Watch functions as a Garmin Tactix after a hard reset. What's going on??

Mine did this. Garmin organised a replacement straight away. Contact Garmin support. 

btw any idea if possible to resolve the issues with loading the maps that started all this for me? Maybe it has to do with the watch unable to reset properly. I'm getting "Cannot Unlock Maps" (also after a factory reset).

I tried to delete all maps from the /Garmin folder yet somehow they return there and the watch tries again to load maps. I exited GE, so I don't think it's the one that re-copies files. What should I do to prevent the watch from loading any map?

When you reset the watch the time(hour/minutes)is allways the same? 
You can try to use webupdater to restore to factory defaults. 
I have a similar problem: https://forums.garmin.com/outdoor-recreation/outdoor-recreation/f/fenix-6-series/267590/fenix-6x-pro-solar---strage-behavior

contact garmin support.

I think that the internal memory become readonly and is marked as readonly. If you try to update/delete files from the watch they are back after reset. 

TLucian said:

You can try to use webupdater to restore to factory defaults.

The webupdater installs the firmware. But this is not a "factory default". The settings are retained even if you reinstall the FW.

TLucian said:

I have a similar problem

Your problem seems to me to be different.

TLucian said:

You can try to use webupdater

I had already suggested that. So far there has been no feedback.

haha this seems like a BENEFIT as the tactix delta has more features than the fenix 6 series

mm well nothing works, menus come up empty, weird beeps, no apps - not much of a benefit I would say

Geeze, interrupted map update that leads to this (quite expensive!) watch being completely unusable - that's worrying. I'm still within the 2 years reliability so I hope Garmin's local support will indeed fix this, but when the reliability is over, I'm prone to loosing the watch if some feature update will fail? This would cause me to think twice before purchasing a new watch in the future 

eran_levi said:

interrupted map update that leads to this (quite expensive!) watch being completely unusable - that's worrying.

There's probably something else contributing to this problem.

What software versions etc do you see in Settings, System, About?

Nothing to lose by connecting to the computer and deleting all the maps from the Maps folder with Garmin Express closed down. Then fire up Garmin Express and sync.

If no different try one last shot...

• Power down the watch
• Press top left them immediately press and hold top and bottom right
• Release top right on first beep, bottom right on second beep.
• Pair with phone when prompted.
• Once finished pairing with phone connect to computer and sync with Garmin Express.
• Remove from computer allow to return to watch face before long press top left until shutdown.
• Restart

I had fw 16.70 before this.

I tried to connect to a computer and delete all maps while GE is closed. Yet they return and fail to load again with the message "Unable to Unlock maps". I think it interrupts the factory reset process (the steps you've mentioned), this message also appears during this process and leads to this unstable state. Yet I didn't find how to stop it from loading the maps.

Although the watch appears as a drive on the computer, GE doesn't recognize it.

When i restart the the watch i also get sometimes tactix watchface. When i try to use the webupdater the app discover my watch with unit id 0. I try to use software on mac and pc and get the same results. 
In my opinion the internal memory is in read only state now and cannot be reverted. As mentioned on sandisk website:

“Write protection errors occur when a flash drive detects a potential fault within itself. The drive will go into write-protected mode to prevent data loss. There is no method to fix this.”