I have noticed quite a few optical heart rate sensor cracks on my watch, despite my taking immaculate care of it, after noticing gradually worsening heart rate accuracy readings. However, I appear to be out of warranty. I was wondering if Garmin can still fix this for free, given the known defect in this model, with this issue in particular?
Depending where you live the consumer law may have a consumer guarantee. In Australia we have this. All goods must be fit for purpose and all durable enough to last for at least 2 years. This over rides any warranty the manufacturer/retailer offers. As a result a lot of manufacturers/retailers have upped their game and now offer a 2 year warranty. I don't think Garmin have done this here but if the goods they supply are meant to have a lifespan of more that 1 year ie a $1000 sports watch they are compelled to fix any "warranty" style faults.
Garmin support has been generally awesome for anything I've had to contact them about. My guess is that they will likely take good care of you. Just give them a call or chat via the website (assuming available in your area) and politely ask what they can do for you.
Like others have said give them a call and ask. For a known issue like this it's possible they will do an out of warranty replacement with a refurbished unit for free. I've had them do that before when I had a Forerunner 610 that had known corrosion issues with the metal back. Called them several years out of warranty and they replaced it no problem.
Middling_Distancer certainly in the UK you can argue that a watch of this kind can reasonably be expected to be fit for purpose for more than 1 year. This appears to be a known manufacturing defect in certain watches so I think that Garmin have an obligation to replace or fix. Like PaulDN81 I had the corrosion problem on my 610 out of warranty and it was replaced with no quibbles by Garmin UK.
