Blister bubble on Viosmart 4 band

Not even a year old, never took it to extreme temperatures.

I've sent a mail to support, waiting for their reply.

Yeah, no idea whats causes this. We already had 4 ofthese watches with this problem. It will eventually pop and no longer be water proof.

i just sent in my second watch for a refund. My wife resigned to it not being watertight. Just not let it charge when nobody is at home in case it causes a fire.

Same happened to mine, just got a replaced one.

After about one year, my Vivosmart 4 blistered and leaked oily substance, while still working fine.

As my Vivosmart 4 approached end of warranty, customer support stories in this thread encouraged me to research latest offerings from other brands. But none come even close to Vivosmart 4 low weight and capabilities.

When I contacted support via chat, I received my return number in less than 20 minutes. Now I am happily wearing brand new Vivosmart 4 that was mailed just two hours after my blistered unit was delivered to Garmin.

Kudos to Garmin Support!

I contacted Garmin and they arranged for a replacement to be shipped. However, I was disappointed that I had to pay for return postage of ~£7 for my old band. Let's hope my third band does not blister as I like the device. 

If you bought it in an airport the "local product support teams" screw you out of your replacement. 

Is there any advice you can give us to prevent this from happening. I am waiting for my third watch and I am getting tired to go through this routine of getting a replacement every 9 months. Especially since the shop I bought it from takes 2-3 months just to do the exchange. 

Huh, I've had mine for about 2 years now - bought it the week it was released - and just noticed the bubble, as it hasn't affected the functioning and isn't especially large. The bezel falling off happened much more quickly (I've glued it back on twice now). I suppose I probably should send it in, since I also just noticed that the glue holding the band on is coming undone on one side - the same side as the bubble, in fact. Could this be a result of air  - or other fluids, for people reporting a liquid coming out - getting trapped between the band and the electronics enclosure as the glue seal for the band starts to wear out? The proximity to the charging port would also makes sense - that side of the band is subjected to more force over time as a result of attaching and detaching the charging cable, so I'd expect that in nearly all cases, the glue holding the band on would wear out on that side first, resulting in a bubble from trapped external air or fluid in the same place on everyone's watch.

None of this appears to be affecting the waterproofing as PeterOo suggests; I wear it in the shower all the time and it hasn't died as a result. From what I can see where the band has come unglued, the electronics enclosure looks to be sealed underneath the band, not relying on the band to seal it.

They very clearly need to use a stronger glue, though given the number of cell phone screens I've had eventually fall off, this may be more of an industry-wide problem with the types of glues used in electronics manufacture not holding well for more than a year or two (which may be an intentional function of lifespan design - lots of manufacturers appear to very much want a two or even one year upgrade/replacement cycle for electronics to be standard).