F7XSS Display quality / transparency

I was happy owner of Fenix 5 sapphire for 5 years. F5 change a lot in my life. Thank you, Garmin. Following me my wife shifted from apple watch to Fenix 6s solar and she is very happy with the move. A week ago i received F7XSS. The worst part of F7XSS is watch face and widgets display w/o backlight - it's not Garmin (in my understanding)! Iit's not transparent even comparing to five years old Fenix 5. I presume it's because of touch screen layer, as F6SS display is really good. I do not need touch screen and have it always deactivated, but, unfortunately, this does not return me back transparency. Possibly i should have moved to F6XSS long ago to be more satisfied with display. Another disadvantage comes from my age - 56. For a few years i can only read in glasses. Widgets of F5 were more readable w/o glasses. Widgets of F7XSS are much more detailed and as a result less readable and almost unreadable w/o backlight on. At same time activity data screens are so good! All in all F7XSS is really good !, but to make better for people like me it should have option OF MAX SPEC without touch screen.

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0 4241327 over 3 years ago

Garmin disabled switching off widget glances on all their new watches (Fenix 7, Instinct 2, Venu 2), which is a real step backwards in my opinion. Anyone with less than perfect eyesight would much appreciate the possibility to use single widgets instead, like this was possible before.

0 KrapfenKringel over 3 years ago in reply to 4241327

And if you scroll one step up you have to scroll two steps down to get back, because the "edit option" will appear in the way.

0 4241327 over 3 years ago in reply to KrapfenKringel

KrapfenKringel said:
And if you scroll one step up you have to scroll two steps down to get back, because the "edit option" will appear in the way.

This is such a user interface / usability regression.

I own, among others, the Instinct 1 Solar, which is a perfectly rounded watch when it comes to the 'reduce to the max' philosophy. It feels like there is a new team of designers at Garmin who don't understand many of the balanced decisions made by earlier teams. Same applies to the altimeter / barometer calibration changes they made. And to the watch case, domed glass, screen lettering and smaller fonts of the Instinct 2.

0 Viacheslav over 3 years ago

I support it! I'm 50 years old, I've been wearing glasses since I was 4. I specifically took the 7x SS to replace the 6 pro so that there was a bigger screen. As a result - in an apartment without the light on, nothing is visible on the clock except the time! All the side data is just not visible((

0 2555451 over 3 years ago in reply to Viacheslav

I am 60 years old and wear reading glassec, i use this wathface work perfect for my old eyes https://apps.garmin.com/sv-SE/apps/3219e2b5-9df0-457e-905d-b66adb6c9480

0 Viacheslav over 3 years ago in reply to 2555451

Thank you!) I have a dial with big numbers too. I wanted to take a photo, but it is being processed and everything is visible well, not like in real life))

0 C.sco over 3 years ago

Sapphire reduces visibility slightly
touchscreen layer reduces visibility slightly
solar layer reduced visibility slightly

Any one of those things by themselves doesn't have a huge effect, but when you add them all up, you get substantial reduction in clarity. It's unfortunately just the way it is, the only way to avoid it is to choose a model that has fewer of those features, or get the Epix with an amoled screen that's bright enough to overcome them.

One suggestion - change your watchface to white background (instead of black). That seems to help it be a lot easier to read for some people.