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Fenix 7X freezing/glitching when using flashlight outdoors in sunlight?

9417105
over 3 years ago

Just checking in to see if anyone else is having this issue or could confirm a possible bug. I've got a Fenix 7X Sapphire Solar that when I try to activate the flashlight outdoors during daytime (double taping the LIGHT button), it doesn't turn on the light and eventually (within 30 seconds or so), the whole watch locks up and requires a hard reboot. Sometimes the reboot isn't enough and the watch becomes stuck on a "FENIX 7X" wait screen indefinitely (at which point I will again hold the LIGHT button for 20 seconds to turn it off, wait some time, then push it to power on).

I think I've isolated the problem to operating the flashlight when the solar panel is being used to charge the device outdoors. Sure, why would I want to use the flashlight when I'm getting enough sunlight to charge the watch? I don't know. I don't think it should lock up like this though. When I restarted it, it also lost all my heartrate data but everything else (sleep, other data bars) were still there, oddly enough.

Anyone else experiencing anything like this? I've also tried navigating to the flashlight menu when outdoors and tapping on the brightness buttons for the white or red LED won't activate the light.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to indrasuryatama

    initially i wait for the firmware, after 7.35 out.. the issue still happened and some of my friend didnt experience the issue.
    Then i decided to return my watch...  45 days replacement time .. 
    Garmin its really dissapointing issue

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to indrasuryatama

    Update Apr12, 2022: The solution didn't worked as today the watch got freezed and had to force shut down. What is even worse is that the watch didn't turn on as usual. It got stuck with the booting image then backlight came on and nothing happened. I tried to turn on 6 times the 1K USD watch that was laughing at me. How that comes that, as in one of the latest post mentioned what Canadian support said, this bug doesn't affect the watch functionality?!

    I was facing the same issue and was already added by Garmin Chis to the tracking list of those who reported the same behavior. I noted something that could be the cause of the issue. I purchased my watch as new in a sealed box in a store that sells among other gadgets Garmin products as well. This store is an official Garmin partner in Hungary. Interestingly, my watch came with some Connect IQ APPS (watch faces) present on the watch. I didn't download any watch faces as I'm happy with the default one. There were 5 of them and interestingly only 2 out of them are by Garmin and the rest are from 3rd party. Do you think this this is normal? Can you please tell me if someone had also installed any 3rd party watch faces on their new units out of the box? The non Garmin watch faces being on my watch out of the box it strongly suggests my watch was briefly owned then returned to the retail store I bought it from. However, I was phoned by the shop when they got their stock as the 7x SS was sold out previously.

    Watch faces:

    - Aerospace+H4 by Trudelta
    - Aviator by Garmin
    - GVWatch by GerardV
    - Lachesis (Shade) by Garmin
    - Mountain Face by Alexis_Lecanu

    The solution that DIDN'T work for me: I removed the above 3rd party watch faces and my flashlight has been functional indoor/outdoor with any light conditions.

    Connect IQ APPS currently installed:

                            - Connect IQ Store

                            - Single Run Field (Single Field) by lcj2

                            - Spotify

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to ArionK

    Update.

    Sun came out this morning. Took F7x SS watch outside, within 30 seconds of solar charging registering .4 lux hours I double tapped light button for led lights. Watch locked up, and just displayed the time HHMM, i mean just the time and nothing else.

    Turned it off, contacted dealer, arranged to return it and they have already posted me a replacement, arriving tomorrow.

    Shout out to WATCHO of Newport Pagnell UK for first class customer service.

    Watch this space for updates with the new watch.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to 2572376

    Thats a great one.. in Indonesia the estimation day is 45 days :( I havent receive yet until now

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to indrasuryatama

    yes, watch arrived, updated it to 7.35, completed basic setup. All seems ok so far. Have to wait for some sunshine to tell whether it has same issue as before. (In UK, that could be a long wait :-))

  • 0 over 3 years ago

    OP here. I have tested the watch with the latest (to me) v7.35 firmware and the issue is persisting. I hope Garmin can resolve this issue or provide refunds soon if they can't. It's unreasonable to spend $1000 on a watch that freezes up like this and requires triple reboots to get functioning again.

    Clearly just dev/testing in a lab was insufficient.

  • 0 over 3 years ago

    Same issue here.

    Fenix 7X SS, firmware 7.35, no connect IQ watch face.

    Watch becomes unusable after trying to use the flashlight during sunny conditions. Battery estimate went from 19d to 5h. Had to reboot the watch, battery went back to 17d, so there was a permanent 2d battery drain. I discovered the issue by mistake trying to show my mother the flashlight while being out in sunny conditions.

    --> I sent you a PM.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to RemiM

    Called the Canadian support, added my name to the existing ticket.

    Support has not offered any replacement as they believe it is a software issue and it does not affect the functionality of the watch.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to RemiM

    That's nonsense.

    Of course it affects the functionality of the watch. It stops it from working and you have to reboot the watch.

    The "software" is the functionality of the watch.

    It happened to my F7x SS and after several occurrences of it I got it replaced.

    Since then I haven't seen it happen again.........yet................but its not that sunny in the UK.