My daughter still has a 4 year old AW3.  Not one issue with screen.   the OLED screens are extremely reliable.

Awesome. Thanks

RyanLangley said:

Does it hold up over time?

Ask me in a couple of years. Seriously though, nobody can answer how well the Epix2 screen will hold up over time. Individual use case will have some impact - Always on v Display off etc. I thought I might not take the plunge with either watch because of the touchscreen but the ability to control when it's on/off was sufficient to sway me.

First of all - the AW3 display is not always on. This reduces the risk of burn-ins significantly. Secondly, newer Apple Watches have a few tricks to minimize burn-in, for example the information being displayed is being "scaled down" when the screen goes into inactive state. This also helps a lot. Garmin does not have those tricks, and watches like the Venu have shown significant number of burn-ins after just a year. See for example forums.garmin.com/.../venu-screen-burn-in

** EDIT ** Garmin does indeed pixel scale/shift the display and lots of other tricks on the new EPIX.

Moderator Edited to note: referring to the Epix 2 AMOLED, it automatically dims to avoid a burn-in issue.

Personally,on my Venu 2, i'm using Garmin's watchfaces as they have everything that i need on the AOD(live heart rate, hour, date, body battery and steps that i don't really need but they are there :D). I guess that Epix will have even more and more customizable watchfaces so i should be fine.

Venu 2's AOD is also not always on...during sleep time it's completely off and the screen changes between the normal usage and the "stand by" mode + when you do activities or you check something it's changing.

If that's not enough to prevent a screen burn-in then i expect to get a replacement from Garmin if it happens.

I know that many(if not all of them) 3rd party watchfaces have a "burn-in prevention" option and i hope Garmin's too(if it's effective or not i don't know of course).

But as far as I understood, the user isn’t forced to use the aod the whole time and can disable the aod display:

From the Epix manual:

“

Changing the Screen Settings

Yes of course. It's a setting that you choose to select or not. 

You can keep it always off too or make it on with the wrist movement but AOD is a feature made by Garmin and if the screen get's damaged, because of their feature, i'm expecting a replacement as said before. 

I understand that it's my choice but i don't see anywhere a warning message about it usage. 

(just a random example) It's like if i use Spo2 measurment 24x7 and the sensor breaks...i'm getting in contact with Garmin and i should get another watch. 

I would say, no guarantee no replacement. 

From the Epix manual, burn-in is -normal behavior- and I would read that as an -not under guarantee-.

link to www8.garmin.com

About the AMOLED Display

By default, the watch settings are optimized for battery life and performance (Tips for Maximizing the Battery Life).
Image persistence, or pixel “burn-in,” is normal behavior for AMOLED devices. To extend the display life, you should avoid displaying static images at high brightness levels for long time periods. To minimize burn-in, the epix display turns off after the selected timeout (Changing the Screen Settings). You can turn your wrist toward your body, tap the touchscreen, or press a button to wake the device.

I understand your concern but i'm speaking from my personal experience with Venu and Venu 2 and i didn't/don't see any visible burn in after months of usage.

I'm not doing anything special to prevent it...i have AOD all the time but there is a difference between "active AOD" and "stand-by AOD"....the brightness change and on Venu 2, and i guess on Epix too, the 2 watchfaces are also different with the second one having less details and maybe other tricks(pixel shifting or whatever they use) to avoid burn-ins. 3rd party watchfaces for the Venu had the option "prevent burn-in" that you were able to check or uncheck.

After reading that statement in the manual i'm still going to risk with the Epix as it fits a lot more whit what i want from the smartwatch...if i get any visible burn-in i will contact Garmin and let you know how it goes.

Few points to analyze a little bit:

1)To extend the display life: what does this mean? To extend how much? From 5 years to 10 years? From 1 month to 2 years?

2)you should avoid displaying static images at high brightness levels for long time periods: long time periods=? 1 minute? 5 Hours? 2 days?  

I don't think they are making a watch that costs a thousand of dollars with issues that can arise after few months.

When I buy a thousand dollar watch, I expect it to last at least 4-5 years. After using previous Garmin watches I don't see myself switching off AoD. So it's quite obvious witch Garmin's own info on AMOLED displays that Epix will eventually get a burn-in. It's just a matter of time. Thankfully there's still Fenix 7 :)