Fenix 5 LCD Fail (second time)

My second Fenix 5 LCD has now failed. This happens to me about every 5 months and I think that it is from static electricity working in such dry environments (Afghanistan). Soft reset, hard reset, nothing works. This one failed in my sleep and the time was stuck. The last one failed the moment I grounded myself to a metal pipe before taking a shower.

Backlight works fine. Watch syncs fine. LCD is not fine. The attached picture is what it looks like when I turn it off and power back on.

I love this watch so much but I just cant win :( Luckily REI has an awesome exchange/return policy but what's the point if this is just going to keep happening? ciq.forums.garmin.com/.../1299547.jpg

0 GrantH over 7 years ago

ciq.forums.garmin.com/.../1299549.jpg

0 caverat99 over 7 years ago

That was my theory too, that it might have something to do with static electricity. I remember pulling off a fleece sweater the night before that produced a tremendous amount of static.

0 Chimcen over 7 years ago

any response from garmin according to this "problem"?

0 Former Member over 7 years ago

How could one possibly avoid this?

0 GrantH over 7 years ago

I baby this watch as much as I possibly can because I want to make it last a long time and keep it looking good. Afterall, I really love the Fenix 5 and have been waiting a long time for it. The first time the screen went out I thought that it might be a fluke but it was too much a coincidence that it went out as soon as I grounded myself.

Just two nights ago I saw a ton of static electricity when I rolled over in bed and said to myself, I sure hope my watch doesn't break. Well here I am with another broken watch thats going to take 20 days to send me a new one due to how slow the mail is.

I've contacted Garmin support to see what they say. Not expecting much other than to send it in.

0 daniel.jg over 7 years ago

I also have a screen problem related to static electricity in a Fenix 5x
On my watch, the backlight is always on (less than 1%). I have tried to solve the problem with a hard reset, but it is always a little on. It is really very little, but when I remove a jacket with static electricity (with synthetic fabrics) the light increases considerably. Of course, my screen is defective, but it is clearly affected by static electricity. My watch is an RMA and the cause was the problem with the loading cable. Now I have a watch with a screen always illuminated, sometimes more and sometiems less (depending on the static electricity arround the watch)

0 GrantH over 7 years ago

Don't think that there is much one can do about the static. Maybe raise the humidity levels?

The lcd should not be failing due to static electricity. Guess I will just keep swapping out the watch every 6 months :D

0 Former Member over 6 years ago

I just took off a sweater and now my LCD looks like the pic in OP. Display is toast. A few months out of warranty. I’m pissed.