From the manual [Nitrox Recreational Mode Perdix]:
Countdown begins once the depth becomes shallower than 20ft (6m).
Countdown will continue while the depth remains in the range of 7ft to 23ft (2.4m to 7.0m).
So going to 5m your countdown will start once you are a bit shallower than 6m ... Your training agency requires you stay at 5m, but for the Perdix you can go up to 2.4m. You do not have to change anything in other modes.
When in rec mode, the bottom row is the one devoted to extra info - GTR and compass are both extra info (there are more pages..), hence mutually exclusive on the bottom row. I don't think is a bug, but rather a choice to keep uncluttered the above portion of the screen.
In Tec mode, you can personalize center row, and the bottom row is still devoted to extra info, but adding to the center row GTR, you could have both visible at the same time. To be more specific, you can also add a mini compass to the center row.
I prefer to keep the Perdix always in TEC mode - I do not need the safety stop countdown: once reached my safety stop depth I just keep mentally track of the time and then I'll clear the safety stop once the required time is passed. There are two consideration on this: the main one is that the time spent diving is good, so doing a longer safety stop is not only harmless, but enjoyable - the second one is that if I were doing a NDL tec dive, I will not have any deco obligations, so, being optional (and it is always optional) I don't need a very precise countdown - if I should stay 30 sec less it should have no consequences.
Moreover - once the safety stop time is cleared I go to the surface veeery slowly - i takes more than one minute - sometimes 90 sec to surface - this is more safe than a complete safety stop - especially if you were diving close to the NDL.