Some background:
I bought the Fenix 6X Sapphire a couple of years ago. Sapphire is supposed to be really tough and hard to scratch. Its a 9 on mohs scale with only diamond higher at level 10. I choose sapphire because of this and that I could relax from worries about scratches on the screen which I really hate because they are so visible and irritating.
I was actually really careful with my Fenix 6X because that's just how I am with stuff. BUT after a couple of months I got scratches on the screen! I couldn't believe it. The weird thing was that if I polished the screen with a microfiber cloth, the scratch went away. It was only visible when the screen was a bit "dirty" with finger prints or dust. Weird! But I didn't know why this was at that time so I called Garmin and told them about this. They refused to exchange it because they don't cover this on warranty. I decided to "fight" them because this is not ok! Its a sapphire screen and it shouldn't scratch this easily, and I had been super careful with it. Had to email them a lot and talk to different people and after some back and fourth, I got it covered on warranty. At that time I didn't want to go with another Fenix because I read that the new Tactix Delta had better screen that was more durable so I got an exchange to a brand new Tactix Delta. That one I had for 1.5 years and didn't get a single scratch on it.
I later learned that the scratches on the Fenix 6X sapphire really was not on the screen, but on the coating of the screen. weird to coat an "unscrachable" screen with weak coating that scratch.
Now I sold the Tactix Delta because it was heavy and big and tried a Forerunner 955, but that was so cheap and horrible, that I instantly went for a Fenix 7 Sapphire Solar. I was sure that Garmin learned from the Fenix 6 sapphire weak coating and didn't do that again with the new one. Boy I was wrong...
I've seen numerous posts about people "scratched" their Fenix 7 sapphire screens. Its really the coating. Some people have actually polished off the coating and the screen was new again, but without the water repellent coating. That makes me very unsure about my purchase. I buy the sapphire to be able to relax about the scratches, but now it seems this model also has the same coating...
I even called Garmin Support and asked them about it. They told me that the coating was to PREVENT scratches! Why do you need a coating to prevent scratches on a sapphire screen? It doesn't make any sense! Its 9 on mohs scale and only diamond is harder... I don't go around a lot of diamonds so I shouldn't worry. I asked about how the warranty was for the scratches on the Fenix 7 Sapphire screen and he told me that its not covered. But they actually DO cover dents and scratches on the bezel?! He said there were some faulty devices with poor quality bezels made. Now they are probably fixed. But still I'm worried.
I bought this watch and can return it. I Have had Garmin for many years now and love it, but I don't want scratches on my almost 1000$ watch! That's why I paid so much. I think this watch looks so good and feels so good and everything is really perfect with it, but if it "scratches" easily, I can buy the glass edition instead...
So where to go from here?
