Connection / Charging Problem

Morning all.

I purchased a Fenix 5 from Millets on June 5 this year. They are selling them for 25% off of the retail price:

https://www.millets.co.uk/equipment/...ch-yellow.html

It has silver pins in the connection port (which I see has been an issue with the 5x over on their forum) and in the last day or so will not connect to ether of my computers (iMac and MacBook Pro) It will only take a charge from a USB charger if the cable is connected one way round (no charge at all if the other) and even then won't charge unless I keep on unplugging the cable from the back of the watch and reconnecting it.

Garmin UK have despatched a new cable to see if that works, but based on what I've read above I'm not convinced it will.

Could Millets discount price be a result of old stock, with silver pins, that they are trying to shift? Do new units come with gold pins?

0 Beamers over 6 years ago

Update on this one.

New cable arrived and is a noticeably more secure fit with the watch.

Zero change to the problem though.

Garmin have advised that I get in touch with Millets to arrange a replacement watch. Millets have confirmed that it needs to be checked in store by a manager. If he/she can't confirm the fault it needs to go back to Millets HQ to be checked over which can take 8-10 weeks!

0 AJRykala over 6 years ago

Update on this one.

New cable arrived and is a noticeably more secure fit with the watch.

Zero change to the problem though.

Garmin have advised that I get in touch with Millets to arrange a replacement watch. Millets have confirmed that it needs to be checked in store by a manager. If he/she can't confirm the fault it needs to go back to Millets HQ to be checked over which can take 8-10 weeks!

I'd point out you've spent a considerable sum of money with them for this watch and 8-10 weeks isn't acceptable. Tell them you'll happily accept a refund and purchase elsewhere, (even if you don't really want too) hoping that the possible loss of a reasonable sum of money puts a fire under their ass..

As an aside, I get the occasional problem and I find rinsing the watch and drying it tends to remove any crud that ends up there (even though I use one of those rubber port covers as well)

0 Beamers over 6 years ago

I'll give that approach a try if the manager looks like he/she isn't going to accept that there is a fault when they look at it.

Ref cleaning the watch it's only a month old so no build up of gunk yet and I've given the charging port a good clean but to no avail. Very frustrating.

0 Chimcen over 6 years ago

Beamers - do you use a stock garmin watchface or a custom one?

0 mcalista over 6 years ago

You may want to try it with a different USB power source. Some devices can be pretty fussy if the power supplied is outside the USB spec. The fact that you have to keep unplugging it suggests this might be the problem.

0 Beamers over 6 years ago

Watch face is a stock Garmin one. I've tried various power sources with no change to the problem. Tried two computers (and all of the inbuilt USB ports on both machines) with the same result and neither would recognise the watch as a USB drive when both had done so for the first couple of weeks of using the watch.

Its gone back to Millets HQ to be assessed and then passed on to Garmin.

Its now a waiting game.

Thanks for your responses.

0 Beamers over 6 years ago

Thought I'd provide an update in case anyone else has a similar problem. Millets HQ confirmed that there was an electrical fault with my Fenix 5. They offered a full refund or replacement unit.

I opted for the refund, which I have invested in a Fenix 5x Sapphire from Cotswold Outdoor in order to avoid a rerun of the saga outlined above.

I've been using the Sapphire for a couple of days and it feels significantly more robust than the Fenix. It will also hold the blue tooth connection with my phone when it's my cycling jersey pocket which my 5 could not manage. Also, despite being slightly larger, the Sapphire feels a lot more comfortable on my wrist.

0 mcalista over 6 years ago

Ironically, the initial batches of F5X's had a far more widespread charging connection issue than a single dud watch. Long since fixed.

0 Trail noob2 SA over 5 years ago

Found the charging / sync problem as it has plagued me as well as the watch ages on the fenix 5x plus model with gold contacts, the gold contacts on the watch side eventually wears down to the base metal and the action from sweat on those exposed pins causes a bit of corrosion which a light wipe with alchohol cannot clean properly, I found taking a wooden toothpick and waterless hand sanitiser seems to clean up the contacts and allow it to be charged. please refer to the image attached to see how the gold contacts eventually wears down to its base metal corrosion on fenix 5x plus gold contacts

0 RUI_LOPES over 5 years ago in reply to Trail noob2 SA

Good morning, had the same problem one day, GARMIN didn't charge connected to PC.

Give it a clean with water and a light scrub with toothbrush... and all start to work perfectly again