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Fenix 8 AMOLED has ambient light issues

2596092
6 months ago

When can we expect to a fix to the brightness issue when the Fenix 8 watch is in ambient light? I've seen numerous reports over the last 2 months. This should have been a standard part of QA/Testing before this release. I doesn't make sense to dim the brightness in a dark setting. 

It's not the battery saver and my brightness is a full.  

  • 0 6 months ago

    is there even a sensor for ambient light? it seems as there is no change at all and the 3 levels are little options for setting. I would wish to be able to overite standard settings for brightness and gesture mode for each activity app. I dont need full birghtness for indoor rowing, but ceratinly for rowing. 

  • +1 25 days ago in reply to pilzj

    Update April 25, 2025: 

    Our engineers investigated concerns about the ambient light sensor dimming the watch too dark. They have determined this behavior is by design. 

    Your watch has an ambient light sensor that will dim the display in low light so that it is not blindingly bright. Your watch will also automatically brighten in bright light conditions to make your screen easier to read. 

    Your watch also behaves differently based on your Always On setting:

    • Always On Display Mode is On:
      • After your set display timeout period, the watch will dim to low power mode. In this mode, the watch is conserving battery and extending the life of the display. 
      • It may be difficult to read at times once it has dimmed to low power mode. To resolve this, press the Light (top right) button to brighten the display to full power mode. Alternatively, you can use gesture, or press buttons if you have those options turned on in your display settings. Once the display has brightened it will remain bright for the length of your timeout period, and will then dim again. 
      • If your watch is not detecting heart rate (for example you are not wearing the watch), the display will turn off after your timeout period instead of going to low power mode. 
    • Always On Display Mode is Off:
      • The display will turn off after your set timeout period. 
      • To brighten the display, press the Light (top right) button. Alternatively, you can use gesture, or press buttons if you have those options turned on in your display settings. Once the display has brightened it will remain bright for the length of your timeout period, and will then turn off again.

    You can learn more about your display in this FAQ: Understanding Always On Setting for the fēnix 8 AMOLED Watches 

  • 0 25 days ago in reply to Garmin-Laurie

    You guys just don't understand, that it's not how it's should be, i never had such issue with my previous Tactix 7 Amoled, but i have this issue with Fenix 8 Amoled, brightness is just TOO LOW in a dark room/low light, you should fix it, it's hard to read the text in the dark (and im barely *** 24-yo), my eyes are good, it's not a user issue, it's just a SOFTWARE problem

  • 0 25 days ago in reply to Garmin-Laurie

    That is not how it should be. I’d be curious how this passed user acceptance testing if you did any. Terrible programming response. 

  • 0 25 days ago in reply to 6441233

    The April 25, 2025 update tells me that the watch is working as the Engineers intended. However Garmin should still be taking onboard customer feedback and address the concerns that people are raising.

    I agree that the display is far too dim and is unreadable without an external light source that will cause the watch to increase the display brightness. The Epix watch didn't have this issue.

  • 0 23 days ago in reply to Cohen2501

    This does not seem to be a general problem. I'm 68 yo and can read the screen clearly at all times in the conditions set out above and haven't found a case where I can't. This also seems to be the case for a number of other people on the forum, so as far as Garmin are concerned the watch may be operating as designed and your particular problems may be hardware issues which cannot be solved with a firmware update.

  • 0 23 days ago in reply to Garmin-Laurie

    But then the design is very poor. For every sensor, including the dimming sensor and the display, there's software that controls it, and it's always controllable.

    All around i really love my fenix 8, it's a great Device, but thats also a great Problem for me

  • 0 23 days ago

    I sent my Fenix 8 Amoled back to Garmin for this very reason. Does anyone know if the solar MIP version has the same issue?

  • 0 23 days ago in reply to DannyMc

    The MIP does not have an auto brightness setting (there is no ambient light sensor, and if there is in the hardware somehow, it isn’t linked to any of the functions of the backlight brightness).

    You manually set the brightness of the backlight from as low as 5% and then 10%, and then in increments of 10% until 100%. You can set the backlight to switch on with gesture and/or button press and touch. The gesture can be independent of the button press or touch, but the latter 2 are a single combined setting. You can also enable gesture or button/touch to switch on only after sunset.

    You can select a brightness level for general use, during activity, and during sleep. Typically, whatever brightness you set for each condition, it stays the same. It doesn’t change as it isn’t linked to brightness of your ambient environment. 

  • 0 23 days ago in reply to PTschofen

    The trouble is that you might start complaining about battery life issues if you were able to crank up the ambient light brightness. Imagine suddenly getting 7 days instead of 18 or whatever it is.

    I've been on the forums long enough to know that this is exactly how it would play out.