join this challenge and record a total of four hours of yoga activities in April.

Active April
Join this challenge and record 20 activities of at least 20 minutes each in April.

April Swim
Join this challenge and record 4,000 meters of swimming activities in April.

April Rundown
Join this challenge and record 50 miles of running activities in April.

April Step Month
Join this challenge and record 300,000 steps in April.

April Gains
Join this challenge and record a total of four hours of strength activities in April.

Weekend and week challenges

Step into April
Join this challenge and record 100,000 steps from April 1-14.

April Weekend 10K
Join this challenge and record a 10-kilometer running activity from April 7-9.

April Weekend 40K
Join this challenge and record a 40-kilometer cycling activity from April 14-16.

April Ride to 100
Join this challenge and record 100 kilometers of cycling activities from April 23-29.

April Weekend Walking
Join this challenge and record a 3-mile walking activity from April 28-30.

Badges in April

  • April 13-15 - 2023 Songkran Festival, Record an activity during Songkran, April 13-15, 2023, country: Thailand
  • April 22 - Garmin Olathe Marathon 10K 2023, Run the Garmin Olathe Marathon 10K in Olathe, Kansas, on April 22, 2023.
  • April 22 - Garmin Olathe Marathon Half 2023, Run the Garmin Olathe Marathon half marathon in Olathe, Kansas, on April 22, 2023.
  • April 22 - Garmin Olathe Marathon Full 2023, Run the Garmin Olathe Marathon in Olathe, Kansas, on April 22, 2023.
  • April 23 - Baloise Antwerp 10 Miles 2023, Run the Baloise Antwerp 10 Miles race in Antwerp, Belgium, on April 23, 2023.

The list of all Expeditions that we will get sooner or later

Aconcagua
Start this expedition and climb 6,961 meters by tracking your daily floors climbed.

Annapurna Circuit
Start this expedition and hike 160 kilometers by tracking your daily steps.

Appalachian Trail
Start this expedition and hike 3,500 kilometers by tracking your daily steps.

Camino de Santiago
Start this expedition and hike 784 kilometers by tracking your daily steps.

Chilkoot Trail
Start this expedition and hike 53 kilometers by tracking your daily steps.

Cradle Mountain Overland Track
Start this expedition and hike 65 kilometers by tracking your daily steps.

Denali
Start this expedition and climb 6,190 meters by tracking your daily floors climbed.

Elbrus
Start this expedition and climb 5,642 meters by tracking your daily floors climbed.

Everest
Start this expedition and climb 8,848 meters by tracking your daily floors climbed.

Everest Base Camp Trek
Start this expedition and hike 62 kilometers by tracking your daily steps.

Grand Canyon Rim Trail
Start this expedition and hike 21 kilometers by tracking your daily steps.

Great Wall
Start this expedition and hike 20 kilometers by tracking your daily steps.

Grossglockner
Start this expedition and climb 3,798 meters by tracking your daily floors climbed.

Inca Trail
Start this expedition and hike 40 kilometers by tracking your daily steps.

K2
Start this expedition and climb 8,611 meters by tracking your daily floors climbed.

Kilimanjaro
Start this expedition and climb 5,895 meters by tracking your daily floors climbed.

Kosciuszko
Start this expedition and climb 2,228 meters by tracking your daily floors climbed.

Milford Track
Start this expedition and hike 53 kilometers by tracking your daily steps.

Mont Blanc
Start this expedition and climb 4,808 meters by tracking your daily floors climbed.

Mont Blanc Circular
Start this expedition and hike 160 kilometers by tracking your daily steps.

Ararat
Start this expedition and climb 5,137 meters by tracking your daily floors climbed.

Kilimanjaro Machame Route
Start this expedition and hike 62 kilometers by tracking your daily steps.

Olympus
Start this expedition and climb 2,917 meters by tracking your daily floors climbed.

Toubkal Circuit
Start this expedition and hike 60 kilometers by tracking your daily steps.

Patagonia Circuit
Start this expedition and hike 120 kilometers by tracking your daily steps.

Rheinsteig Trail
Start this expedition and hike 320 kilometers by tracking your daily steps.

Vinson
Start this expedition and climb 4,892 meters by tracking your daily floors climbed.

West Highland Way
Start this expedition and hike 154 kilometers by tracking your daily steps.



Garmin Badge Database
Garmin Connect
Change country setting

Comments

  1. Expeditions are available now.

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  2. There is written Limited time. Do anybody know when this expeditions challenges will end?

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    Replies
    1. In 2099 so no worries.

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    2. It looks like the Badge Updater might have broken - seems to just sit there "waiting" now. Maybe the expeditions broke it?

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    3. @dmmac. Yes, the updater got an issue. Likely from the expeditions. I'm trying to fix it.

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    4. @dmmac. The updater works again. It wasn't an error in the updater. It was on the server. Main issue was that the database couldn't handle the really big target distances for the expeditions. Solution was to increase the size of the datatype in the DB.

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    5. Thanks Andy - funny how much I now rely on this feature! Keep up the great work - you are amazing!

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  3. For clarity, you can enter one hike and one climb expedition at the same time. The climb ones interest me the most as I live in a hilly area.

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  4. How to get floors with a Forerunner 245? Thanks in advance

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    Replies
    1. Good question. I don't think you can.

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    2. Unfortunately you can't with fr245. We have this problem, my biggest son has fr245, he can't, but the small son has vivosmart 4, he can

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  5. Anyone know if you mistakenly joined a really long expedition challenge and want to start with the shorter ones, if you "end challenge", can you restart it later?

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    Replies
    1. I joined one that was really long in hikes so ended it and started a shorter one and it worked fine. I think you can restart it at any time but can only have one hike open at a time until completed.

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    2. Ok, I took a chance and exited one of my climb expeditions. It does show the option to rejoin. It does warn that you will lose all progress, and it will not count towards a new expedition. But, a same day "end" and "start" at least brings over that day's steps/climbs

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    3. How do you exit an expedition?

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    4. @C.A. View the expedition, click the dots menu and end expedition.

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    5. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    6. Click the Challenges, click to see all, click the expedition, click the dots in upper right corner.

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  6. Funny when you complete an expedition and start a new one - the steps/floors in the current day count twice!

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    Replies
    1. so if you can climb 8848 m in one day, and still have enough time to change to all expeditions, you can finish all the climbs in 1 day ;)

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    2. It seems that bug is repaired now

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  7. I have a question about the marathon badges: do I actually need to be in Olathe, Kansas (or even do the exact course) or is it enough to run a 10k in 1 activity on that day anywhere in the world?

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    Replies
    1. They are likely locked to the correct course in Olathe.

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  8. I see that Mishonsa has completed 24 out of the 28 expeditions in a day. Would love to know how that was achieved!

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    Replies
    1. The trick is to change date on the phone to January 1 2023 and then join the expeditions.

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    2. @e7andy - that's really interesting! I wouldn't have thought of that. Tried it out of interest and couldn't log into Garmin Connect. So guess it will be back to earning them!

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    3. I haven't tested it myself so I'm not sure about the details. Maybe using the phone for setting the date and then use the web for joining the expeditions.

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    4. I don't understand why people like Mishonsa and Vince Jones cheat to get all these badges and points. Like what's there to feel proud of? There is zero feeling of any accomplishments. Perhaps remove them and others who cheat from the top rankings or remove the rankings if there is no way to police this https://garminbadges.com/lists.php?type=badge_points

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    5. Hi. I only used the phone

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    6. @eyzonme My plan is to allow custom hiding of users that you don't want to see, but I think I will have to launch a major update of the site for that with login functionality.

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    7. I worked out how this workaround works. All on phone, make sure you are in connect app challenges before you change the time. As I assume it allows Jan to March stats to be used over and over again using this method, I am not (ab)using it. To each their own.

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    8. when I change the date then GCM throws me out and I need to login again and it doesn't let me log in until I set the date back to the current date

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    9. If I do an ultramarathon race with 10,000 meters of total ascent, I can take on all the hiking challenges one after the other in one day and win them all. Will this be cheating?

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    10. I think this is an abuse of an imperfect solution (bug), in this case the badge system. Garmin probably had no idea that there would be multiple acceptances of the challenge in a single day. In general, such abuse is stupid, especially for you. You could have a goal for the next months and you would receive a badge for the effort you put in. If it's just about getting a badge...hmm, I don't know...what's the point? The badge should be proof of your ability to achieve that particular Expedition. But it's not.

      As for the Expedition, it would be good if it included some sort of map with progression. At the same time, some interesting information about each Expedition could have been included. I also think the point system could have been more balanced. The longest Expeditions will be several months of work, so 16-24, maybe even more points would be a well-deserved reward.

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    11. True, but even before the expeditions it was the case. It looks like in Garmin they decided to cap the point at 8. So anything beyond a marathon is "only" 8 points (i.e: 100km or 100mile). Now that we have 3500km expeditions this is even more so. But on the other hand you at lest now you can have multiple badges (and points) for the same steps. What i mean is that if you do lots of steps because you hade a marathon, then you'll get the marathon badge, probably the monthly step badge, and either one of the short expeditions or part of a longer one. It's not that bad, this is just some extra bonus. If you're into points then go and "optimize" your workouts for points. The expeditions are more for the badges, and you still get some extra points.

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  9. I like the idea of these expeditions but like others, I don't have the watch to be able to do the climbs. Can anyone explain this? I understand that those watches with barometric altimeters can measure ascent and translate it to floors but my question is what is being recorded in Connect that contributes to achieving the badges? Why can't I edit the hike activity to add my total ascent?

    I have a Forerunner 735 but using the excellent Hike2+ app, I get a recording of ascent in the activity. Why is that not contributing to these expeditions? I also checked whether the stairstepper app (which records floors and ascent) would work, and it doesn't.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeserday I took a mid morning hike through local woods and both the distance and elevation were added to my expedition numbers. Recorded on Instinct 2. I think elevation on all activities is calculated using the barometer, which is converted to floors as well on the watch. In connect I can change to 'real' elevation from mapping but that does not change the floor numbers. Like steps, floors is only on the watch and not amendable. At least I think that is what happens,but stand to be corrected.

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    2. It isn't logged activity data that is used for the Expeditions. It is the Activity Tracking data that is used: Steps and Floor Climbed. That data is independent of the logged activities.

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    3. Thanks to you both. I understand. It's a real shame, and a little difficult to accept, that elevation recorded within a specific activity doesn't contribute to these expeditions.

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    4. yes, unfortunately none of the challenger accept GPS based elevation gain, only that measured by the (buggy) barometer

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  10. just checking in to bug Andy about making a Garmin Badge Google Calendar

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    Replies
    1. Hehe, thank you. It will now move up a bit higher in the to do list.

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    2. Hi! I've just finished implementation of the calendars. One for badges and one for challenges. Read more at the calendar page: https://garminbadges.com/calendar/
      It would be great with some feedback if anything needs to be changed.

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    3. I added both, but the Challenges calendar is a bit of "overkill" for me. I see 3 long stripes for the whole month. I don't need a reminder for these long things, just for the short ones. So thinking loudly/brainstorming: maybe the calendar url could have some optional parameters that enable to customize it to a certain extent. For example: ?max_duration=5 would only include challenges that ar at most 5 days long. This would include all those 1 day or weekend challenges that we tend to forget, but wouldn't "litter" the calendar with the Step into April and April 300k steps kind of challenges.

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    4. A more advanced version could be: &user= and this would only add the events(challenges) that the user is subscribed to

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    5. What you can do to avoid those long strips is to just duplicate the event you want to keep and then hide the challenges calendar.

      The personal calendars would be nice. Another very good reason to add it would be to get updated events with just the challenges you still got left to do. That way completed challenges and badges will be removed from the calendars so only what you got left to do is kept.

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    6. Yeah, but then it's almost as if I didn't use your calendar and added it manually, basically kind of what I did until now... Besides every month would need to do it again, worse the 3 month Stages would probably reappear every time. If you don't want to add customization then maybe you could add a 3rd url for just the challenges that are less than a week or 5 days?

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    7. I've added two URL parameters. userId and maxduration.
      Check the calendars page under Advanced users how to use them (not really advanced but requires some understanding of URL params): https://garminbadges.com/calendar/

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    8. Thanks! It's perfect now. I guess you're parsing the texts from some Garmin feed, but is it possible to include the country information? I.e for the Songkran Festival there's no country mentioned in the calendar, while if I remember correctly I need to change to Thailand for it.

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    9. Yes. It will come soon. I got a few things left to implement. One is the country information.

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    10. Done! Countries are added to the descriptions.

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  11. On Czech forum some people reported, when they did walking activity, they lost all kilometers from steps and only this walked kilometers are counted to current active expedition. I'm afraid to test it. :) Does anyone has the same issue?

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    Replies
    1. Sounds odd. I do lots of logged walking and running and don't see that.

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    2. Not seeing that either. The "Hike" expeditions look to be based on steps only (doesnt matter if walking or running).

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  12. Hi Andy, I see 1 difference between your expeditions list and what I have on Garmin connect: Camino de Santiago is replaced by Compostela pilgrimage for same distance (784 km), and Patagonia circuit is renamed Circuit O de Torres del Paine

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    Replies
    1. I still see the names listed in the post. It is probably different names depending on the language. I use English.

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  13. Hello everyone,
    I'm afraid I'm too stupid. How do I get the "Sharing is Caring"?
    In the description I see "Share an event from Garmin Connect with others", but what does "event" mean? Is it a simple activity? Or is it something I have to create in my calendar first?

    And a small comment to this new layout: At the end of this post I can see "Popular posts from...".
    First I thought it was a bug because I expected the March- and February post direct below the April post, not the "more popular" January.
    Is this on purpose?

    Have a great day all (just finished a 93 km bike race and gained now the 200- and 400 km-Badges :-)),

    Jensus

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. An Event is not an activity or a workout. An Event is typically a race. Check the race page: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/event-dashboard
      Add an event to your calendar and share it.

      The popular posts are likely the ones that are the most read posts. I got no control of them. To see the list of posts you can click the title at top: https://blog.garminbadges.com/

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  14. Hi Andy,
    Thanks a lot! I didn't even know this page!
    Badge received *check* :-)

    Have a nice day,

    Jensus

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    Replies
    1. If you are into Challenges the challenge function might be interesting to use. I use it multiple times per day to track my progress. Check my Challenge page: https://garminbadges.com/challenges.php?userId=286

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  15. @e7andy, can you add the expeditions to challenges.php?

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    Replies
    1. They were there when they had end dates, but were automatically removed when the end dates disappeared. The usefulness without end dates is not that big. Columns that will have no values will be: ahead value and days, to go/day, days left and end date. The predicted finish columns will still work and they are interesting. I will try to add the expeditions.

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    2. It's still useful, because you see how much you already did, how much still left to do, percent, and even the predicted finish time. All these are valid and interesting. The only 2 columns that have no meaning are the ahead

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    3. BTW if you already change the page, then can you also display the username on it? So I know I'm looking at myself and not some random other user accidentaly :)

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    4. I've tested it and the predicted finish time does not work since I don't know when you joined the challenge. It will always count from 2023-01-01. The only value of interest will be how much you have done and that you already know. So, there are no calculated values working. There are lots of special code required to make it work and the progress update will take a lot longer time...now when you you got so many unfinished expeditions so I don't think it is worth it.

      I will add the username to that page.

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  16. I think there's a bug in the Chrome Extension: I opened a new (empty) tab, then clicked on the extension and Update. It looks as it is doing something, and then I wait for a half a minute or so. Then I went to another tab where I already had the challenges open, refreshed, still see yesterday. Then in this tab I clicked again on the extension, then Update again. This time it tells me to log in to the connect website, and indeed I was logged off. So the bug is that when I clicked Update button for the 1st time it didn't tell me to log in to Connect Website

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks. I think that is a limitation of how the extensions work. If on an empty tab it will not run correctly. It must be executed on a real page so it can check the URL to see if you are on connect.garmin.com.
      I will try to solve it so it will also work on empty tabs...that it will popup and say that you must be on connect.garmin.com for it to work.

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    2. Ahhhh, so it not only doesn't work on empty tab, it ONLY works if I'm in the tab that has connect open in it... I didn't notice this before. Why it needs to be on that tab? Isn't it enough that I'm logged in, and there's a session cookie, so when the extension downloads a page from the same domain it is logged in?

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    3. The extension injects a javascript into the Garmin Connect page that then executes and fetch the data from Garmin Connect and sends it to my site. I don't remember exactly why I did it like that, but I believe it was to make sure Garmin Connect was loaded and that the user was logged in. Or maybe it wasn't possible to access the Garmin servers from the other tabs. Each tab is a process.

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    4. Ok, so the message "Go to Garmin Connect and log in before you click the button" is not clear. I thought it means I need to be logged in. Indeed the 1st time I saw this message I went to the site and I was logged off, so I had to log in. So it would be maybe more useful (if possible) to open it in a new tab if the current tab isn't that. But maybe it's not possible? (10 years since I last made extensions to chrome...) If that's the case then maybe just rewording the popup message can help also.

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    5. You must be logged in for the extension to work since it will access data that only is accessible for the logged in user.
      I think I need the Tabs permission to check if Garmin Connect is open in a different tab and that will give me access to a lot of information that not all users like to share.

      Delete
  17. Annapurna Circuit went from 160K to 160 miles. Nothing like seeing your progress plummet from 99%to 57%. :(

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    Replies
    1. I got the badge last Sunday and awarded the points, however today the progress bar in the badge details says I'm 100k short.

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    2. I don't know if I am missing anything but for me it's still 160K. App is set for Dutch language.

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    3. The description and image still says 160K, but the progress bar and value in the expedition says 260 km or 160 miles.

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    4. Totally overlooked, sorry!

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    5. It was 160K until recently. Garmin changed something.

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    6. Yeah I was also almost there but now I have a long way to go :-(

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  18. Anybody knows if I'll run 15k between April 7-9 then will I get both the 10k and the 15k badge or they have to be 2 separate runs?

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    Replies
    1. You will get both badges with a single run since the badges are not related.

      Delete
  19. They finally fixed the hiking expeditions within the last 48hours. When you complete an expedition on same day, and start a new one on same day, all the steps you have done for the day are no longer carried on to the next expedition.

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  20. Hi @e7andy,
    I just finished "Garmin Olathe marathon 10K", but I haven't received the badge. Is it location dependent?

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    Replies
    1. Race badges usually requiere that you do the actual race at the correct location. In this case Olathe. Changing country setting is not required.

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  21. Hey, I did a 3 miles walk this morning but didn't receive the badge... Is there something I need to change?

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    Replies
    1. Leave the challenge and join again and you will get the badge.

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    2. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    3. Worked! Thanks a lot Andy

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  22. Is there a way to view my expedition progress on my garmin venu watch? I can view challenges but I'm more interested in expeditions. The whole point of my watch is so I don't have to use my phone constantly

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    Replies
    1. I'm not aware of any way to do that. You will get a notification when you get the expedition badge. Then it is time to join the next expedition.

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  23. I have a vivosmart 4 and enjoy the climbing expeditions. But my understanding is that if I upgrade then those will not be available to me anymore. Is that correct?

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    Replies
    1. Depends on which watch you upgrade to. Vivosmart 5 doesn't have a barometer.

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    2. Thank you! Yes I meant to vivosmart 5. Shame was looking forward to that upgrade.

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