I don't want this to become a complaint thread - there's plenty of those already, and I just want us to focus on issues that have been raised and someone at Garmin (the Beta team, the support team etc.) have confirmed are issues they are working on.
This is by no means an exhaustive list - but I want to focus on the issues that a newbie may come across after buying the watch (or that may give them pause for thought before even buying the watch) and to help give Garmin a real "hit-list" of the issues causing their customers pain.
If you have an issue/bug that you want me to add to the list then post below (or DM me if you'd prefer) with the following
- Issue/Bug encountered
- Description of what it is/what it affects
- How to recreate the bug/issue
- Response from Garmin (if any)
- Ways to mitigate/fix/avoid the issue (if possible)
- Time-frame indicated from Garmin for it to be fixed (if any)
Software/Firmware Issues
Settings from Connect over-write Settings on Watch (The Alarm clock bug)
Description: Alarms keep disappearing from the watch
How to recreate: Create an alarm on the watch and then sync with your phone. The alarms will be over-written
Garmin Response: Garmin have confirmed that settings changed on the watch directly will be over-written by settings set in Connect, even if the Connect settings are blank. The most obvious way this manifests is by wiping out or changing your alarms. It also manifests itself by making alarm labels (if set) align with the wrong alarms
Potential Solutions: The only way to avoid this for now is to only change settings in Connect. If you wish to create silent alarms then use the Connect website (Menu-Device-[your watch]) as unlike the app the website allows you to change vibration and tone
Likely solution/fix time-frame: The Beta team have said this is an issue for the Connect team to fix so ETA is unknown
Total displayed ascent and descent wrong (Submitted by TOSONNY)
Description: The watch calculates and displays the wrong ascent/descent despite recording the correct altitude/elevation
How to recreate: You can see this bug by comparing the data with other watches or upload your gpx-track to Garmin Basecamp and compare. Descent is always lower
Garmin Response: The beta team are aware of the issue and are looking into it
Potential Solutions: There is a work-around that has been found that fixes the data issue in most cases. After importing the FIT file into BaseCamp and viewing the properties, deleting any one of the data points clears up the problem. Then the data can be transferred back to Connect if you wish. Some people like to delete the first data point, but we have seen cases where deleting any one random point has the same effect. (Thanks PC3Chris for this work-around)
Likely solution/fix time-frame: The time-frame to fix this is unknown
Altimeter and Barometer Issues (Submitted by RICKJ2903)
Description: The watch has trouble determining correct elevation if not manually calibrated for the area via GPS first. If air pressure changes the watch almost always assumes it's an elevation change (I thought this was meant to be related to movement as well as air pressure changes?) instead of a barometric change. The barometer almost never changes position from flat
How to recreate: Set barometer setting to "auto"
Response from Garmin (if any): RICKJ2903 had their first watch changed as faulty but second watch still displays the same faults
Potential Solutions: Not aware of any other than don't use the altimeter
Likely solution/fix time-frame: The time-frame to fix this is unknown, and there are no suggestions on ways to mitigate this problem
Sleep Tracking is inaccurate
Description: Connect consistently reports Bed Time and/or Wakup Time wrongly
How to recreate: Go to sleep? THe issue arises because the watch does not log sleep on it's own. The Connect system does this based on your movement data and your Do Not Disturb settings
Because it is based on movement and doesn't take into account other information such as heart-rate (or alarm settings) it will often determine you're still asleep when you aren't, or it can show you're awake when you're not
Garmin Response: I'm not aware of any official response from Garmin on this one. I have never raised it directly as an issue but I used to have the same problem with my Garmin Fenix 3 as well
Potential Solutions: The only sure fire solution at this stage is to manually change your sleep times if it is wrong. It does also help to have the Do Not Disturb settings set to your "typical" sleep times
Likely solution/fix time-frame: This is a Connect issue, and as long as Garmin have multiple activity trackers with different tracking capbility it's unlikely to be resolved
Sensors/Communication Issues
GPS Accuracy Issues
Description: Somewhat subjective, but I don't see many people complaining about GPS accuracy in either the 935 forum or the 5X forum so there is most likely a real issue with the GPS on the Fenix 5 and 5S
How to recreate: Go for a run and compare tracks to previous runs over the same course with other devices
Garmin Response: The "official" response based on what people have posted here is that Garmin have told people to wait for a firmware update to address the issue
Likely solution/fix time-frame: This means that Garmin are aware there's an issue and are working on a solution but the most recent Beta firmware releases have not included new GPS software
Instant Pace Accuracy
Description: Also somewhat subjective, but again I don't see many people complaining about GPS accuracy in either the 935 forum or the 5X forum
It is also possible that people had unrealistic expectations of how accurate instant pace from GPS could be, but since it's an advertised feature people can rightly have high expectations
Garmin Response: The "official" response based on what people have posted here is that Garmin have told people to wait for a firmware update to address the issue
Potential Solutions: The general agreement seems to be that if instant pace is really important to you then GPS will never be good enough and you should use a footpod. The consensus is the Stryd is the best option by far (unless you run into connectivity issues with it - see below)
Likely solution/fix time-frame: This means that Garmin are aware there's an issue and are working on a solution but the most recent Beta firmware releases don't appear to have touched this issue
Bluetooth and Ant+ Connectivity/Constant drop-outs
Description: The Bluetooth/Ant+ range is poor
This affects connectivity to your mobile phone/the connect app and also to Bluetooth/Ant+ sensors such as chest HRM straps, footpods and power meters
This can result in data dropouts in your activities, which then affects calculations based on this data (e.g. V02Max)
It'll also result in issues with syncing between your watch and your phone/connect app, including but not limited to causing problems with Livetrack
How to recreate: Connect sensors and then see if they drop out during activities (gaps in your recorded data when viewed in Connect)
Garmin Response: Garmin have confirmed they are working on these issues, but that they're having trouble recreating them consistently
Potential Solutions: If you are having any of these issues then first install the latest beta. If this doesn't solve your problem (spoiler alert: it probably won't) then email the beta team ([EMAIL="[email protected]"][email protected][/EMAIL] and give them as much detail as possible (Watch model, phone model, model of sensors affected, what you were doing, height (this matters)
The more data we provide them the more chances they have to replicate the problem and try to root cause/solve it. They still seem pretty confident it's an issue that can be fixed in software
I see less dropouts when using Ant+ with dual Bluetooth/Ant+ devices but your mileage may vary.
I also see people suggest that using sensors on the same side as your watch also helps (so footpod on your left foot if the watch if on your left arm etc.)
Lastly, OnlyTwo has suggested trying a hard reset and then repairing your devices. This appeared to work for them. I have also tried this and have had mixed results, but I may not have done the process correctly. I will trial a little bit more and then post the steps if it does appear to reduce the drop-outs
Likely solution/fix time-frame: There is no time-frame - but it's likely this is the quite high on their list of things to fix if it can be fixed
