Is my Fenix 6 slowly dying?

The only way to know if it’s worth opening a support request is to open a support request. It also sounds like you’ve already made up your mind that you want a Fenix 7.

If you feel you have have nothing to lose with this device, you might want to try replacing the battery. There are Youtube videos showing how. It isn't super easy because everything is such a tight fit, but not extremely hard either. And if you got yourself a new 7, you can sell the 6 with the new battery or keep it as a spare.

Thanks for the suggestion.

The thing is, with the many problems I face and listed in my posting, I'm not sure if the issue is the battery.

Today the battery was fine. But everything else went horribly wrong.

No sleep data recorded. The altimeter showed I was still on 2300m over sealevel, where I was yesterday during a hike. It somehow counted / recorded the same amount of steps / floors climb as yesterday, so I have the exact same amount as yesterday (which were of course a lot because of the hike) again in Garmin Connect. Also the heart rate was not recorded today at all.

The display issue may be related to display ribbon coming loose from the motherboard. We can't know exactly what's going on.

That's right. Without opening the watch up and having a look it's not possible to say. BTW sometimes batteries go bad and swell up. That can result in pressure on the board and the display. Although I have only seen that in very old devices that probably were dropped at some point.

Update: Finally I was able to contact Garmin (the contact form was not working for days) and they offer me a replacement device for 200 Francs/Euro/Dollar (haha, it is almost all the same now)

I can also have 20% discount for Fenix 7 devices, which doesn't help much as I already have this discount over some corporate benefits. And it is except Pro devices, which is a bit strange.

I'm not you but I'd go for the 200 <currency unit> option, you get a new or refurbished device that is indistinguishable from new and it will last good number of years. Paying so.much more for the limited extra functionality of the Fenix 7, is that worth it? If it is new functionality you want, maybe a new Forerunner offers that as well.

Personally.. no matter which option, I would not be able to resist having a look around in the old watch before sending it away, curious to know what failed

Personally.. no matter which option, I would not be able to resist having a look around in the old watch before sending it away, curious to know what failed

How would you do that?

The current state of the watch is this:

baselpower said:

I would not be able to resist having a look around in the old watch before sending it away, curious to know what failed

How would you do that?

Open it up and check: if the battery pack is bloated (bulging), if any of the tiny ribbon connectors have become loose, if there is moisture damage. If it is just the battery pack that's bad, it can be replaced. That said, this looks like either a loose (best case) or broken display connector, or the display unit failing, which is an expensive part to replace.

Does it still show any change when you power cycle it? Can you get it to emit beeps by going in the service menu? Any reaction to the Light button (backlight on/off)?

Service menu: (you won't see it, but the watch should beep when pressing buttons)
turn OFF watch (press light button and select power off)
HOLD down the DOWN button, (bottom left) don't let go
while keep holding DOWN, power on by pressing light button and let light button go
wait a bit, don't let go of down, eventually service menu comes up (the watch will beep at every button press)

And another thing you can check without opening it up: when on a charger, does the back of the watch become slightly warm (as normal), very warm/hot to the touch, or does it remain the same temperature?

Thanks for the detailed instruction and the help.

So I opened the watch now.

What I saw first is moisture (first and second picture, at the edge, on the back of the display, on the mainboard).

Then I think I also see some melted glue or so (second picture bottom right, third picture top right, fifth picture bottom right and on the mainboard).

The battery also has some strange blue color on it (4th picture top right). I guess this is the same melted glue or whatever?

I'm not sure if the battery is actually bloated. Not extremely. But if the battery should be completely, perfectly flat, then yes, it is bloated a bit.

I try to add some pictures, I hope you can see on the pictures what I described. The question now is, what was the root cause? Battery? Heat? Moisture? Everything? And what to fix first?