FW 5.10 issues

Crutlefish is right - this is a great feature upgrade, and just because this firmware release doesn't fix your particular bug issues doesn't mean it's not worth the time and resources that Garmin have devoted to it.

Now is it acceptable that there are bugs in an $800 watch? Of course not!
As for those outstanding issues - none of them stop the watch from being usable for the vast majority of users so your idea of how critical they are is clearly not the same as Garmins.
If I was in charge at Garmin I also would have chosen to prioritise integrating Spotify vs. fixing a non-critical battery level bug because only one of those will sell more watches.
That doesn't mean Garmin shouldn't be looking at fixing the battery bug, but it's not stopping most people from using their watches happily.
I myself have seen evidence of the bug yet I still go many days between charging so it's not a show stopper for me.
Sleep tracking gets my sleep and wake times bang on about 90% of the time for me. It's not perfect, but it's significantly better than sleep tracking on my old Fenix 5.
Virtual pacer sounds like an annoying bug, but it's not a feature I use. And I'm sure Garmin know exactly how many Fenix 5 owners use this feature so that will certainly be factoring into their prioritisation processes.

Forerunner If you want to help speed up the fixing of the bugs you're experiencing then instead of making multiple threads why not become active in the Beta tests and feedback directly to the developers via the beta test email address? I see in your battery life thread that Garmin have actually reached out (which is pretty rare to be fair) and have asked for help as they're struggling to replicate the problem themselves. If you were participating and active in the betas you may find your issues will get resolved faster.

Virtual pacer sounds like an annoying bug, but it's not a feature I use. And I'm sure Garmin know exactly how many Fenix 5 owners use this feature

Errh... we all know how many are using that feature: Zero. Because it doesn't work.

So if stuff doesn't work so people stop using it, the lack of usage is a proof that the feature is not important enough to give priority. Cool.

Very good point Allan. I will admit I hadn't considered that! My bad.
But the last point I made to Forerunner is still valid - make sure you get involved in the beta testing process if you really want Garmin to be aware that this is a bug they need to fix. I've found they've generally been quite good at responding via that channel, and the bugs I've raised in the past have all been fixed in due course - a lot of the time they're struggling to replicate issues and need more data points to narrow down the problem.

Now is it acceptable that there are bugs in an $800 watch? Of course not!

Forerunner If you want to help speed up the fixing of the bugs you're experiencing then instead of making multiple threads why not become active in the Beta tests and feedback directly to the developers via the beta test email address? I see in your battery life thread that Garmin have actually reached out (which is pretty rare to be fair) and have asked for help as they're struggling to replicate the problem themselves. If you were participating and active in the betas you may find your issues will get resolved faster.

First... Ofcourse it is acceptable that a 800,-€ watch got bugs.
However it is absolutely not acceptable that several months pass without fixing annoying, elementary bugs!

Second... why do you think I am not taking part and reporting bugs to the beta email?
Ofcourse i do, and did it since the beginning... and exactly because of this I know how much ignorance, or incompetence... whatever you like... is there from Garmin side.
No reaction, no interaction, no essential bugfixes... simply a company to avoid in future.

I'm sorry your experience has been so poor Forerunner. My assumption that you weren't an active member of the beta tests is based on past experience of people complaining in these Garmin forums, plus my own (positive) experiences of being involved in the beta programmes.

Perhaps it's time for you to move on, but in my experience the other companies are no better than Garmin, if not even worse.

Well this is awkward, I just sent you a private message a few hours ago Forerunner asking if you were willing to work with me directly and asking where you live so I can try to get my hands on your device directly so I can test your watch on some of the issues you are reporting in all the threads you are heavily active in. So if you do not want to work with me directly, I fully understand but that offer still stands.

Everyone else. Thank all of you for all your honest comments in the forums. Trust me, we at Garmin are actively reading the forums and honestly, all of your comments matter to all of us here. Personally, I have enjoyed it so much that I am trying to take a more active role here and trying to interact with all of you the most that I can but I'm trying to still get a good rhythm to be able to still test everyone that is here and to be able to also comment in every thread that I personally can help out the most. Could I personally do better at it? Yes, we all have that trait of trying to push ourselves in life no matter if it is your current workout, to the next race and even when it comes to working. Due to that fact, that is why I want to be here more for you and be more active for all of you. So I'm sorry for that, and also I'm sorry for the bugs that you might be found on your devices. Just know that we at Garmin are here because of all of you, and even though we are not commenting, we sure are listening to your comments. If you think we should do more, let me know. Send me a private message on here, yell out to me or just reach out to our beta team since they know how to get a hold of me. If you do want to help make your product better, then contact our Garmin Support when you see an issue or work with the beta teams to test new software [EMAIL="[email protected]"][email protected][/EMAIL].

To address some of the comments I saw in just this thread:

bjornhellstrom Thank you for your comments, I honestly came in early today because I could not sleep after reading the great comments in the thread about Spotify last night so I might have come in early just to take a few send off a few emails to everyone this morning to let them know about the comments here and elsewhere too. (https://forums.garmin.com/forum/on-the-trail/wrist-worn/fenix-5-5s-plus/1407024-spotify-app).

crutlefish I have already sent you a private message before I even decided to write this reply. I look forward to hearing your views on what I can do more in the forums and maybe what I can suggest to others too.

Plongeur92 Working on sleep data and do to that, we would be happy to have you beta testing and providing us with more feedback so we can me it everything you want it to be.

HeartR I so want to find a way to reproduce the battery dropping here so I can provide those steps to the people that need to know. I have worked with Product Support and if you are willing to contact them, they got a list of questions to ask you and mattering on your current location they might ask to bring in your device so that I can personally look at it. So far, every device I have brought in has not shown what the user said it would. I do not know if it is like when you take the car into the mechanic and everything is working then or if I am missing some small piece of data that you might be doing and I am not doing. So if you are willing to contact us, provide us with those answers and maybe provide any other data on how to reproduce it here, trust me! We want to hear from you!

AllanOlesen67 Send me a message about Twitter, I want to hear your suggestions on that. On the subject of Virtual Pacer, working on that and even is one of the features on my personal list I am keeping an eye on. Also, great come back!

well, to be fair to garmin: they do listen, even thought it might take some time. I'm not a fanboy. In fact, I was the one who once complained loudly about the sleep feature in early firmware of 5x plus. While i have returned the 5x plus and changed to smaller 5 plus, i can say, that the latest firmware works well, and even during when i still use 5x plus, i could see update coming in fast and furious after my emails to Heath.

My only wish is if only apac version can get faster update or if it could enroll in beta version :)

Forerunner might have gotten lemon units, and this is one thing i have noticed that Garmin might need to improve in qc. i have friends who have 935. one have gps that constantly goes drunk, while the rest have perfect units.

Battery life seems slightly worse with 5.1. I just downloaded this evening. Previously, with stock watch face I was losing 0.5-0.8% per hour (compared to 1.2% with CIQ watchface). Since the download I’m now losing 1.2% with stock watch face! I can’t believe this is getting worse....

I don´t use Spotify so it´s no a big deal to me. But I rely on smart notifications (because I have my iPhone always in vibration mode) and they have completely disappeared . I've tried to turn off the Fenix5+, restart the iPhone several times with or without bluetooth on, re-installing Garmin connect... Nothing works for me. Besides HR seems very high, I've checked with my radial artery and HR is 30-40 less than the Fenix, though its not always . I'm disappointed but I know that Garmin will eventually fix it, I only have to be patient.:(