Brand new device: RIP

Former Member over 7 years ago

PREMISE:

5 months into the purchase, wasting 10 minutes each time I connect to the USB because of the bad connectors for months already. Suddenly, barometer dies.
I wouldn't have sent it back just for the connectors (been having the problem for months) but I HAD TO because of the barometer. 2 weeks without the watch. Patience, it happens.

I BEGGED the tech support in Milan to give me a unit with the new golden connectors (Hey, since there's no alternative, let's kill the secondary issue and solve them both together with just one RMA).

Milan sent me a unit with the old connectors. One month into the RMA and I'm already having the USB problem again... never mind, I can handle it: when I install the betas it's a nightmare but it's not happening so often and when I need the .fit files, instead of grabbing them from the F5x, I take them from Garmin Connect. It's a pain but I can take it, never mind.

TODAY:

This morning I wake up and the altimeter shows -29.000 meters. I calibrate to 154m, then go down and wait for the GPS lock... the altimeter is still on 154m. Uh-oh... this is bad.

I turned off the F5X, rinsed with hot water and soap but I knew it wouldn't help because I don't do dirty sports and it's been over a month I last did MTB. Not a chance in a trillion there was dust in the barometer but anyway... I turned it on and it was still dead.

So I went for a very short walk, about 300m. I live on a hill so it's easy... either walk up 5 minutes or walk down 5 minutes I can INSTANTLY find out whether the baro is working or not.

Grade 0, baro permanently fixed on 148m, gain 0, ascent 0, descent 0.

And so, Garmin has once again given me a defective unit, knowing very well these units are defective (you can see by yourselves what's going on with the cables and what's going on with the barometers not just here in these forums but also in the FB groups).

Now, I, the customer, have wasted a running day (too upset) and I have to prepare the watch (reassemble the stock wrist bands), put it in the box, get the photocopy of the purchase receipt and bring it to the shop. The shop opens at 10. I swim at 6 but tomorrow is Sunday so, Monday, I have to take a day off at work to get the watch to the shop.

The shop will wait the usual 2 days for Garmin Italy to give them an RMA number, without which the delivery can't be started... no matter me bombing them with mails and phone calls and they surely won't feel any pity or remorse, nor the need to take the right choice: send this guy a new watch IMMEDIATELY because we have a LONG record with him and if he says the watch is broken it means it IS, besides, his log shows he's walking uphill and downhill and the altimeter is FLAT. Let's try to easen the pain... oh no, they surely won't.

I will be without watch for 15 days, during which I will have to duplicate a hundred logs (I train 5 hours per day), then I'll have to setup the watch again and also gather a few runs together to get the VO2Max upon which several other parameters are calculated.

This is the second time this happens with the F5x but it happened 4 (FOUR) times with the 910XT and once with the F3.
(It didn't happen with the 920XT because I got rid of it before it happened and it didn't happen with the second F3 because I sold it to buy the F5x)

These are not coincidences: the same person cannot get a faulty device again by chance - it means the whole production stock is faulty.

It's not the logs (it's a pain to duplicate and change dates/times), it's not the betas (I got 2 *big* bugs cracked completely open for the team to fix and after all, I didn't spend so much time to get a stable USB connection for the file transfers since betas don't come out so often) and it's not even the fatigue I can't track anymore for 2 weeks because I'm tired beyond endurance already despite the holiday.

It's the idea the customer is worthless, his needs, his time, his money are worthless to Garmin.

It's REALLY ugly because I stand a very good chance to get another brand new watch with the old connectors, hence the old USB problem that will present itself again as soon as the connectors and the cable get worn down by use (typically, 2 weeks time) and, on top of that... this feeling it's only a matter of time before the baro breaks down again.

I don't know what to say... it seems like they just never learn from their mistakes and so they keep repeating them over and over and over again.

I beg the guys who are constantly complaining about the poor GPS performances of the whole Garmin brand to consider that you can fix that with a cheap foot pod but you'll still be getting an unreliable device in your hands that can break down anytime.

Keep that in mind before picking your training device.

0 thalinor over 7 years ago

+1. Lawsuit Time. $700 Fenix 5x, $130 Tri HR, $70 Tempe, all together $900 health tracker that can't even do what a free junk pedometer given away at a booth while walking around a local craft fair can do... count steps. Lolciq.forums.garmin.com/.../1292023.jpg

0 sis651 over 7 years ago

Fenix 3 had less barometer complaints then newer watches. They mostly started with Fenix 3 HR, which had a different fixed barometer sensor, probably a newer sensor too. I used my Fenix 3 for almost two years without barometer problems and sold it after buying Fenix 5X. And new buyer still prays me how good device it is. However my Fenix 5x had a barometer issue before I sold my F3. :D In the middle of the night, I got a storm alert. Then checked it and altimeter was gone somewhere else. :D After about two or three hours it someway resolved itself. And I haven't had such an issue again. However this happened in fourth month of usage with Fenix 5X.

I thought Garmn would use new or non problematic barometer sensors in its new 5 series, looking at the number of complaints they got with Fenix 3HR. But it seems they didn't get any lesson...

0 Dexter101010 over 7 years ago

Garmin will never learn a lesson from their mistakes.Now i can bet they are busy with releasing another "cow to milk", meaning another new watch for get more money from people like us.And we are naive because we believe in them that they will give us a good product.But each time, they only sold a watch with a lot of bugs and problems and we are paying a lot of money.But anyway, i know why garmin do this.They do this because we are still buying their products and we trust them.

0 Former Member over 7 years ago

Surely Garmin is not different from any corporation we know.
Until a VIP or big influencer (one they haven't bribed yet) goes on TV/social to complain about something, they won't take the economic losses they deserve for their mistakes which are the driving factor into becoming better at what they do.

At the end of the day, it's all about money, which means, number of purchases.
Garmin has been sailing through calm seas so far because Polar and Suunto don't take advantage of the situation. Their software is not on par. The functionalities are not on par and, in the case of Polar, their design is ALSO ugly... but I've never EVER had with either of them the problems I have had and still have with Garmin.
(just for the sake of completion: the F3 of the list in my first post ALSO was a swapped F3 through RMA)

The policy of damage control is quite simple: I've explained it in the GPS thread for the F3 and it's called "the music band" but that only goes as far as these forums.
In all other circumstances, you'll be given a new watch as they put the blame of bad performances on non-existing hardware failures. That allows them to use the music band to minimize the problems (it's just a few who complain), particularly implying that when the watch is swapped, the problem is over (a small % of units is defective).

Alright but when the same person gets another broken watch it's not a small %. On a major FB group I am in, only yesterday there were 2 baro failures posted within hours from my post and my post was commented by people who ALSO had baro failures. It's NOT a small %.

I grow upset when I think this new coming watch is a watch Garmin did not sell.
That hurts revenue and this revenue could have been used to hire a more competent factory manager, increase the wage of the chinese slaves, hire more developers, engineers and QA staff... instead, it goes wasted on a replacement.

I really have little hope I'll be given a watch with the new connectors because they will keep giving away all the 1st wave defective products until they're over.
And that means you will see this post AGAIN in the short-term (3 months by my guess) but I won't change my opinion on the fact that as long as it doesn't break down, the F5X with the foot pod is the best device around right now so, it's not that I have much of a choice right now.

I suppose things won't change until Polar and Suunto wake up and the good news is they can't be asleep forever.

0 AllanOlesen67 over 7 years ago

I turned off the F5X, rinsed with hot water and soap but I knew it wouldn't help because I don't do dirty sports and it's been over a month I last did MTB. Not a chance in a trillion there was dust in the barometer but anyway... I turned it on and it was still dead.

It does not have to be dirt. A lot of F5 users have experienced that the issue is caused by static electricity from their clothing. And apparently submerging the watch in soap water for 30 minutes makes the problem go away for 1-2 days.

Anyway, here in Denmark, I go to the Garmin web site, report the problem, get an RMA ticket, send the watch to them. When they receive the watch the day after, I get a mail from them. And 20 minutes later, I get a new mail telling me that they have shipped me another watch. Which I then receive the day after.

But it was also in Italy I experienced a surrealistic delayed luggage problem far beyond my imagination, so there may be general cultural differences at play here.

0 Former Member over 7 years ago

It would be a possibility if other devices had ever experienced it.
As far as it goes, even the tech support is fully aware of the issue with the first batches of production. I've obtained the RMA number before even delivering the watch back to the shop.... at least they know who they're dealing with (6 RMAs so far... maybe more, can't recall the exact number right now).

EDIT:

Milan placed a call on a new batch. I delivered somehow the watch to the shop and we're waiting for the RMA number. This picture is from last night.
As you can see the watch is keeping the same altitude as outside even after being 30' underwater.

As they say... dead in the water.

0 Former Member over 7 years ago

And just for the records: when I finally took my F5X to the shop yesterday, I spoke with the mech about my TT bike that needs a modification for the cockpit and then, naturally about my F5X.

"Is this the watch they sent you 2 months ago?"
"Yep"
"We've got to give them a note about how hard and how often you train otherwise every 2-3 months we'll be doing this"
"Yep"

Suddenly a junior mech arrived at the shop and said:

"My FR920XT marks me at a permanent height of 15k meters".

And this guy is an IronMan like me. Jesus Christ thank you for inspiring me to give away the 920XT BEFORE I had to go through the same ordeal I had with the 910XT (FOUR replacements).
One F3 replaced due to bad GPS (allegedly faulty but we all know Garmin's GPS is not faulty, it's just POOR) and now 2 F5X.

Says it all, really.

0 Sam201176 over 7 years ago

Since last March,Ive needed to replace two Fenix 3hr's, one Vivoactive hr, one Fenix 5x.
The 5x I have now is faulty (bugs)like all Fenix 5x's,
and if i wanted, I could send it back again for another new faulty device,so I may as well stick with the new faulty device I have now to save myself more packaging costs :-)
I do like like my 5x, and have started to enjoy it now I've deleted what dosen't work for me, and I have found routes around other problems and bugs.
Its still the best option for me out there.

0 Former Member over 7 years ago

Have you had one of the F5X with the new connector pins yet?
Supposedly these devices should be one step ahead the first production line and perhaps they have a more resistant barometer.

This appears to be a common problem right now as time sets in with the guys like me who took the F5X at its initial release. There's DAILY complaints over FB and sometimes more than one person a day.

0 Sam201176 over 7 years ago

Yes,both 5x's Ive had here in the UK (Wales :-))bought from Garmin Europe (England) since September have had gold connectors,they provide a very strong solid connection to the very low quality 0.99 pence cable,I've had some trouble with.
I've never experienced the barometer issue luckily.
With the 5x it was mostly an unusable compass for me.
I am finding that by the time the watches are fit for use, (about a year or two) they are already being replaced by the next greatest new release,ready for us all to test again....and so on.
Maybe the solution is to wait two years and then buy the older model.....but who will test the watches then if we don't. :-)
I also don't like the slower processor speed on the 5x for IQ apps in the IQ store,I noticed this going from 6.0 straight to 7.0 ,and the 7.10, certain games I've tested for a few developers are now running slower, and using an IQ benchmark prg, ( Wolf benchmark)my score went from 161 down to 98!
really spoilt game potential.
(haven't tried with latest beta)