why are updates not better rolled out

I tend to agree with most things you've mentioned, others I don't have enough experience to comment on.  In my particular case I purchased my first ever smart watch (VA3) approx 14 months ago.  I was quite impressed, even though battery life wasn't quite what Garmin claimed.  Over the past 3 weeks or so my battery life has dropped from an average of 2-4 days (depending on gps usage) to approx 24 hours with no gps usage at all.

I submitted a service request to Garmin who essentially said....your warranty is over $99USD (I'm in Canada so approx $150CDN).  A new VA3 can be purchased for approx $200.  

Conclusion???  Nice watch when it's working.....otherwise if it's more than a year old it's disposable.  Pretty disappointed with this especially since I've bashed other manufacturers during the time I've owned the VA3 and a pile of other Garmin products.

They have several devices of the same type but slightly different hardware as I understand it, so it is harder to test everything, still I get the impression they only test in simulators on functionality, and have us test it on the actual hardware. They are a device seller, not a software vendor and make money per piece sold rather than per software udate, I guess that is the main issue. 

Roja55 said:

My experience with updates is not very good.

I quoted you here, because the key word is "my".  Many do not have issues following an update.  Yes, the forums are filled with people saying Garmin has a track record of releasing a new update that fixes this and breaks that.  Isn't that expected on a forum where people post their issues?  We have no way of knowing if a few, half, or the majority of users are affected negatively.  It's all speculation and if anyone says otherwise, please reference your proof for everyone to read.

Roja55 said:

give people a choice to accept or delay the update

I absolutely agree here.  This is an option with other Garmin watches and I don't know why the VA3 was omitted. 

Roja55 said:

So, this begs the question: what does Garmin do for beta testing?

There are too many different configurations ( iOS or Android, phone model, Connect IQ downloads) for Garmin to test and be able to release the "perfect" update.  Take yours and 84xj1100's issue with the battery life for example.  Everyone isn't having this issue.  Is it possible it's an IQ download that's causing this new problem?  This is why Garmin will release a beta with the intended fixes and ask user's too reply back with their finding's.  Depending on this feedback, the beta may or may not be tweaked, and then becomes the next firmware release.

brmwia said:

The truth is, Garmin's customers ARE their beta testers and Garmin doesn't care if one of their shoddy firmware updates screw up your device

You're obviously frustrated, but you can't possibly believe the "truth" is any company, let alone Garmin, wouldn't care if their firmware update screwed up their device.  Their goal is to make money, not lose customers and go out of business.  You're correct saying Garmin's customers are their beta testers.  I always get a laugh when I see this posted.  What's wrong with that?  They involve their customers in the testing process, ask for input, use their customer's input to make changes, and this is a bad thing?  Would you prefer the alternative that Garmin use all the time and resources it would take to test every configuration I mentioned earlier before releasing an update to fix an issue?  The cost to do so would also reflect in the cost you'd have to pay for your watch.  You'd be waiting months on end and would likely see 2, maybe 3 total updates before that device was a couple of years old and a newer model released.

I have an APAC VA3M and really there's been zero problems with the firmware updates they've rolled out.

If I wasn't a huge nerd and monitored these forums on a regular basis, I wouldn't really think anything of them.  You find me a smartwatch Vendor that doesn't have forums full of people complaining about "battery life" and other issues.

People forget that batteries have a finite life and their life goes down over time.  Oh no, it's just the Vendor who's out to cheat everyone/planned obsolesce etc.

Garmin certainly has their share of flaws.  But so do all the others.

tess said:

You're obviously frustrated, but you can't possibly believe the "truth" is any company, let alone Garmin, wouldn't care if their firmware update screwed up their device.  Their goal is to make money, not lose customers and go out of business.  You're correct saying Garmin's customers are their beta testers.  I always get a laugh when I see this posted.  What's wrong with that?  They involve their customers in the testing process, ask for input, use their customer's input to make changes, and this is a bad thing?  Would you prefer the alternative that Garmin use all the time and resources it would take to test every configuration I mentioned earlier before releasing an update to fix an issue?  The cost to do so would also reflect in the cost you'd have to pay for your watch.  You'd be waiting months on end and would li

No - I am not frustrated. But I do npt pass up many chances point out Garmin's track record with bad firwmare updates.

On the other hand I will respectfully and strongly disagree it's accpeptable to place the burden of beta testing on your customer. Allowing customer's to be voluntary beta testers is one thing, but releasing poorly tested firmware that cause the issues  people post about here is inexcuseable in my opinion..And not allowing people to move back is just plain arrogant of Garmin. Even when Garmin released a firmware so bad they have to remove after being released only a day or 2, still the poor customers who got the bad firmware are not allowed wo move back. Surely you can't  think that is ok.

I don't think most people would complaing about a firmeare release that causes them grief if Garming would let them roll it back, but Garmin won't which shows they really don't give a hoot and so I'm happy to point it out. :)

I'm glad you are happy with your device and hop it continuws t owork well.

Of course batteries have a life..........however........14 months.......that's called disposable, especially since the response from the manufacturer is simply warranty expired......service costs as much as a new one.

is it possible to downgrade below 6.90 SW version? The newer SW the more problems

You can go back to the beta version 6.94, but you will receive the update pushed when you sync, so it would not help I guess since I have not seen a way to remain at an older version. 

This has never happened before.  The latest firmware fixed my floors climbed and didn't screw anything else up.  My floors climbed has never worked.  Not in the original  VA, the VAHR or the 3.  I'm floored.