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Updates on Instinct 2 Surf Edition for APAC

vdachev
10 months ago

Hi there,

Few days ago I lost my Fenix 7 between the waves while surfing in Bali. So I had to urgently get a temporary watch and got an Instinct 2 Surf Edition. Of course, in my rush to get a new watch, I didn't really research the topic and didn't realize there's a dedicated APAC version and you can't switch between the two.

Being the geek I am, I updated it to the latest available firmware which is 10.10. I found that the RoW version of the software had the following releases:

My point here is that there is a significant delay in the release of these versions. As pointed out, this is due to the unique languages in this region. Moreover, there are never even rough estimates of how much time these delays are going to be.

Personally, I don't care about these languages and actually uninstalled all languages except for English. But I definitely need more of the features.

Generally, it's confusing that Garmin doesn't seem to care that much about their customers in quite a huge region and would allow a delay of 4+ months for a new version to be released.. and provide no option for their customers to swap the software for a non-APAC one (by side loading or any other means).

So, having said all that, my questions here are:

  • First of all, is an update for the APAC version of Instinct 2 in sight? Any (rough) timeframe and idea which version it would be?
  • Does Garmin plan to address the issue with extremely slow updates in APAC region in general?
  • Does Garmin plan to allow customers to switch the region of a device, when the hardware is essentially the same?

Thank you!

  • 0 9 months ago

    Yup, I just updated my Instinct 2S to 12.25 via Garmin Express. Awesome! Looking forward for the next update, especially the Training Readiness feature.

  • 0 9 months ago in reply to BangRipiu

    I miss the Morning Report that I was so used to on Fenix 7. Innocent

  • 0 8 months ago in reply to Sen666
    Sen666 said:
    Update received for me also (12.25) APAC India.

    Anyone received 13.19 APAC version for I2S (Very very low priority watches)?. As I noticed in Garmin india website, 13.19 released on 23-Aug-2023 for I2X and crossover (Very very high priority watches). See below images in bottom.

    You can notice in I2S screenshot, why it show 10.10. I don't know, one week before they updated the website to 12.25. Now they re-instated the website to 10.10. May be they stopped releasing 12.25 for I2S (Very strange).

    Requesting Garmin to please show the same interest / Priority to Instinct 2 Series watches.

  • 0 8 months ago in reply to Sen666
    Sen666 said:
    As I noticed in Garmin india website, 13.19 released on 23-Aug-2023 for I2X and crossover

    Since the Crossover and X2 have a bigger memory (64 MB RAM), and the complete Unicode table with all supported oriental character sets already fits in, there is no need for separate APAC and RoW versions at those models. So what you see at these two models, is not a new APAC version, it is the standard RoW / World Wide firmware.

    Remaining Instinct 2 models have just 32 MB RAM, and the oriental character sets do not fit into it, hence there is the need for a separate APAC firmware. Apparently Garmin Asia has some problems with releasing the updates, possibly due to hitting the memory size limits. That's what's being speculated, at least.

    Personally, in your place, I would ask Garmin Asia to replace the watch for either the Crossover or the X2 model, because it takes so long for them to release the firmware update, that it became evident, there probably won't be any anytime soon.

  • 0 8 months ago in reply to trux

    A while ago 12.25 was available for APAC now I only see 10.10.

    About two weeks ago 12.25 APAC was available now it's only 10.10 but no explanation given.

    My APAC Instinct 2s is on version 12.25 (at least according to my watch menu).  I hope it wasn't stopped being offered due to bugs.   I'm not sure why a couple of sentences cannot be written to explain Removing the update on the various Garmin APAC websites.

    Also a few days ago, my watch told me it was installing an update and I didn't see any changes.

    I think the pace of the 12.25 update was OK as the skipped 11.18.  However now it's back to 10.10? 

  • 0 8 months ago in reply to trux

    The objective is most of the updates Garmin releasing for all the watches are 95% bug fixes.  If the watches still selling in Garmin store these bug fixes should be applied to all APAC watches also.

    I won’t believe in hitting memory limit issue. Garmin has good R&D team, surely Garmin aware memory size limit before releasing any watch.

    I don’t see any legitimate official comment from Garmin about hitting memory size for I2S.

    If this is true then Garmin should stop selling the I2S. Sell only crossover and 2X.

    people still buying I2S in india.

  • 0 8 months ago in reply to 8535829
    8535829 said:
    Also a few days ago, my watch told me it was installing an update and I didn't see any changes.

    There are many updates happening throughout the year, and you will not even notice most of them - Time Zone table updates, Magnetic Field database updates, language file updates, Sensor Hub firmware, GPS firmware, CIQ apps, etc.

    8535829 said:
    I'm not sure why a couple of sentences cannot be written to explain Removing the update on the various Garmin APAC websites.

    Yes, I agree, but am afraid there is nobody competent to change that, here on the forum. You best contact your local Support and ask them to give you the information.

  • 0 8 months ago in reply to 8535829

    Yes, I noticed this also on Garmin Indonesia’s website. Glad I already updated my Instinct 2s to 12.25 through Garmin Express.

    Maybe they decided to pull the 12.25 update because of bugs on APAC version? But so far I didn’t encounter any. Only use my watch for sleeping & tracking road bike activities though.

  • 0 8 months ago in reply to 8535829

    That's quite surprising. Maybe could share some info on that?

  • 0 8 months ago in reply to 8535829
    8535829 said:

    A while ago 12.25 was available for APAC now I only see 10.10.

    About two weeks ago 12.25 APAC was available now it's only 10.10 but no explanation given.

    Only your regional SE Asia/APAC Product Support may know more about it.