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Display dimming in the dark environment. (low Brightness)

4078952
6 months ago

I bought a fenix 8 amoled 47mm. Everything seems good. But i can not bare the display getting too dim in the dark. It gets too low that it becomes unreadable. Please do something Pray. Its insane that we spent 1371 USD on a watch n then you face a issue. I like in Bahrain and i bought it for 517 BHD which is = to 1371 USD. I hope someone from Garmin reads this and fix the issue

  • 0 1 month ago

    I'm following this issue with great interest. has anyone received any reasonable response from Garmin hinting that they are taking this issue seriously.

    I have had my Fenix 8 only 3 days and I can recognize the issue some people are having. I personally, like the very dimmed night time display and it works for my eyes to see the large font of the time on my watch (Big Easy watch face), but the data field require more effort/squinting. 

    I can imagine that some people would find it too dark, and others, still too bright. everyone's eyes are different and it seems there should be a setting for the minimum threshold, just like the backlight setting on the MIPS displays. 

  • +1 1 month ago in reply to derek87

    Update April 25, 2025: 

    Our engineers investigated concerns about the ambient light sensor dimming the watch too dark. They have concluded 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 1 month ago in reply to Garmin-Laurie

    This is Garmins solution to this ongoing problem?  Thank you for reinforcing why I will buy another Garmin product.  Worst support I've ever seen from a company concerning their flagship product. 

  • 0 1 month ago

    From last  post from 4/25 where it states "Our engineers investigated concerns..."  To me, "investigated" is in the past tense and this is the final nail in the coffin for us all hoping there was a remedy for this situation.  We've been asking for 8 months now. For such an expensive flagship device, I'm really surprised they won't help out a large portion of users with this issue.  If there is a technical or hardware limitation where it just isn't possible to adjust, why not just be transparent and say so.

  • 0 1 month ago in reply to Garmin-Laurie

    This starts to feel like a joke. How many times I have to repeat that the previous models don't have this issue? This is frustrating. 

  • 0 1 month ago

    Like all your other amoled watches that don't have the same issue. I had the Garmin Venu and the Venu 2 Plus, never had an issue with readibility in the dark. The problem with the Fenix 8 persists.

  • 0 1 month ago in reply to Garmin-Laurie

    I just want to cry. I know a similar situation from my company, where I communicate something as a QA in development, and something completely wrong reaches the customer due to an intervening support team. The same in the other direction.

    As a customer, I cannot understand why the problem is not being addressed.

    Always On Display Mode is Off:
    Our watch has an ambient light sensor that will dim the display in low light so that we can barely see anything.
    Yes, our watch will also automatically brighten in bright light conditions to make the screen easier to read. But that doesn't help in dark environment.

  • 0 1 month ago in reply to Tom

    Yes, that's a completely strange answer.

    Looking at it, we should probably be very grateful for this amazing functionalityJoy. With such an understanding of the client, if the screen still had a similar effect in a bright environment, we would be in a huge troubleFace palm

  • 0 1 month ago in reply to Garmin-Laurie

    “After investigation,We have conclude that’s by design” so you must investigate 8 months to conclude that you put a design that you weren’t aware of? 
    You said that the design is to not have blindingly bright screen ? Believe me the screen is not too bright to be unreadable in any circumstances. But on the other hand it’s too low to be read in a lot of case. 
    so you put a design to address not a real problem just to create a real one and said it was by design  

    Just put a “auto dim feature” toggle switch to put it off. Like all your other product. I’ll take care of the rest.

    I had an edge 820, 130, 1030plus and I was looking to upgrade to the next generation like the next 10X0. and that was my second 1000$ garmin watch. Won’t bother with Garmin anymore. Wahoo and Apple Watch it will be. 
    thanks.