Garmin Instinct Solar [Surf Edition] - Crashes on Save

Unit ID 3348498652 // Software Version 16.50 (d18bc08)

Almost every time I finish a Run or Surf activity, the watch crashes immediately after selecting "Save". Usually the activity is still available to save after the device has rebooted... but not always! I've noticed other instances of the watch crashing under other less repeatable circumstances. Once it crashed in the middle of the night, which was problematic because I rely on the watch's alarm function to wake up in the morning. (Well, I used to rely on that... not anymore!)

0 nycksw over 3 years ago

Note: last week I did a factory reset, removing all settings and data from the watch, hoping to fix this problem. It did not. :-(

0 Richard Anthony over 3 years ago in reply to nycksw

Yeah it’s happening to mine also, at night is crashing on the hourly alerts, almost every activity is crashing, strange that is happening just as the Instinct solar 2 is coming out

0 Richard Anthony over 3 years ago in reply to nycksw

Same problem I’m having, every other hourly alert is shutting down,

0 1932114 over 3 years ago

Mines the same. Started off as crashing here and there. Now crashes every time I start an activity then won’t turn on for an hour or so. Reported it to Garmin and they asked for a video. I await a solution…..

0 nycksw over 3 years ago

I contacted customer support. They offered to replace the watch -- which I had to decline, since I'm out of the country -- but they otherwise didn't offer any suggestions. They said they'd add me to an internal bug report, but also said that I wouldn't hear anything unless it was resolved. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

0 Richard Anthony over 3 years ago in reply to nycksw

I got a reply advising me to delete some files on the watch that could be corrupted, deleted those files and it seems to be ok now, was able to do A GPS activity without it shutting down

0 nycksw over 3 years ago in reply to Richard Anthony

Please report back later if the fix persists for you. I've done a full reset and file removal three times now, and it works for a little while, but after a few activities it starts happening again

0 nycksw over 3 years ago

This problem has definitely gotten worse. Sometimes it crashes now even on the first activity following a full reset. Looking more and more like a hardware problem?

0 Richard Anthony over 3 years ago in reply to nycksw

Yeah same here, it’s shutting down so often now, I’ve given up, to me it’s seems to be the battery might be incapable of supporting the function, don’t know just reminds me of an old phone I had, anyway I’m going to try to take it to the service center see what they say.

0 9174508 over 3 years ago in reply to Richard Anthony

I have had a similar experience with increased shutdowns. Would be interested to know if the service center are able to help you. My Instinct Solar replaced a FR935 which also had hardware issues - cracked HR monitor. In that case the service center offered me a second-hand unit at discounted price. 2 expensive watches failing within 3.5 years is really disappointing!