Unhappy with Garmin software updates

I think it makes good sense to let the new features "rain down" to the next-in-line watches. If the watch have the same sensors and almost same code, why not make more customers happy?

This also have a positive Climate impact as people hold on to their watches for longer before buying a new one. When a new model of e.g. my watch comes out, I'm happy to harvest some of the new features for that myself without instantly having to go buy the new model.

I totally support this process. But it's free for anyone to choose their brand of watch themselves. But of course it's also good that people share their frustrations with Garmin. Only by doing so can they improve. ;-)

It would however suit Garmin to let us users/customer in a bit more on what to expect being fixed in the next release of the firmware some time in advance. I think it would put an easy to some frustrations.

I know. It was just for where it can be applied.

simple answer dont be a first adopter, wait until cheaper watches come out with the new features.

Garmin arent in the business of wanting you to hold onto your watch for years, they want to sell more watches. Duh. They run a business for profit.

I would much rather they spend more money on QA so that the watches they do produce dont keep having the same bugs. As an old software engineer I have seen bad QA like Garmins many many times. Its annoying very annoying.
I have a Epix 2 Pro 51mm, and an Fenix 7X SS, and the Epix just rocks with that display and the battery life is perfect for me.

I use my Epix for sleep , workouts and lasts me more than week . To me that’s worth it . Not having to charge every day for AW .

only thing missing is advanced sleep coaching and ECG

Hi,

Since 2019, Garmin is working (it seems) their code to provide more quality, spread features, update/fix consistency

for example

• F7/Epix2 Series and similar, shared the same System Update
• Forerunner x55/x65 Series, shared the same System Update
• Instinct ...
• Venu ..
• By generation, System features and bugfix are often available at the same time (Beta program Quarter Update)
• By generation, all sub-component shared the same code
  • Sensor Hub
  • GPS
  • Ant / BLE / WiFi
  • Firstbeat
  • etc...

before it was more exploded/inconsistent

TimWallaceTx said:

It's a bit frustrating as a consumer to spend $1,100+ on an Epix 2 Pro 51 mm and then other - much less expensive - watches come our with the new features.

I'm sorry, Tim, but I don't understand your problem.

The Epix Gen 2 had a starting price of 999 €/$ in the Sapphire version. You have now paid 1099 €/$ for the revised successor with a larger screen.

For the other models, which were offered with several screen sizes from the start, this was also the usual price difference.

So to what extent is the value of the watch you bought now reduced in any way by the fact that the predecessors also receive software updates, which they also received before? Should Garmin stop any support for new models as soon as the successor is on the market? I also get OS updates with the latest features for my smartphone, even though there are successor models.

The fact that the "old" models are still being sold and cost considerably less is a completely normal thing. After all, there is now a successor with the latest hardware (new sensors, flashlight, different screen sizes).

As the owner of the "old" model, I can feel much more like I'm being taken for a ride because the watchfaces optimised for the AMOLED screen are only available in the Pro version.

Is it a question of envy that you don't begrudge others the fact that they continue to receive feature updates for their watches, which they also bought at great expense? If so, that would be very sad.

Tricky1571 said:

I think it makes good sense to let the new features "rain down" to the next-in-line watches. If the watch have the same sensors and almost same code, why not make more customers happy?

Like the Fenix 6 getting a lot of stuff from F7?
I'm expecting another full round of updates for F7/Epix2 with the next update cycle(sleep coach and naps) and a new top model in 2023 with some features that will come to F7/Epix 2 and some not(like it happened with the Stamina and Fenix 6).

The new forerunners introduced some new metrics but we got them on F7/Epix 2 too.

We know they have a quarterly schedule for "big" updates...the last "big" update started in July and i'm expecting the next one to start soon.

As someone else said too, it looks normal to "test" some new features on new watches especially when the actual "top" models are nearly 2 years old...they release them on newer watches and then they add them to some older models too.

If i was a F6 owner i would be more than happy to still get new stuff after 3-4 years and i can just hope the same for my Epix 2.

I understand that some people got an Epix 2, just an example, 5 days before they released the Venu 3 and they can be upset with not having some features but that's how it goes when you buy something nearly 2 years old.

Epix 2 pro came out few months ago . I expect it to get major updates for few more years  .

i got the 51 mm for bigger screen and battery life .. Strap is not that comfortable so I will switch it .

Actually we do have indication that data wasn't compromised due to GDPR regulations - any compromised data would have to have been announced and garmin would have had to contact users about their data being compromised.

Failure to do so will literaly wreck a company - so I very much doubt they would hidet the fact that data was compromised. 

Considering they didn't pay the ransom (would be visible in the financials) and as far as i am aware no data has been leaked like it has in other cases with other companies (including sony etc) - I am pretty sure nothing was compromised other than our ability to use services for a short period.

You could say its concerning that the hackers could even acheive that - but the reality is that considering how effective they can be getting into much more secure areas of governments etc its a bit of a moot call.