Why is Garmin ignoring the GPS issue?

Sent them some tracks from my 5s and also to comparison some of the same route tracked with the 10yr old FR305 and the Polar V800.
German Garmin Support told me after looking into my files, that they disagree with my rating of the gps quality as pretty bad. WTF.

they instead told me to install always the newest firmware, as they have gps fw updates in almost every update. (GPS FW 4.30 is from April).

pretty fed up with the behavior.ciq.forums.garmin.com/.../1240502.jpg

Sent them some tracks from my 5s and also to comparison some of the same route tracked with the 10yr old FR305 and the Polar V800.
German Garmin Support told me after looking into my files, that they disagree with my rating of the gps quality as pretty bad. WTF.

they instead told me to install always the newest firmware, as they have gps fw updates in almost every update. (GPS FW 4.30 is from April).

pretty fed up with the behavior.

It seems that the only times they reply to GPS accuracy complaints is immediately after the release of a new firmware, this way they can dismiss your claims by asking you to upgrade to the latest firmware.

But they think we're stupid, as nothing regarding GPS fixes is stated in any of the latest firmware's release notes (and the GPS firmware is indeed the same - 4.30 - since April)

People complain about the GPS from day one, Garmin issues a firmware update for the GPS (4.30) back in April and haven't released any GPS FW since.

I see a ton of bug fixes for golf courses in each release, when the main feature of this watch (GPS) is sub par.

If the mid-range Polar M400 and the mid range FR235 have a better GPS than the high-end Fenix 5, then we have a serious problem!

Will Garmin fix it? Hopefully (if it's a software issue that can be patched, otherwise they'll sweep it under the rug - as a recall will be too expensive)

But one thing's for certain, this should be their no. 1 priority, not golf courses.
It's a GPS watch, whose GPS is not working as expected!

Garmin has proven with vivosmart 3 and f?nix 5 that they release new harware worst than the older one.
no point to buy last released hardware at the highest street price until it is proven it works well. We all are free dumb beta testers.

People complain about the GPS from day one, Garmin issues a firmware update for the GPS (4.30) back in April and haven't released any GPS FW since.

I see a ton of bug fixes for golf courses in each release, when the main feature of this watch (GPS) is sub par.

If the mid-range Polar M400 and the mid range FR235 have a better GPS than the high-end Fenix 5, then we have a serious problem!

Will Garmin fix it? Hopefully (if it's a software issue that can be patched, otherwise they'll sweep it under the rug - as a recall will be too expensive)

But one thing's for certain, this should be their no. 1 priority, not golf courses.
It's a GPS watch, whose GPS is not working as expected!

I have two garmin wearables, fenix 2 and 5. Fenix 2 showed very consistent GPS in more than 30 parkrun showing between 5.01 to 4.97 km regardless of weather. So I dont even doubt about gps issues for this new fenix 5. I used fenix 2 for 3 years including one half ironman. One minor issues only for fenix 2 was that the clock sometimes reset after USB connection and charging. I upgraded fenix 5 for aesthetic reason and bored with fenix 2. So far no issues with fenix 5. You might be very unlucky with GPS issues. otherwise garmin wearables are totally trustworthy to me.

People complain about the GPS from day one, Garmin issues a firmware update for the GPS (4.30) back in April and haven't released any GPS FW since.

I see a ton of bug fixes for golf courses in each release, when the main feature of this watch (GPS) is sub par.

If the mid-range Polar M400 and the mid range FR235 have a better GPS than the high-end Fenix 5, then we have a serious problem!

Will Garmin fix it? Hopefully (if it's a software issue that can be patched, otherwise they'll sweep it under the rug - as a recall will be too expensive)

But one thing's for certain, this should be their no. 1 priority, not golf courses.
It's a GPS watch, whose GPS is not working as expected!

My sentiments exactly ! I sent a PM to Garmin Australia and their reply - Oh that's not good, please call customer service. Seriously I think they take their customers for fools. Not sure they actually care. Behind closed doors I think they know there is major issue with the Fenix 5/5S (GPS and ANT+ issues).

I've resorted to my Fenix3 for the time being using a Stryd to track pace/distance.

It's not just GPS issues, this is the way they apparently handle all complaints.

I contacted support asking why I couldn't set a pace slower than 18 minute miles for the virtual partner, even though I can use it for hiking and other activities that aren't as fast paced as running, and they essentially just told me to not use it for that, as it wasn't intended for that.

There is no reason whatsoever that they can't just allow it to be set higher. There's no int size that limits you to 18 minutes worth of seconds, so it couldn't possibly have a negative effect or cause even a single byte increase in ROM size. Honestly I would expect it to decrease it if they removed the code applying the arbitrary, moronic limit.

But that's neither here nor there. Garmin Customer Service is atrocious.

Garmin is (or maybe was, given all the complaints?) great at making hardware but really bad at making software. Everybody knows this and it has been like this for a long time, but apparently they didnt fix it (for example by hiring more or better Software Developers), I suppose at this point they dont want to do it? They see it works using customers as beta testers and not fixing things maybe?

I wonder how is suunto in this respect. I have Heard they also have weak Software, but I have Checked they movescout app and it seems better than garmin connect. Anyone here has experience with suunto? I am considering selling my brand new fenix 5 and switch to suunto, if I know I will have better hardware, better software and better Support i will gladly do it.

?????

Garmin is (or maybe was, given all the complaints?) great at making hardware but really bad at making software. Everybody knows this and it has been like this for a long time, but apparently they didnt fix it (for example by hiring more or better Software Developers), I suppose at this point they dont want to do it? They see it works using customers as beta testers and not fixing things maybe?

I wonder how is suunto in this respect. I have Heard they also have weak Software, but I have Checked they movescout app and it seems better than garmin connect. Anyone here has experience with suunto? I am considering selling my brand new fenix 5 and switch to suunto, if I know I will have better hardware, better software and better Support i will gladly do it.

?????

I have a Suunto Ambit 3 Peak, and have owned other Suunto devices as well.

Their feature set is less than Garmin, but their software is less buggier. The mobile app is very basic compared to Garmin's, but their web app has more features than their mobile app, but still not as much as Garmin's.

I still follow Suunto, and it seems like they are racing to catch up with the feature set of Garmin, and i think the software is suffering because of it.

i have been using Garmin devices since the vivoactive, and their software was loaded with bugs. Over the past year or so they have been getting much better, and are way ahead of the competition with features IMHO.

I wanted to give up on Garmin many many times, but over the past year or so i can say that i can actually depend on my Garmin device now. I could not say that before, and always wore my Suunto along with my Garmin as a backup in case the Garmin freaked out on me again.