After update brightness very low on screen when outside

EmBer 1 month ago

Hi to all.

Since from previous update I am having screen issues: it started with screen totally black, even if pressing buttons, even if battery charged. Just green leds on the bottom. The only way was restart button, giving me blue triamgle at boot.

After following update (26.08) I got once blank screen issue, but now I have low brightness screen when outside.

I already ser brightness at max value, but not changed.

It's very hard read display when outside, I have to find a dark place...

Any idea/solution?

Thanks.

0 TiredTurtle 1 month ago

Sounds to me as what is described here: Screen often dimming, sometimes completely black - Forerunner 965 - Running/Multisport - Garmin Forums

I have had the same issue, just about a month ago. It had nothing to do with the firmware. I reached out to Garmin customer service by creating a ticket. They replaced my FR965 with a "Newly Overhauled" model. I am very pleased how they handled this issue for me.

0 flocsy🤠 1 month ago in reply to TiredTurtle

Except that you had a device that was taken care of for sure, now you have one with an unknown past: did the previous owner "overcharge" it every night by charging it all night? Who knows. What was the reason the previous owner returned it? We don't know. Was that fixed? Probably not, because then Garmin wouldn't replace it for the previous owner, they'd just send an email to tell him to update the firmware...

And most importantly: Garmin tells to many users to send back their watch for a refurbished one, when the bug they suffer from is clearly a software bug introduced in a recent firmware update (i.e corrupt fit file that is not uploading and is not possible to import in the connect website)

All this to say I'm not a big (or small) fond of factory reset, and in many occasions I was told to do it by one agent, and one of 4 things happened:

1. I refused, but kept sending emails, and they found a better solution to fix it (maybe by another agent)

2. I refused, and found a solution on the forum (by other users)

3. I did factory reset, but the problem did not go away

4. I did factory reset and it fixed the problem. Though I think this happened only once.

But I'd certainly do a factory reset if I was so desperate to agree to a replacement even knowing I won't get a new but refurbished watch and only do the replacement if even that didn't help.

The only exception is when the issue is clearly hardware related (barometer, GPS, step counter stopped working...)

0 TiredTurtle 1 month ago in reply to flocsy🤠

Well, I did not send them my watch before I did these things:
1. Checked this forum for help.
2. Power cycle the watch.
3. Checked brightness, battery saving, and sleep setting.
4. Checked that the flashlight (on screen) still worked OK (indicating that it is probably not a screen hardware issue).
5. Factory reset the watch.
6. Reached out to Garmin customer service.

They asked me factory reset the watch, and then to send me a picture of the watch showing the issue. Only then I sent it to them and got it replaced for "new" one, after having used my FR965 for more than 2 years.

I suspect something was wrong with the ambient light sensor, but I can't tell for sure Apparently this is a known issue, giving the previous topic I found on this forum, and the fact that customer service offered having it replaced without hesitation.

I now have a scratch-free FR965 again. Sure, I don't know the history of this watch, but I still have some warranty on this Newly Overhauled model, while the warranty of my old FR965 was already expired. So I am happy with the solution they provided, and I believe this could not have been solved in any other way.

Just out of curiosity: In case option 3 would happen in your case (factory reset did not solve the issue), what would you do?

0 flocsy🤠 1 month ago in reply to TiredTurtle

Would continue to contact Garmin customer support until they at least acknowledge it's a bug (and then hope the it'll be fixed...)

I'm not saying I wouldn't do the exchange. Maybe I'd wait with it 'till the end of my 3 year warranty closing, and then do it, like you did. It also depends on the bug, how frustrating it is. I open lots of bug reports, and some are not getting fixed. I've opened the same bug year after year on different devices: fr245, fenix6, fr965, and I think my son't fr55 also has it. Would I replace any of these watches if Garmin told me they'll do it for free, and give me a refurbished device? No, because there's 100% chance that it won't fix the bug. Would I do it if they told me they give me a new device from the factory? Maybe, just to improve the battery, but wouldn't hope the bug to be fixed by it...