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Venu 2 Plus does not sync with Connect

Pricey
over 1 year ago

I genuinely regret having bought this watch - it wastes more of my time and causes more grief than it's worth. Needless to say, when time comes to buy a new smart watch, I'll not be looking to Garmin. It seemed like a good idea at the time as I have a Garmin Edge 830 for my bike - ‘seemless integration’, I thought. Well, the 830 does integrate with Connect on my (Android) phone, but the watch is shockingly bad. Mind you, it’s only outpaced by the terrible Garmin customer service! Their answer seems to be to throw back a couple of random links, then (when you declare they don’t work and/or are irrelevant) ignore you completely. Do I sound angry? Sorry, if that’s the case, but I am - I’m absolutely livid.
I raised this problem over 2 weeks ago with [email protected]. At that time, after a few questions, Hamzah sent me two links and finished with "If there is anything else I can help you with then please let me know." I replied soon afterwards, and pointed out that the first link didn't change anything and the second was irrelevant. I have sent two more emails since then (one on 3 June and the other today), but have had NO RESPONSE from anyone - which begs the question: why say "let me know" if there’s anything else they can help with, when they clearly don't mean it?! The implication is that Hamzah actually has NO solution for this problem - but Garmin are refusing to admit it, while continuing to flog watches which - consequent of the inability to successfully sync with the App - are not fit for purpose.
Needless to say, the syncing problem still exists - despite Hamzah's 'best efforts', it has not miraculously gone away.
2/3 June is a case in point. On 2 June, I went for a cycle ride (two rides, actually) which I recorded on my watch and followed routes on my Edge 830. I set off at 1303 on 2 June and from that point onwards, the watch stopped syncing any data to Garmin Connect on my (Android) phone. Finally, at 0940 on 3 June, it synced across the first of the cycle rides as an activity (but not the second one) - about nineteeen and a half hours after that activity ended. However, it steadfastly failed to sync any of my personal data (heart beat, body battery, last night's sleep details, etc) from the point at which I had started recording the ride. It is, perhaps, noteworthy that my Garmin Edge satnav had synced both cycle rides as soon as they were completed - that suggests to me that the fault lies with the watch.
In the end, at about 1030, I synced my watch by connecting it to my laptop and using Garmin Edge - but that is hardly a viable solution for regular updates, is it?
Today (at 1319), I’m still waiting for my watch to sync successfully. As ever, the ‘headline’ details show my current heart beat, body battery, steps, etc, but if I select anything specific, there is ‘No Heart Rate data’, ‘No Body Battery data’, etc. There is no sleep data at all. This is pretty standard. My morning walk does not show on Connect, of course. Probably (but it’s not guaranteed), the watch will manage to sync some time in the afternoon - but there have been days when I’ve gone to bed, having seen no data for that day.
Note that I have - on many occasions - tried all the usual suggestions (God knows, I’ve researched this), such as switching off and back on the watch, same for my phone, switching on and off bluetooth, ‘forcing’ sync from my watch, uninstalling the Connect app and reloading it on my phone, etc, etc - none of it works any more than do the links that Hamzah sent. I’ve spent far more time in this watch than it’s worth!
Garmin KNOW this problem has existed for years - the internet is full of people highlighting the same issue, yet they seem to be doing nothing about it. It's completely unsatisfactory.
I have two questions:
1. What do I need to do to get my watch to successfully sync with my Garmin Connect account - at regular intervals?
2. Why does the whole thing stop each time I undertake (and record) an activity? (Note that, sync failure occurs at other times, but it seems to consistently fail at the point I start recording an activity.)
(Actually, there's a third: is the extent of Garmin ‘customer support’ (I use the term loosely) really simply firing a couple of unhelpful links at their customers and then riding off into the distance, and giving the customer a stiff ignoring?)
Garmin customer support, are you out there?

  • 0 over 1 year ago

    Update: it’s now 1719. No successful sync so far today. Rage I have to say, this is not untypical. 

  • 0 over 1 year ago

    While this is a bad experience for you, I think you're in the minority. It's possible Garmin doesn't know what to do for you, so perhaps they should send you a new watch to try, maybe there's a hardware problem. 

    You didn't mention which phone you're using, which is it? For example, some phones aggressively kill background apps and will prevent syncing. 

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to Scott

    Thanks for replying, Scott. I’m not sure if I should be cheered that I’m in the minority, or not. Wink
    The problem I have is that sometimes it works no problem, sometimes it works eventually and sometimes there are days like today (it’s now 1844) when the watch constantly fails to sync. It gets the headline data across (my current heart rate, for example), but it has still not synced my two walks, for example. It’s massively frustrating. 
    My phone is an Android Moto G8 Power. The fact that sync works at times suggests that it’s not the phone that’s killing the sync - doesn’t it? And the phone syncs immediately with my Garmin Edge 830 satnav/bike computer. 
    EDIT: now 2101 and at some stage a sync has finally happened! It’s like Father Christmas - you don’t really know when he’s been, but he clearly has! Grin

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to Pricey

    Yes, I agree it's probably not your phone causing the problem. I've had an occasional delay with syncing, but nothing like what you experience. I typically get a notification on my watch, telling me syncing is finished, within a minute of completing the activity. I can usually correct any problems by forgetting the watch from my phone, then pairing again. Sounds like you tried that already. Seems as if Garmin is stumped, hope they can solve it for you.

  • 0 over 1 year ago

    Hi Pricey,

    I agree with your logic of “seamless integration” in sticking with Garmin devices as I have purchased several of the Garmin devices and sensors over the years. You worked with Garmin for 2 weeks waiting for an answer or a fix. Talk about frustration, I worked with them for more than 6 months and couldn’t even get them to fix a very simple function on the Venu and Venu 2. I hope that I’m wrong, but It appears they couldn’t care less as the same issue remains on the Venu 2 Plus.

    I like their ecosystem and generally their products and is the only reason I hung in there working with them for 6 months, but the main devices have to work especially considering the premium price tag.

    Check out my response in the thread labeled “Measuring activity distance wrong?”. At least in my case they refunded the purchase price of the watch to me when a fix couldn’t be “found”. Maybe they will refund the cost of your watch.

    Good luck, I too am looking for an alternative as I’m ready to try again to update/replace my 7-year-old Garmin Vivosmart HR (which incidentally, all its functions work fine).

  • 0 over 1 year ago

    I have been waiting for more than two years for answers to issues -- they simply do not care.  Their customer service reps are often rude, pushing back and interrupting when you try to discuss problems.  I don't know if these technical issues even get reported to the proper channels for technical followup.  The Connect app has actually got worse for me, with the app consuming a lot of IOS power (number one battery drain now, as of this January) for no obvious reason, even if the watch is just sitting idle.  It isn't stated anywhere how often the app runs in the background to sync time or weather.