Replacement fee on a watch 6 mos out of warranty

Anyone else ditching Garmin? Thought I would really treat myself and upgraded to a Fenix. Jokes on me - bluetooth started getting really flakey earlier this year (of course 6 mos after the warranty). Managed to get the watch connected back to my phone more or less, but gave up on trying to use bluetooth headphones. Back then when I reported the issues, Garmin was going to charge me $200+ for a replacement at that time, on a year and half old watch that cost more than my sons laptop. It is flaking out again and the support response was the same. I'm sorry but this inexcusable.  For context 2 my Forerunner lasted 4 years and it wasn't a malfunction that caused me to replace it, to then spend  2x on a watch that didn't last half as long....I'm just speechless.