Even to update a firmware is painfuil with Garmin

One reason they may do it this way is if there is a major issue with the release, it will only affect a percentage of users, and they can stop it before everybody gets it.

Phased rollout of critical stuff is quite common?
The only reason this is a perceived issue, is that you might get the update a day or so later?
World burning stuff... right?

Phased rollout is rather common in modern software distribution.

I like the Garmin way of approaching things here. Regular beta releases are available if you really want to be on the bleeding edge all the time.

A phased rollout is reducing the risk of having a showstopper in a release (not found in the betas) that is distributed to all users.
And even if the couple of MB today should be quite easy to handle, updating all the devices at the same time creates a peak that the update servers need to be able to handle. Phased rollout is one option to break this peak.

I guess to keep people like you happy, Garmin should just not publish the current rollout phase but update nice and quietly so that you are not aware of any user happy enough to get an update a couple of hours before you do. ;-)

I agree that phased is actually common in the IT industry. Phones update this way - I do software installation and all our client pushes are phased rather than big bang.

Roll out by percentage, what kind of monejy business are we talking here. either we can all update or non, either is out or not, seriously like there are 1st, 2nd and 3er class buyers with you guys.

You guys are a joke of a company.

Fix the bugs and release the firmware like normal companies.

Then sell your Garmin and go buy something else. You will have an update once in a blue moon, with one new logo and two new watch faces, and you will be very happy.

@Garmin: thank you for offering an update every other month, thank you for the new features and thank you for the constant improvement. I love my Fenix5x and I don't mind waiting 12h in order to have my watch updated.

I agree that phased is actually common in the IT industry. Phones update this way - I do software installation and all our client pushes are phased rather than big bang.

in a 3 MB update? this is not Apple 1 GB or more, I would like to know how many people has this watch with a 3MB update vs iPhone iOS 11 with 1.7 GB update. This is monkey business at best, I am just looking for the monkey's mouth to throw a banana.

One reason they may do it this way is if there is a major issue with the release, it will only affect a percentage of users, and they can stop it before everybody gets it.

So the customer is the quality controil in this joint?

The frustration comes from the following -

Beta is not for APAC units, which I happen to have. Therefore I am not supposed to install the beta as per the beta release notes.
Therefore Garmin does not get feedback from APAC users regarding the betas.
However Garmin can then decide to release an official firmware which has NOT been beta tested on APAC devices.
If Garmin wanted to reduce the risk of having a showstopper in a release (not found in the betas) that is distributed to all users, then they should make the betas available to all users.

It is a fancy watch to me, and if I did encounter a showstopper I would simply put another of my watches on, besides I also have a phone for the time. This is a non issue for me.

World burning stuff, certainly not. Frustrating, yes.

So please try to keep the comments non personal.

On a more light hearted noted - hit sync a few times to see if I made the 'lucky' 20 percent :-)