how common is screen burn-in or did I lose the fenix5 lottery?

Every six months a new build quality problem pops up with my Fenix 5s and I've decided I am done spending more than $200 on a watch in the future because of that, they just do not last and keep in mind I take mine off after each run, turn it off and put it away, it's only got an hour or two per day of use but after three years it's toast, battery won't last, gps loss constantly, etc.

Now it's a faint burn-in ring around the display. It's thicker than the gps sync ring so I am not sure what it is and the watch is turned off every day so it's not like something could sit on the display for long enough.

Curious how rare this is, anyone else?

I was excited to see what the Fenix7/955 would offer but no way I am getting one at this point, it won't last more than three years and it's likely going to be twice the Fenix5 price.

0 Elbo over 4 years ago

I have a forerunner 935 which is a plastic version of the fenix5 and wear it 24/7 with betwee 5 and 10 hours of gps workouts per week.

It's holding on for 4 years. But that's not something extra ordinary. My previous 2 Suunto watches held on for 4 years.

My main concern is batterylife. In gps mode it is reduces to 10-12 hours. Even if I would have charged it weekly for the past 4 years (in reality less than that), my watch did only 200 charge cycles. That's really nothing. I guess Garmin uses lousy quality batteries. Last week I got a warning wifi wasn't possible due to low battery voltage (although it was 52% charged).

1 button isn't as clicky as it used to be, but that are stil working ok.

Heartrate sensor is cracked, of course. But I use a cheststrap anyway, because optical sensor doesn't work for me during runs.

The (plastic) case has it's usage marks, but nothing really to bad.

My screen is stil ok. I don't see any ghosts/burn in signs.

I'm not that looking forward for a new watch. Any additional features besides the one I use doesn't make a watch any better for me. And Garmin only adds useles/inaccurate/broken features to newer watches.

When my watch dies I might switch to Coros. It's not that featurepacked as a Garmin (but again, do I really need more data of questionable quality) but Coros watches are cheaper and do get longer software updates (where garmin only provides bugfixes for older devices but mainly leave the many bugs as they are).

0 Corrina920XT over 3 years ago

I’ve had my Fenix 5S for two years and two months - like you, i don’t wear it all the time.
Battery life has always been rubbish and back light never worked (but I loved the watch and could live without the back light.. as inconvenient as it was in the winter months!).

Due to it being out of warranty, Garmin have offered a refurb at a cost of circa £130. I’ve asked if that includes a warranty but I’ve still not had a response to that question. I’m loathed to throw good money after bad.

I’m done with spending that sort of money on a ‘decent’ multi sport watch and in fact, I’m reluctant to support Garmin in future too! I’ve always had Garmin's, what a shame.