Hey all.
Recently upgraded from a FR955 solar to a Vivoactive 5. Didn't need crazy triathlon stats and wanted a new AMOLED model that wasn't so huge. Everything about the new watch is great except for the bluetooth implementation.
Every time I run outside with my Beats Fit Pro connected to the watch streaming music from the spotify app, I get horrible cutouts. When I run and swing my arm, the music cuts out for a quarter/half second in rhythm with my arm...and I can cause the disconnect by simply holding my watch arm behind my back and putting my body in-between the watch and earbuds. Even if I walk with my arm at my side at a casual pace, the watch being that far away from the buds (i have long arms) seems to cause cutouts, albeit less frequently than during running.
I've tried everything - connecting the left earbud first to match my watch arm side, resetting both watch and earbuds, all that jazz - nothing seems to help. I even went so far as to order a SECOND Vivoactive 5 from Amazon and do the same setup and testing - surprise surprise, same issue. What's even more interesting there is that the second watch I received was the Asian/International version of the watch. Slightly different arrangement of words on the back, 'About' watch screen shows RABBIT CARD ID, different packaging, but other than that, identical. Probably an Amazon warehouse whoopsie, but still, that means NO version of the Vivoactive 5 has more than a cheapo BT chip.
The worst part is that with my FR955 solar, I had 0 issues like this with the same earbuds, the BT audio connection was always super solid. This leaves me to assume that the BT chip in the Va5 is cheaper/inferior to the ones that are in the more expensive tier of watches.
So, Support has asked for logs (which I've sent) and video of the issue - I'm at a loss for how they expect me to video my headphone/watch bt audio connection skipping while I run, so probably can't provide that.
Anyone have a similar issue?
