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Quality of Garmin software

Marc
2 months ago

I don't want to be negative but I wonder if either the software development is outsourced or what the reason for this might be. As a software developer, I wonder what is going on, it seems that at least quality control is not efficient, are there automatic tests? I have to assume not otherwise bugs like the touchscreen being activated during activities would have never been released. 
Also, the amount of seemingly non-deterministic behavior is very high for software that is developed for specific hardware. I mean I would expect that a bug takes effect on all watches with a certain configuration, if so it should be very easy to reproduce. With a lot of bugs, it seems that some experience it and some don't, this kind of indeterminism is a nightmare.
Please start prioritizing bugs over new features (that likely introduce more bugs) and if necessary refactor the whole software so that development can be efficient.
The amount of bugs (big and small) is just way too high and fixes seem to be hacky, for example, the Spotify problem (where the Garmin notifications hung in an endless loop), was fixed poorly, now when two Garmin notifications overlapped each other, Spotify starts playing after the first one ends, instead of having a counting lock/semaphore. I mean this is not a big problem. But other bugs are and it is super intransparent what is acknowledged as a bug (current lactate threshold computation for example) and when it might be fixed.
Please start prioritizing bug fixing or refactoring if necessary over new features (that will introduce more bugs).

  • 0 2 months ago in reply to flocsy🤠

    custom WF, it's not mandatory for me

  • 0 1 month ago

    I've been a die-hard Garmin fan for a couple of decades. But all of the bugs in recent products is getting me down, and my loyalty is getting thinner by the day.

  • 0 1 month ago in reply to Elbo
    Elbo said:
    I found a Suunto race s with a discount and are selling my 965. Good way to start the new year. I don’t think it will make any impact on garmins attitude, but it will make things better for me. 

    I too switched from Fenix 7X to Suunto Race S. It has 90% of features that I previously used at 25-30% of price of a new Fenix, and what it does it does much better than Garmin, including maps and navigation. I wouldn't buy a new Garmin even with a 20% discount that is available to me.

  • 0 1 month ago

    Garmin biggest competitor is Apple watch which, for vast majority of current Garmin customers, is sufficiently good product (despite battery life) and with vastly better software quality, top notch sensors and being a true smart watch.

    With the current approach to software quality it will be losing casual customers very soon to smart watches, Apple watch but also Samsung and others which are priced much better.

    In my family we have 4 Garmins and only I care about sport functionality, rest will be equally happy with any other watch and phone integration and smart features are more valued. So when he next replacement cycles comes, Garmin will be a tough sell.

  • 0 1 month ago in reply to Alex_WAW

    The problem is that Garmin feels and fears the competition and probably it makes them add some useful features, but what they MOSTLY do is to add features that are half baked at most and nobody wants to use them (at least not in the buggy form they are now) and they also don't fix the bugs... If they would understand that software quality also matters (HW is pretty good I think) then they would invest more on QA.

    In my family everyone uses Android phones, and I have a feeling that using an Apple watch with Android is not supported or at least is a sub-par experience compared to how it flawlessly integrates with an iPhone. Or did this change recently?

  • 0 1 month ago in reply to flocsy🤠

    No, AW is for apple ecosystem only. And not forget recharge it daily. No option at all if you do not use iOS. 

  • 0 1 month ago in reply to global_local

    yes, apple watch for iOS and multitude of Samsung, Huawei and others for Android.

    What's the most puzzling is talking to many, many apple watch users they go used to daily charging iPhone and iWatch, go figure.  

  • 0 1 month ago

    I'm happy, that someone said it loud. Because the quality of software is maybe better with 21.20 (for me at current state), but far from perfect. And what still works more or less is:

    1 - weather glance

    2 - wrist heart rate sensor during activity

    3 - naps not detecting

    4 - weird screen flickering when turning on flashlight via press twice "light" button and on and on...

    It leaves a bad impression for a device that was/is pretty expensive. And with this price I was ready for top tech and software currently available, which was true when I bought 965 in July 2023 - it was great. Couldn't see a big downsides on basic activity recording. But after many updates later this watch can't be trusted anymore.

    Built in heart rate sensor is okay for everything but not primary activity (running) - constant cadence locks. So for now i must use a heart rate chest strap for every activity besides walking and hiking, because I don't trust this device anymore. And to add some more - GPS response time - running at steady pace can give this watch a nice headache and running intervals can destroy it for sure - why? Even on all GPS systems enabled it can have serious lags when counting pace. Oh, i don't run between high buildings or in amazon forest, just casual, amateur running in parks or city with 3-4 floors high buildings.

    For me, Garmin is currently very, very overrated company with theirs kickstarter software and lack of bug fixing. for example - I didn't vote or suggest adding a moon glance for my device, I don't need it. What I need is reliable companion for my activities, which is focused on heart rate, pace and basic metrics for creating another suggested daily workout.

    Currently when is someone is asking me "what watch should i get?" I only tell then - avoid Garmin at all cost, not worth the money.

    Sorry but management is killing this company.

    And also sorry for long post, but I'm not happy with FR965 and only solution from Polish customer support I got - make a hard reset and make factory reset... Really?

  • 0 1 month ago in reply to flocsy🤠

    I had the first model Pebble. Fond memories! It had a swiming app even (my Fenix did not have that). Many Pebble users were sorely let down at the time, that was sad. Nice to see a possible comeback.