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Thank you Garmin, 15.31 just made my Fenix 8 unusable

atomic84
4 months ago

Hi folks,

Yesterday, I was prompted to update my Fenix 8 from version 13.37 to 15.31.

Well, that pretty much ruined my watch.

Since the update, it takes ages to power on, getting stuck on the “Loading maps 28” screen seemingly forever. Once it finally starts, the interface is extremely laggy, none of the sensors work, and it won’t sync with my iPhone. After about 15 minutes, it restarts on its own—only to go through the same painfully slow process again.

In short: the watch has become unusable.

By the way, I used to love my Fenix 8 and had great experiences with it—aside from the already slow map scrolling and route calculation.

Garmin: Please fix this. We need an update.

Thanks!

  • 0 4 months ago

    I got my new replacement watch, and all is working as it should. Over the last 4 days, I've done various workouts and swims.

  • 0 2 months ago

    hi，Good morning，i had an garmin watch Fenix 8 solar 47mm，i was bought from US，about 7 months ago ，now it has software issue，i was update the software V15.13,then it has restart again and again ，everytime restart it takes 15mins to loading maps ，then restart again，i try all of way to force factory reset ，but not working，the US customer service let me contact loc shop，thanks，pls help me
    i am currently in Philippines, The customer service in US said if i cant do anything for force factory reset or connect with PC，i have to process replacement of the watch ，but i have to pay international shipping fee with tax，i guess it will be more than 300 USD，if there have any other chance i can fix by myself ，pls telling me，Thanks 

  • 0 2 months ago in reply to 8559635

    My 965 did exactly this, as have a few others' on reddit. Shouldn't be 300usd to post, but beware - Garmin lost mine and refuse to send a replacement so I'm down a £500 watch through their crappy CS/courier

  • 0 2 months ago in reply to FredGolightly

    now the watch pwer on ，but like some other user said ，it still frozen，display not complete，function not complete，i turn on LED light，but cant turn off because frozen，i dont know if i need keep waiting or should turn of power again

  • 0 2 months ago in reply to 8559635

    Mine went very sluggish before it stopped booting. It's not gonna recover. Return it to who you bought it from or ship to Garmin, it's a $1000 watch, you don't want to be stuck with it. It should be in warranty with the retailer directly depending where/how you bought it

  • 0 2 months ago

    Had a very similar issue in the latest beta, except it happened after the maps update. It's been reported in beta forums and there's supposedly a ticket. This seems to be sadly not uncommon lately. Updating maps/watch can brick your Fenix 8 - there's been multiple reports of this in different places. There's no way to recover from this, once it happens. The watch won't finish booting up and can't be connected to the computer. The only solution is replacement.

    On a positive note, Garmin was able to replace my watch even while travelling internationally. But, this really shouldn't be happening. Broken maps should not brick the watch.

  • 0 2 months ago in reply to 8559635

     

    8559635 said:
    i am currently in Philippines, The customer service in US said if i cant do anything for force factory reset or connect with PC，i have to process replacement of the watch ，but i have to pay international shipping fee with tax，i guess it will be more than 300 USD，if there have any other chance i can fix by myself ，pls telling me，Thanks 

    I suppose there's no Garmin Philippines?

    I was in a similar situation with the same bug, except I am travelling in Europe. Local Garmin honored the international warranty on my 10 month old US bought Fenix 8 and replaced it free of charge. This was actually recommended by US chat, since my watch broke while I was still stateside, but there was no time to get a replacement. But I guess this is more up the the local Garmin and their discretion.  

    Sadly, there's really no way to recover from this. Factory reset can be done, but it doesn't delete broken maps, so it's of no use. Believe me, I tried all I could think of. If you're travelling to some other country that has a Garmin center, you could try replacing it there. Otherwise, you're stuck with $300 shipping because broken software. 

  • 0 2 months ago in reply to jsla7527

     i remember that the issue was not comes from software update, it comes from maps update from garmin express, i saw there is maps update from garmin express ,and also software ,but after update ,there is nothing shows to me have software update or notice me to reboot ,i was reboot by myself ,means the watch not yet update the software,
    anyway i hope i could find a service center can help to fix this problem ,i wont pay 300usd for shipping to US to repaire. that is a big cost ,this is more than 1000 usd products ,hope garmin  official can really consider it ,or maybe they will lost users like me .

  • 0 2 months ago in reply to jsla7527

    i am chinese ,and now i am in philippines ,for sure chinese garmin service center wont response to repair my watch ,expecially in philippines ,the wont response for this watch ,they will say the watch not bought from them,and i didnt see any about international service policy ,i  contact US online customer service ,they just saying let me try to find local service center ,means they dont have international service policy.

    anyway thanks for you advise 

  • 0 2 months ago in reply to 8559635

    This worked for me (Fenix 8 solar 47mm) - restarted while plugged to my PC, keep trying till you can get it to connect to Garmin Express, remove a few maps (start with the largest / larger ones). After removal of one large map, the watch successfully loaded the remaining maps and booted as normal. Good luck.