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Disappointment with this watch grows daily

RJK in Madison
over 4 years ago

I apologize up front that this is a complaint for which I am at a loss for solutions.

I have posted a few times here about battery life issues and have used many of your suggestions to slightly improve it. I no longer use it for recording GPS activities, except golf once per week. It does well at distances and recording score, but I need to restart the watch before a round to ensure it records the activity. I have stopped using PulseOx, removed the CIQ watch faces, MoveIQ off, AutoActivity off, and more. I bought an Edge for my bike to better track cycling and use the VA4 to broadcast HR.

It is essentially reduced to a smart watch, golf tracker, and heart rate monitor while cycling. I now use Strava on my phone to record walks, which I used to track on my watch. I am not sure what to do at this point, as I really want to like this watch as much as I did my VA3.

I have had it replaced twice (once through Amazon and once through Garmin) and the most recent one has a squishy button to top it off.

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    Pretty much the opposite situation here. I rarely use the smart watch features, but log my daily activities with it. And I am quite happy with it. No other watches in the same price range seem to have similar possibilities.

  • 0 over 4 years ago
    RJK in Madison said:

    I apologize up front that this is a complaint for which I am at a loss for solutions.

    I have posted a few times here about battery life issues and have used many of your suggestions to slightly improve it. I no longer use it for recording GPS activities, except golf once per week. It does well at distances and recording score, but I need to restart the watch before a round to ensure it records the activity. I have stopped using PulseOx, removed the CIQ watch faces, MoveIQ off, AutoActivity off, and more. I bought an Edge for my bike to better track cycling and use the VA4 to broadcast HR.

    It is essentially reduced to a smart watch, golf tracker, and heart rate monitor while cycling. I now use Strava on my phone to record walks, which I used to track on my watch. I am not sure what to do at this point, as I really want to like this watch as much as I did my VA3.

    I have had it replaced twice (once through Amazon and once through Garmin) and the most recent one has a squishy button to top it off.

    Sorry to hear about the trouble that you are having with your VA4 watch.  I see that we are in contact with you via email.  Please be sure to follow up with us there after making the recommended changes.

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    ok, so yo have turned off all those options, how many days  are you getting ?
    I am running a set of test with mine:

    6.5 days with this settings:

    Notifications OFF

    gesture OFF

    night time energy save (watch face)

    SpO2 (pulse oximeter) OFF

    Seconds markers OFF

    Exercises 30min per day

    Power save ON in the last 10% (watch face option)

    4 days with this settings

    Notifications OFF

    gesture OFF

    night time energy save (watch face)

    SpO2 (pulse oximeter) ON for sleep 

    Seconds markers ON

    Exercises 30min per day

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to Jonathan

    Thanks for sharing your experience. I am getting 3-4 days with settings like your 6.5 days, except for notifications. I wouldn't have a smart watch, if I didn't need notifications. I would just use my Edge and a cheat HR strap. 

    I should note that I easily got 5 days with the VA3 with identical settings that VA4 struggles to get 3 days.