So my girlfriend and I have been using Garmin FR 230 for about 2 years now. We literally never had any issue with any of our devices, until the past 2 weeks. Mine has always been linked to android phones (a Moto G3, then a Moto G4 and now a Nokia 8), never had a single issue. My girlfriend on the other hand always had hers paired with iPhones (first a 6 and now a 7), again, never had any issue with them, until the past 2 weeks...
The first one to show issues was mine (linked to a Nokia 8 with Oreo), first it wasn't syncing, then it stopped getting notifications, then it messed up my widgets, then the watch became awfully laggy/slow and now it's just a battery drainer watch (it won't go past the 4 day mark of no GPS usage, previously it could go for 4 weeks with no GPS usage). My girlfriend watch is far worse now though (linked to an iPhone 7 with the latest IOS), since the last update on IOS Garmin Connect the watch has been stuck on a bootloop where it starts up, and then automatically resets until it turns off. I've tried every fix on both (you name it, clear data app, reinstall, hold power button for 15 seconds to attempt a manual restart (fyi it doesn't work because the bootloop triggers before the 15 seconds mark), etc...).
I contacted support about it, after a good 20 minutes of explaining that the issue was present both OS, and that one of the watches couldn't be turned on at all, they suggested a replacement... for which I have to pay $ 99 plus shipping... I live in Panama and I usually order through my U.S. address that then ships orders to me. Sending/getting a replacement would easily cost me $ 50 in each shipment, totaling at least the price I originally paid for each watch to start with... One thing is to break an app, but to break expensive devices and not have a solution (let alone recognize that the problem has gotten far out of hand) is just plain irresponsible. I fear I might throw both of these watches to the garbage soon and call it a day (on which Garmin managed to snap $ 500 off me), and switch to one of the other bigger brands.
It is frustrating to have a watch that presented no issues whatsoever for almost 2 years suddenly become a piece of unusable gear that causes more headaches than benefits. Am I the only one experiencing this type of issues or is this a major thing affecting several users? Any advice is appreciated.