Shall I buy 955?

only some are affected by that problem

Then good luck not being one of them. Probably more are affected but don't realise it cause they are not inspecting their data.

unfortunately I have a toy on my hand

Steve said:

Probably more are affected but don't realise it cause they are not inspecting their data

I inspect my data and I have never seen something like that, discussed in your linked thread.

To be fair: For running, biking and indoor rowing activities I use external HRM (Dual or Pro, depending on activity). Only for 24/7 monitoring, walking, hiking, and bike commuting I use the optical HR.

But it seems to be true, that this bug does not affect everybody.

thank you

Someone mentioned forum bias which is basically BS. Yes, people with a problem are more inclined to report it, but what you should take note of is the multitude of bugs that they report over and over again. It should tell you that Garmin's software QA is horrible. It's a broken mess of spaghetti code that breaks in one corner when another corner is mostly fixed. It's a never ending story. Personally I would look at another brand - I know I will next time.

sittingduck77 said:

Someone mentioned forum bias

That was me

sittingduck77 said:

which is basically BS

No it is not.
If you refer to someone, please quote the whole thing:

"It is a forum bias. Obviously, somebody with a problem will be much more motivated to log in and post, then somebody who is perfectly happy.
That does not mean, there are no bugs.
But it does mean, those bugs DO NOT AFFECT EVERYBODY and also not every bug affects everybody."

The bold marking is done by me.

sittingduck77 said:

Garmin's software QA is horrible

It could be much better, that is agreed - like I said above, I don't say there are no bugs.

sittingduck77 said:

It's a broken mess of spaghetti code that breaks in one corner when another corner is mostly fixed.

Speculation.

Also, there is no evidence for me, that other brands (taking Apple with their watches aside) do it better, software and QA wise.

sittingduck77 said:

but what you should take note of is the multitude of bugs that they report over and over again.

I forgot to comment that aspect.

I surely feel sorry for the guys that are affected by a bug and report it over and over again.

STILL, a lot of that bugs I never experienced on my FR955!
And some bugs like "FW xy drains battery" is clearly not true, as it is reported with every firmware, but only affects a few people. What I assume really happens with battery drain: A process is out of control, maybe because during updating something went wrong. Often can be fixed by restarting, or when persistant, soft reset.
This is just an example though.

I admit, for some people the Garmin FR955 experience might be quite bad, if they are affected by nasty bugs. But still that does not mean "everything is bad and broken".

Thank you guys all for the input and detailed answers! I really appreciate it! I actually ordered FR955 last night but this morning they e-mailed me saying that they were sold out and offered me FR965. 

I asked for a discount so lets see if they will meet me in the half way. I actually checked few other running shops and they all seem to be sold out with 'stock expected soon'