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Screen burn-in after 2 years and half

Mladen T
11 months ago

I know this is a topic that pop ups from time to time, with people saying it's safe due to various methods of mitigation and other people saying that burn-in is inevitable.

I have the Epix 2 since mid february 2022 so it's almost 2 years and half.

I changed the watchface few times and not used all the time the "always-on" display but it was like that for 99% of the time. No wrist activation.

I definitely didn't check for "burn-in" signs, frequently, but something pretty visible started to show up, last week, when i was looking at some DSWs graphs(specifically the yellow graphs of threshold suggestions Smiley).

This is the situation with a pretty much fully white watchface:

The watchface that i used for 99% of the time is one of the default watchfaces:

It's not a really big deal as i'm going to continue to use the same watchface and i'll keep the "always-on" even with a future watch...it's just to show that it can still happen, even with newer models, so if someone is worried about it, better to take other precautions like not keeping the "always-on" display or whatever else is suggested Smiley

I have the red shift mode after the sunset.

(yes, i'm aware that Garmin is warning about burn-in and it's considering it as a normal behaviour https://www8.garmin.com/manuals/webhelp/GUID-E5C62F3F-DCE3-4197-8CA5-E419B2A55D12/EN-US/GUID-8ECEF6B4-5257-44E9-BB09-778836BBF700.html)

  • 0 11 months ago

    Just to know, when you wrote "not used all the time the "always-on" display but it was like that for 99% of the time", do you mean that you have used the always-on-mode for 99 % of the time?

  • 0 11 months ago

    The reality is that with AMOLED burn in will occur at some point int time - just a fact of AMOLED screens (and being evidenced in TV's etc). The methods you talk about merely delay the burn in - they do not prevent it - nothing can.

    So considering you have used barely any of the delay methods, your only protection being the built in watch face burn in delay protection - 2.5yrs is worse than I hoped for in same usage case as yours, but based on other devices used in a similar fashion, not completely unexpected. And considering yours is pretty much the max usage case it gives me hope that my usage case is likely to extend the potential burn in issue to a much later date and will hopefully be post moving to a new epix (maybe next releast, but probably more likely the one after that - depends if any really interesting comes up that I feel I have to have).

  • 0 11 months ago

    You mean you had the screen on always with the same watch face (only red shift after sunset) for 2,5 years... it's a nice durability test.
    I use wrist activation, but during activities i miss the always visible mip screen of my previous 7X Solar, now i have an epix 2 pro 47mm.
    Let us know what Garmin say if you get in touch with support

  • 0 11 months ago in reply to alf69mi

    Why not switch the device to AOD just for activities?

  • 0 11 months ago in reply to 8924630

    Yes will try it, it was setup AOD in activities and i switched to wrist activation because i use quite often the map page and was scared about battery life and keeping the screen always on. I am getting used to wrist activation anyway...

  • 0 11 months ago in reply to alf69mi

    Yes, my purpose was also to see what will happen after such usage.

    I don't like the black screen so that's why i kept "always-on" and to avoid occasional waking up with the wrist i deactivated the "wrist activation".

    Normally, i'm in the office so i can see everything with the dimmed watchface while when i'm outside, most of the times, i'll have an activity on going or in any case it's rare that i'll be somewhere with max sunlight.

    Could get in touch with them for a discount with the next model(Eyes)...using the same watchface, the issue is not that visible and same goes during the activities or if i have to check something else because majority of the background is black.

    Not expecting much to be honest...they are warning about it and 2.5 years is not a short period but let's see Slight smile

    Yeah, i was just curious to test it too and probably will not change my behavior with next models. Let's see if anything will improve in future.

    This is an example of the normal menu....if anyone is curious to see something else, let me know.

  • 0 11 months ago in reply to Mladen T

    as you point out in most situations it doesnt' relaly seem to impact on your useablity

  • 0 11 months ago in reply to Bitti

    Sorry, but i think i missed your message when replying to the others.

    Even if it should be clear if you read my other comment, yes I used "always-on" for 99% of the time. I tried for a short time the other options like the activation with wrist movement but I want to be able to quickly look at the watch even without the wrist movement and I don't want accidental activations, so "always-on" and no wrist activation.

    Sleep time is around 7-8 hours so for that time I have the other watchface and during activities I have the activity screen of course.