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Screen often dimming, sometimes completely black

DarrenPick
over 1 year ago

I am currently having two issues with the display on my new Forerunner 965

  1. Intermittently, my display will dim so much it is unusable outdoors. I can see the screen indoors and when I go to the display brightness settings it does adjust the brightness but the brightest setting is still too dark to be readable outdoors. The only thing I have found to return the display to normal brightness is to power off and on the watch.
    1. the watch can go for a few days between this happening and there is no pattern that I have noticed
    2. it doesn't recover by itself after waiting for > 2 days
  2. Less frequently my watch screen will be completely black. the only way I have found to resolve this is to press and hold the power button for > 30 seconds, wait a while and then power the watch back on.
    1. the watch doesn't automatically cure itself, it was left for over 24hrs once and it remained in the faulty state
    2. there doesn't seem to be any pattern to when this happens, However it has not yet happened during an activity. 

I am currently trying to upload videos and pictures for support to check this out, pretty miffed that I bought this watch for an event later this month and it is highly likely I will not be able to trust the device to be able to use it.

Anyone else having these issues? found. way to cure? some rogue setting hopefully?

  • 0 over 1 year ago

    Have had similar issues. Consider the following:

    • Be sure that your watch has the following settings.
      • Press and hold the Up button, Scroll to Gear and select it, Scroll to System and select it, Scroll to Display and select it,
        • Select During Activity. This will ensure that your watch is displaying at its brightest and that it will be on when you raise your wrist.)
          • Always On should be on
          • Brightness should have all three segments lit orange
          • Gesture should be on.
        • Select Touch (This will allow you to cause the display to activate by touching it if turning your wrist doesn't do it.)
          • Select During Activity
          • Turn on for all activities
    • Another cause could be your sunglasses. I've noticed that when I'm wearing my sunglasses, the watch's screen looks much darker outside in full sun. Thought it might be polarization of the lenses, but the manufacturer write-up on my sunglasses doesn't cite that the lenses are polarized.
  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to JazzRunnerDP

    Hi, some of the watches are just faulty and no matter that the display is on the brightest, it is just not visible outside. I think it is related so that the watches that had the problem with total freeze also suffers from the screen being useless outdoors. 

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to Garmin-Sierra

    Hi,

    Is this auto dimming problem solved now? We need screen that can be read ALL THE TIMES, that do not dimm for workouts/activities, etc.

    There must be option added: (4s, 8s, 15s) + NO SCREEN TIMEOUT (Or, option to adjust dimming brightness.) "No timeout" is best, it is easy software fix.

    We need the option "no timeout" IMMEDIATELY added/fixed as otherwise the watch (my 965) is unusable.

    Please email me ASAP

    Thank you.

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to SvenneBerka

    Just got word that they will replace it. I will report back when I have compared the behaviour outside.

  • 0 over 1 year ago

    You are on warranty. 

    Return the watch. 

    You are a consumer so you have the right to have something that works. 

    Stop adding tickets at garmin. You are not their repair or service force

    They sell something and it should simply work. 

    I have had issues with my gadgets too but I am returning them after I have tried to fix it. But I will not accept bad products any longer. I have purchased it to work, not being a test rabbit. 

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to SvenneBerka

    I received a new watch and this one works as it is supposed to :) there in no problem with the display in sunlight even with the lowest light setting so I am really happy now! If you are having trouble with freezes and the display is worthless outside in sunlight then you need to get the watch replaced.

  • 0 11 months ago in reply to Garmin-Sierra
    Dear Garmin-Sierra,
     
    This is very URGENT and IMPORTANT as I have already a second "new" 965 watch that has the same problem. 
    Please add me to the impact and reply to me immediately, so that we can talk/discuss it with someone, who understands the problem, has technical knowledge, and can finally find the solution to this. Customer service has no such knowledge. As you can see MANY people have the same problem, and can not use their watches. 
    1- I'm from Ireland (races all over the world)
    2- Please email me ASAP.
    Problems.
    I explained the problems to customer service as the first watch was 2 weeks old.
    a. Screen goes almost black or completely black during activity, more details below. 
    * Look at the videos:
    https://1drv.ms/v/s!AhCZT54z6hxmyRT3FncnXH-R1aG-?e=jtf0cP
    https://1drv.ms/v/s!AhCZT54z6hxmyRMgcs3NCQ4Gwd6g?e=rOycOJ
    https://1drv.ms/v/s!AhCZT54z6hxmyRKkQT_SEpDOH88g?e=AjOJ2K
    * And a little longer 2 min video(I did not know when it happens) at the end screen goes completely dark
    https://1drv.ms/v/s!AhCZT54z6hxmyRaytcApXtLwxcgC?e=4spb4o
    b. Sleep tracking went crazy it showed me over 1 000 000 (1 MILLION) hours slept !? (no joke here is a screenshot https://1drv.ms/i/s!AhCZT54z6hxmyRWWh58L5-FEHnMJ?e=7Aq6WU)
    So we thought that the first watch was faulty and they agreed to send me a "NEW" watch, but customer service did not have the technical knowledge to solve the problems, they just sent me a "NEW" watch.
    So now I have a "NEW" watch with exact same problem, I can not use it, and if we can not solve the problem now I'm forced to send both back. It's sad as I like the watch, but in this condition, it is unusable.
    I'm using the watch while on the bike(road/MTB) mounted on the handlebars, and while rowing on a rower or boat, motorbike mounted on handlebars (road race and motocross), etc.
    So as you may understand there is no way to do hand gestures or touches to wake up the screen during the races.
    Unfortunately, your watch auto-screen timeout is so dimmed that it is IMPOSSIBLE to read, almost dark (sometimes completely dark). Look videos.
    I'm using the ALWAYS-ON setting while on my activity, so WHY does the screen go dark if it MUST be ALWAYS-ON?
    This is misinformation to advertise ALWAYS-ON display, when you get a display that goes dark after 15 sec.
    This is very dangerous to touch and do something to wake up the watch after every 15 seconds to see heart rate or map where to ride while riding a bicycle or motorbike. My races are usually 30-60 min long, on very high intensity, I barely have time to look for info, and definitely, I have no way to take my hand off the handlebars. I need to race, not to mess with the watch after every 15 sec. It is unheard of. I don't mind charging my watch between races every day.
     
    This TRUE ALWAYS ON CLEAR/SHARP DISPLAY DURING ACTIVITY(as advertised) was the most important feature when I bought the watch, this is very important (if I had known this dimming issue I would never bought the nice/useless AMOLED watch).
    I need this auto-dimming problem solved immediately. We need a screen that can be read ALL THE TIMES, that does not dim for workouts/activities, etc.
    As I said I have tried every possible way to solve the problems, without luck. Restarting, uninstalling, installing, forums, customer service, videos, etc. Everyone is in trouble with the problem.
    There must be an added Screen Timeout option during activity: (4s, 8s, 15s) + 30min, + 1H,  + add NO SCREEN TIMEOUT (Or, an option to adjust dimming brightness like 955.) "No timeout" is best, it is an easy software fix. Do this ONLY for a DURING ACTIVITY profile(not for a General use profile) if you are afraid of burn-in, but there must be a solution for Activities.
    Please read more on your forums this is very important, many people have the same issues. These are only a few of many, the internet is full of frustrated people with the same problem.
    Please contact me ASAP.
  • 0 11 months ago

    Mine just started doing that yesterday. Dimmed on its own. Power cycle cured it. Today, I synced it and now it's black and I can't even tell if it's on or off. Power cycle doesn't seem to work at all. Even when it's plugged in I can't tell. I've only had it a couple of months. 

  • 0 11 months ago in reply to KiloHotel

    Hi KiloHotel, sorry to say, but seems you have one of the faulty ones. Garmin replaced my watch with the same problems and I have had no problems whatsoever with the new watch.

  • +1 11 months ago

    All,

    Those who believe their Forerunner 965 has a display that is dimming to a black screen, looking like it's even turned off, please reach out to your local Garmin Product Support team. While troubleshooting this with some users we have determined that many devices are functioning as expected and users are seeing the always-on display auto-dim, whereas others are seeing a hardware problem where the display is dimming to a nearly black screen The latter group has been small so far but we do understand that this is a significant disruption and are working on a permanent solution. Due to the two different experiences being crossed in this thread, and the fact that hardware troubleshooting/replacement (if necessary) cannot be handled in the forums, we will be closing this thread. While we are actively looking into these reports and investigating permanent solutions, we encourage anyone who believes they may be experiencing the dimming to work with their local support team in order to find the quickest and most appropriate solution. Thank you all for your contributions here and your patience as we have looked into this.