FR965 : annoying "gesture" implementation (turns screen on/off) vs Venu 2 (turns screen on for set duration)

EDIT : it turns out this is the expected behavior on the FR965, unlike on the Venu 2 where the "Gesture" will turn on the screen for a set duration and isn't subject to unwanted movements. Seems like a downgrade/bug to me...

  • Original Post : Not sure if it's new with 21.19 but I hadn't noticed it before on my (admittedly new) FR965 : this morning while controlling the music playing on my phone after long pressing the music button the screen went black almost immediately and this happened several times.

I tried to replicate when static at my desk and it seems the problem is related to the wrist movement, something you don't really control when running, if you flip slightly the watch towards the outside/vertical, the screen goes off completely (not even low intensity), if it's horizontal, no problem.

Is that new ? Can't we just have the standard "backlight" time-out regardless of the wrist position ?

  • I also switched from a Venu 2 to Forerunner 965. I can see the same behavior. A real shame that each Garmin watch has a different implementation of the same settings ... 

  • Glad my confusion helped save some time for others!

    Yeah it's odd they would chose to do that. Honestly the Venu 2's "gesture" behavior makes more sense to me as it's predictable and not subject to unwanted movements. On the rare occasions when you do need to turn off the screen immediately just press the button.