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Garmin Instinct Solar - Crashes During Swimming

chrisbender
over 2 years ago

Hi - I saw this in another thread but it has been locked and was from around ten months ago.

I've had my watch now for a month or two, and recently, during an open water swim, it crashed and rebooted multiple times, sometimes after I pressed the lap button. I was training in the Pool setting and it crashed again after I hit the lap button. So it happens consistently now in the open water swim and is starting to crash now in the poll setting. Is this something fixable or a bug with the watch itself? I am using it to train for a triathlon that is coming up and it messes with my ability to track workouts with my training program.

Please advise! Thanks. 

  • 0 over 1 year ago

    My Instinct 2 Solar also has the occasional problem with restarting itself during pool lap swimming.

    I started using the device on 01 June 2022 and so far have done 29 swims with it. On three occasions, or 10% of the swims, the device restarted itself during the activity.

    On the bright side, the laps recorded before it restarted were saved, and as soon as I saw the watch face (instead of the data screen for swimming) I could start a new swimming activity to record the remaining laps I had left.

    The watch software has been updated once or twice since I started using it, the present software is version 8.66

    In every other respect, the Instinct 2 Solar has been outstanding, this occasional glitch during lap swimming is the only annoyance I have encountered.

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to TTIMLEN

    There was a post from a user who tracked down the crashes during swimming (unfortunately I did not bookmark it, so cannot give the credit), and came to the conclusion they only happen when the phone is on the limit of the Bluetooth reach, and the crash then happens because of the BT connection interruption. So if you experience the crashes too, it may be worth of trying to disable the phone connection on the watch (or BT on the phone) before swimming, and see whether it helps. Not the true fix of the crashes, but a relatively simple workaround to avoid them (if it really works).

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to trux

    Hi trux and thanks for the feedback. I have my doubts that this issue is related to the Bluetooth connection with the smartphone as I don't bring my phone with me to the pool when I'm doing laps. Out of curiosity I might try to turn off the Instinct 2 Solar BT for swims but it will be difficult to confirm if that is the solution as the issue only arises for 10% of the swims - so I would have to disable the BT every time I swim but then I still would not be sure if that was the correct fix. But I will keep this in mind if the problem starts happening more frequently. Meanwhile I hope the next software update might fix it.

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to TTIMLEN
    TTIMLEN said:
    so I would have to disable the BT every time I swim

    Or you can simply add a new Power Mode with BT off, and assign it to the Swimming Activity in the activity settings.

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to trux

    True - thanks for the tips - I'll keep these in mind if the device continues to restart itself during the swims.

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to TTIMLEN

    I am sorry there has been an issue during your swim. I wanted to make sure you are aware of the Forum for your Instinct 2 found here - Instinct 2 Series, for any future posts for your watch. With the generational differences and different software on each series, you will find more current information.

    Here is a restarting thread that is being monitored and will be updated when there is more information.

    - https://forums.garmin.com/outdoor-recreation/outdoor-recreation/f/instinct-2-series/299072/instinct-2s-solar-crashing-randomly

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to trux

    Hello again: Subsequent developments:
    1) Now the software is version 9.23 - installed before the events that follow
    2) The device has not restarted itself again during a swim. Prompted by your suggestion to add a new Power Mode, I did something on the more simple side for my last swim, namely I just turned off the Blue Tooth manually before the swim. All 40 25M laps were recorded without any problems, so maybe I'll just continue this approach for a while.
    3) For the first time ever, the I2S messed up tracking a 50km bike ride! After a manual restart it worked fine for the last 5km, When I got home I decided to clear the memory of all activities (I kept the totals). The day after that a 10km run was recorded perfectly.  

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to Garmin - Chris

    Thanks Chris - I saw that thread earlier but it was not specific to swimming activities, which is why I ended up here. But as you suggest, I'll keep an eye on that one.

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to TTIMLEN
    TTIMLEN said:
    Instinct 2 Solar

    If you have an Instict 2, you are in the wrong forum. Instinct 1 and instinct 2 have completely different firmware structures. You will not be able to solve the problem you have with your instinct 2 here. Open a thread in the Instinct 2 forum.

    Garmin - Chris said:
    I wanted to make sure you are aware of the Forum for your Instinct 2 found here - Instinct 2 Series, for any future posts for your watch. With the generational differences and different software on each series, you will find more current information.
  • 0 over 1 year ago 
    I would like to ask who has reported this problem if he has heart sensor activated during swim. Because if i notice disabling it, swim activity not crash. have someone tested same thing?