TLDR: My watched stopped working and Garmin assistance in Brazil asked for more than 500 dollars to fix it. What caused the problem? Charging exactly like the manual suggests. According to them, I should only charge it plugged to the computer. So losing a watch because I followed their instructions is too much for me. Time to give another brand a shot.
I had already posted here (and elsewhere) about my heart rate monitor and other features randomly stopping. Tried a bunch of suggestions floating around, nothing worked.
Also noticed it would glitch out whenever the temperature went up just a bit.
Sent it to Garmin’s official support in Brazil (Proparts) and they said it had an overheating issue. The fix? Over $500. Oh, and they’d throw in a “bonus” 3-month warranty.
I told them I didn’t feel safe spending that much if it could break again in 4 months. So I asked what exactly caused the overheating.
They asked how I was charging it. I said: sometimes on the computer, sometimes using a wall plug. Then they hit me with this: “That’s the issue. You’re only supposed to charge it on a computer. Wall charging can cause overheating.”
Except… the manual doesn’t say anything about that. Nothing.
In fact, there are posts out there saying high-amp wall plugs are fine — the watch will only pull what it needs.
So yeah… my watch died because I did exactly what the manual says is okay.
Add that to all the other issues, and I think it’s time to give another brand a shot.
Goodbye Garmin.
