Epix (Gen 2) Phantom touches 17.28

I have had a Garmin Epix Gen2 for about 2 months, and today I started experiencing “phantom touches” every time I turn on the touchscreen. The device has become completely unusable as these touches occur every 1-2 seconds.

There is no screen protector on the device, and it hasn't suffered any hard physical damage, so it doesn’t seem to be a hardware issue. I have tried a hard reset, software reinstall, Garmin Express, and the 30-second on/off trick, but nothing has worked.

Does anyone know what else I could try?

Software Version
17.28

Top Replies

Oleks M 10 months ago in reply to Adrian s +1

Thanks, Adrian!

Important point here is that the issue goes away when I turn off the touchscreen — no ghost button presses or phantom touches occur.

All Replies

0 Adrian s 10 months ago

The issue can also be related to ghost 'button presses", not necessarily touches.

I experienced a similar issue with a replacement unit Garmin sent me at one point (refurbished). The back button was constantly pressed inwards and would trigger "back" actions at random times. Garmin's recommendation is to soak the watch unit in warm water for a few minutes to loosen the gaskets and clear out any debris that might be stuck in the button assemblies.

0 Oleks M 10 months ago in reply to Adrian s

Thanks, Adrian!

Important point here is that the issue goes away when I turn off the touchscreen — no ghost button presses or phantom touches occur.

0 Adrian s 10 months ago in reply to Oleks M

No worries. Looks like a digitizer/screen issue then. Sorry, hoped it would have been an easy fix for you.