Heads-up re: Fenix 5 Plus APAC models

Just a heads-up for anyone looking to purchase the Fenix 5 Plus in Japan.

I purchased mine earlier this week. Was completely unable to pair via the Garmin Connect app. Trying to connect via the PC with Garmin Express resulted in an error, 'This device is not compatible with Express'. Interestingly, the Japan support website does not recognize the s/n, but the US support website does - and properly notes the watch is a 'Japan' model.

After going through some of the troubleshooting stuff and doing the standard steps (making sure app etc. are all up to date, re-setting watch, rebooting phone, 'ignore device' in iPhone bluetooth settings etc), still had no luck several hours later. Got on the phone with technical support - surprisingly quickly, and they walked me through basically the exact same steps, with obviously the same result.

They then sent me a file to update on the watch itself after connecting to the PC. This resulted in the watch being recognized by Garmin Express and could be added - BUT WITH A DIFFERENT SERIAL NUMBER. Which seems....bizarre. And this still did not solve the issue of not being able to pair with Garmin Connect.

They finally gave up and sent out a replacement watch to swap with the one I had bought, which was great, as I have an event this weekend.

Watch arrived this morning...and THE EXACT SAME PROBLEM. Basically everything I wrote above, but with a different watch.

There is clearly either a software or hardware issue with Fenix 5 Plus APAC (assume this means Asia-Pacific) models. I would strongly recommend holding off on a purchase until it is sorted out.

0 justiin over 6 years ago

I also purchased the 5 plus APAC model here in Japan and haven't had any of the issues you mentioned. It is working without any issues.

0 bfinary over 6 years ago

No problems with APAC model in Australia

0 Saman_To over 6 years ago

No problem at all, using 5 plus APAC version in HK

0 seilogramp over 6 years ago

surista, looks like another call to Garmin support is in order.:(

0 surista over 6 years ago

Interesting. Perhaps it's only a particular lot of watches that are wonky (Support confirmed they had received similar calls from users with the same problem).
Glad others haven't had any issues, makes my week-long interaction with these phones and Support all the more frustrating (to be fair, it's been fairly easy to get a hold of Support and they've been easy to work with, just not very efficient at solving the problem...)

Just to clarify: We've tried both watches on multiple iPhones (both 6 and 7 models), multiple PCs and a laptop. Unless 5+ iPhones, 3+ PCs and the laptop are all somehow defective, there is definitely an issue with the watches themselves. The third replacement watch is due to arrive next week, we'll see if third time's a charm.

I still find it very odd Garmin Express recognizes both watches as a fenix 5 Plus APAC model, with the correct serial number, but says the device is 'not compatible' with Express, and that the serial numbers for both are NOT recognized on any of the Asia-based Garmin support sites (Japan, Taiwan, Korea etc), but ARE recognized on any of the non-Asia support sites (US, UK, Brazil, Switzerland etc) - even though the non-Asia support sites etc all recognize both watches as a Japan market model.

I thought perhaps there was some locked-region issue going on with the iPhone - but one of the iPhones we tried out was an iPhone purchased and used in the UK (an iPhone 6), but exact same issue, so that doesn't seem to be the case. Still, I wonder if there's some issue with a batch of watches shipped for the APAC market but serial numbers not updated to reflect that or something.

0 surista over 6 years ago

After a bit more discussion with Support, my impression is that some recent APAC models were shipped without one of the latest firmware updates, and this is causing issues with connecting to Garmin Connect Mobile and Garmin Express. This seems plausible: Out of the box, both watches had Software Version 2.60. The GarminDevice.xml file from Support updates the Watch software version to 2.70 (and also changes the Serial Number...). This results in being able to connect to Garmin Express, but only in a limited fashion, and still no Garmin Connect Mobile pairing. Activities sync, daily activities (steps etc.) do not. No Wifi available. Unplugging the watch from the PC causes the watch to automatically update the GarminDevice.xml file back to default. Also get the 'Cannot unlock maps' error, which appears to be fairly common.

At the very least, I guess I'll be able to record data from my event today and sync it to Garmin Connect, but if the third one doesn't work out of the box on Tuesday I'm getting a refund and going for a watch that I know actually works. Very disappointed; this level of broken for a high-end watch out of the box is kinda ridiculous. If this is an issue with APAC models being slow to get firmware updates, that's a no-go for me.