Garmin firmware update policy is ridiculous for 2020

Firmware updates have improved the watches immensely, since release. They are now usable for their intended purpose. My problem with the whole thing is that it takes Garmin about a year or more to get the watches into that state instead of releasing them as fully functioning in the first place.

If you look at the change logs it's a cause for despair. So much to be fixed on every watch. They release too many flavours of watch too frequently and don't finish off the last generation before they sell us new products that need another year of development. They've been at this game for years. We should not see a repeat of the problems in the 6 series that plagued every previous release.

Look at Apple. I dislike the company and I own none of their products, but one watch per annum means the focus is on quality, not quantity. Garmin spreads itself too thin. It needs to get it right first time, not tenth time, with each watch.

I might add that, although I'm now retired, I did work in IT for 20 years and the focus was always on getting it right first time, through the development cycle. In my day the defects in these watches would never have made it into the public domain because testing would have caught the bugs if not code review and design review long before then.

Just think what might be achieved if the resources that are spent today in customer support, problem investigation, customer communications, bug fixing and re-deployment were invested up front to release the products without these glaring defects in the first place. A watch like this that can't measure HR accurately or plot a track within 5m of reality is not fit to go on sale.

eezytiger said:

A watch like this that can't measure HR accurately or plot a track within 5m of reality is not fit to go on

5 meters is just what a simple gps in a watch in ideal circumstances can do, for accuracy ( https://www.gps.gov/systems/gps/performance/accuracy/ )

And don’t forget, most people don’t notice bugs but they do want more data. (And since you worked in it you know the difference between data and information)

Garmin gives costumers more data and it works for them. They sell way more watches than Suunto and Polar combined. So they have no reason to change. 

As a rule of thumb: With Garmin you get what you pay for - after they fixed the bugs of course. Very rarely do they port new features to older devices. That is just the way it is, especially annoying the the "Plus" generation of a given device line although these devices tend to be relatively bug free. 

It just feels wrong to pay premium and the watch doesn’t survive more than 8 months feature wise.

Love Garmin, and the fenix 5 plus is a good watch. But if they’re not backporting simple features as battery control and pace pro my next watch will not be a Garmin.

These features are pure software features and should be backported, especially for premium products.

I agree with you. Pace Pro not being ported us ridiculous

Garmin's marketing is based on 1 thing and 1 thing only: We have more features than competitors

Most buyers don't know if they use all those features or even if those features produce correct/useful data. They just want more of it.

So if Garmin wants to sell new devices the only thing they know is to make sure it has more features than the previous model.

And it works for them! Garmin sells, by far, more sportwatches than anybody else. They are not going to change anything about it, because it works.

If you want longer software support with new features you have to buy an Applewatch (and live with the 1 day batterylife) 

Telling a company that is on top of it all to change their strategy is.. well.. it's not going to change things. 

Agree.  Check out the fenix 6 forum many people reporting problems with the sensor array.  I have both and I am using my 5x to broadcast HR to the 6 for my casual activities like hiking  (still use strap for tracking runs).  Yes, I am wearing both daily

I have had a 6X Pro Solar since December. The day I received it I updated the firmware to 5.00. Today I'm running 9.98 Beta. It's been a busy six months, but the watch is getting better. I just wish they'd get the core features perfected before adding more and more stuff that few, if any, are asking for.

I also have a 5X+ and 3HR. I've been down this road before. :-)

Just want to add another comment of agreement. Don’t even have a problem with many watches, but do give the recent premium device features that the latest entry level watch has. This way my daughters 245 has features that I don’t have on my 5X+. That is just sad, and leaves me, the customer disappointed.