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Is Garmin ever going to get the Forerunner buttons consistently tactile?

So: very subjective survey for those of you who are on the bleeding edge with me and have recently gotten a 955: how are your buttons?

mine are ok. i'll give them a "B." not mushy, but not a smooth simple click like i had on my 935. my first 945LTE was awful...one mushy button, another one that triple clicked (for lack of better description), another one that double clicked, 2 that felt great. my 2nd 945LTE was better...probably a B+/A- .... 3 out of 5 buttons excellent, 2 good.

my 955 Solar: an inconsistent mix of button feel. nothing awful but certainly my complaint lives on with all of the 900 watches i've used in the past 5+ years...not consistent and not what i would hope for in a $600 watch.

but i probably won't complain/exchange unless i hear regularly that people are getting excellent units. i'm just surprised after all these years, Garmin hasn't improved in this area.

i guess regardless of feel, they work so that's what they would say is important.

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0 chunkywizard over 3 years ago

I’m actually loving the touch screen. You hardly have to use the buttons now! I’d like a bit more consistency on the touch screen (sometimes you can’t press ticks and crosses and sometimes you can) but scrolling down lists is now so much easier. Hopefully the increase in touch screen usages will save the buttons from becoming mushy like on other devices I have had.

0 PatrickNSF over 3 years ago

Hey Derek, glad you got your watch!

I’d give my buttons an A-/B+. They’re all the same (which hasn’t always been the case) but have a little more travel to get to the “click” than my F6 titanium did (which has been the only perfect Garmin I’ve owned).

I used a few 935s before moving to the F6 and the buttons on this 955 are better than any of those were.

0 derek87 over 3 years ago in reply to chunkywizard

i think i'm going to have to get used to the touch screen. i have to say that it works well, but years of button use means i have to undo habits//muscle memory. i'm glad Garmin made it flexible enough that we can choose where/when we use touch or not. i'll keep it off for running, but will certainly keep it on for when i'm hiking/backpacking. (and maybe off for biking)

0 derek87 over 3 years ago in reply to PatrickNSF

thanks. glad to hear you got a decent watch. mine isn't bad. as i played with it more this morning and compared it against my 945LTE, i probably should upgrade the grade to a B+ ;) ... it's definitely liveable and at at least none of the buttons are mushy. they all give some sort of tactile feedback.

0 1482385 over 3 years ago

The start/stop button is the worst for me. I get a decent chunk feeling before it bottoms out on the actual button, which makes me feel like I pressed it when I in fact did not. Back and down are perfect. Smooth movement with very little throw before they click. The remaining two are somewhere in between.

0 GS over 3 years ago

New 955 has 3 double click buttons, all on left side. Right side buttons are both OK. Garmin says it's a defect and will replace when new stock is available. Coming from 935 and all buttons worked fine on that watch.

0 7850706 over 3 years ago

My 945LTE has good buttons, 11 months of use. But I'm trying a Fenix 7 (only 2 weeks) and some buttons are weird, like sticky or too much soft.

Garmin and buttons are... bad friends.

0 Principino93 over 3 years ago in reply to GS

Got exactly that feeling as you described on my 955... Did you send back your watch? As I understand they wont be doing issues with returning and sending new one? Maybe i should do the same... Imo its unacceptable in watch for 550 euro.

0 GS over 3 years ago in reply to Principino93

Garmin will replace watch but is currently out of stock for 3 weeks. I can send back watch now for future replacement, or put $ deposit down on new watch which they will ship when available (and credit me once I return defective watch). I will likely hold off for a while to see how common this issue is, or other issues are, before deciding on a plan. No guarantees obviously that new watch won't have the same or worse problems.

0 Principino93 over 3 years ago in reply to GS

Oh, i understand. Do you think it would be the good choice to still use watch before deciding about return? What is your plan about that? Or just leave it and wait for new arrivals? Dont know if it could be still treated as a guarantee return if it has been used f.ex for a month.