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Demo/retail mode: make it harder to activate please

AmrAmin
11 months ago

Hello

Long time Garmin user here (Fenix 5, Forerunners, etc). For diving-specific watches, I initially had the Descent G1 solar. Got the Epix Pro Gen 2 as a gift, and inevitably sold both to get the 2-in-1 best of both with the MK3i. 

While on a recent diving trip in the Red Sea in Egypt, I was rinsing off the watch after a dive and apparently accidentally activated the demo/retail mode by pressing the light button 8 times in a row. I didn’t even know it was possible to do this. The problem is that once activated, this effectively reset the watch. I lost all my customizations and settings, all my downloaded music, pairing to my sensors (HRM, T2, etc), you name it. 

It took a painful hour to restore everything back, all while on a limited roaming internet package. Not pleasant. 

Please Garmin make it so that demo mode is not not activated by 8 sequential presses of the light button. Move that feature somewhere buried in the settings. I cannot fathom anyone who has registered their personal Garmin to their Garmin account and/or paired the device to their phone would intentionally enable retail/demo mode anyway.

Thank you. 

  • 0 11 months ago

    Sorry to hear.
    What I could advice, to make it easiest in the future, use backup/restore function.
    It will give you at least less work with configuring device.

  • 0 11 months ago

    Almost sounds like some Tactix feature. Wipe your watch easily. Not sure what does that do in other models.

  • 0 11 months ago

    Put the idea/suggestion to Share Ideas | Garmin, it's the official blackhole for requests like this.

  • 0 11 months ago in reply to jmto

    On the MK3i, pressing the light button 8 times in a row puts it in retail/demo mode as if the watch is being advertised in a store. It makes the watch display a presentation of all the diving features it has for customers to check out as they walk by or interact with the in-store display unit.

    Enabling/Disabling this resets the watch. That’s a disaster for a dive watch where you could be on a boat with no network connection. 

    Diving watches get rinsed after dives. It’s not unusual to submerge scuba equipment in fresh water and press some random buttons to ensure any trapped salt is dissolved or dislodged, which is how I found myself in this predicament. 

    This retail/demo mode should be buried in the Settings menu, or potentially unavailable once a watch has been registered with a Garmin account. Perhaps this retail mode should only be an option to enable when the watch is reset or turned on for the first time for display purposes in a store. It serves no purpose for anyone who uses the watch as intended.

  • 0 11 months ago in reply to Adam-1972

    Excellent advice, and this could have been a way to minimize the time spent to manually do it all. However, had I been on a multi-day diving safari in the middle of the Red Sea as I typically do every year or so, where there’s zero cellular connection, then that would have been a disaster.

  • 0 11 months ago in reply to jmto

    Thanks for the suggestion. Will do that now.