Rubber strap starting to wear, anyone else?

This is the marq forum right? This watch is a high end watch with a high end price tag. My Porsche Design has a rubber strap, so does one of my Omegas, they are not worn even after several years of use. This strap should not be worn this soon. It's a driver, not an expedition, I use it as a daily watch, not hiking or rough outdoor activities. This would never fly in the TAG forums, but seems Garmin can get away with this as they are primarily a sports watch company and this is what their customers expect and are accustomed to. 

There probably is some truth to your statement that longer term Garmin watch consumers are sports/outdoor tool focused as opposed to jewellery focused. So you are going to find that we are more accepting of function over form (when there’s a reason). The silicone band is what it is, solid silicone; so it does wear. You talk about they should have put a better ‘coating’ on it, but I thought one of the challenges with silicone is that nothing easily adheres to it, and even if something did adhere, that coating would have to have the same modulus of elasticity as the silicone, otherwise the coating would be stiffer than the silicone underneath, so not ‘stretch’ at the same rate and therefore crack (especially if it were harder than the silicone). So other ‘high end’ more jewellery focused brands likely don’t use silicone, as they don’t want that impact of wear on the surface (form), but they are likely sacrificing some function in a material that is less stretchy than silicone.

Now my understanding of the way Garmin approached this with the MARQ series is, aside of the Athlete variant, two bands come with the watch (and a system to quickly switch between the two bands). The silicone one is designed for use during activities, where function is more important than form. The other band is typically the other way around; more suitable for looking good every day (form), but not so good functionally in activities. The idea being you can have your cake and eat it, a system that has both function and form when wanted, but you do need to switch bands to achieve this balance.

Same thing here. And with all my silicone straps, from Suunto through various Garmins. The silicone straps are flexible and soft, but seems not to develop cracks as easy as the earlier plastic straps (on my old Polar watches), nor as rubber straps.

I agree that it is a bit of a disappointment to see the straps wear out, although they are functional. I am currently having the first version of a quick fit 22 (from my Fenix 5) on my Marq. the pattern on the underside of my wrist hardly visible, and I have lost one of the band holders. And there is a crack in it (from a sharp object once), but it still keeps my watch on the wrist. I haven't used the original silicone strap for the Marq much, but did use it 24/7 for a period of two weeks, and it started to show wear during that period. 

I do not know if Tag and others have a different mix in their silicone, but I have several colleagues with Tag Heuers (not the Connect) where the silicone strap is as worn (and shiny) as they become on the Garmin. I have seen the same thing on other high-end watches, I am afraid. And I have plenty of colleagues with Fenixes and Suuntos. All with straps shiny from wear… 

Anyone tried to contact Garmin Warranty about that issue?

No, but I have considered it. Rubber strap on my venu still looks new and I wear that for abuse projects like plumbing and heavy auto repairs. The case on the other hand is shot which I expected lol. 

My black silicon band (Marq Athlete) showed signs of wear after 3 months at the exact same places shown on the picture - I would say that this is signature Garmin. Had it also on my Fenix watches.

I like the watch a lot, but this is clearly a weak spot. It should not wear after a few months.

Don’t wear it and it won’t show any wear :).  Once you beat it up and get lots of scratches on it like me, you wont worry about the strap anymore.  Just get a new one every yr or two.

You sound like my Mrs.  I've never yet been able to explain to her satisfaction why my fancy gravel bike needs constant attention whereas my twenty-year-old MTB, costing less than a tenth of the price, rarely even needs oil. 

You are right, that the Garmins are sports watches and it's a sensible decision by them to prioritise comfort and fit over wear resistance.  Again on my bike, I'd sooner have soft rubber that grips even in the cold, than hard rubber that never wears out. This is nothing to do with price.