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5.90: much worse headphone performance

bupkis
over 6 years ago

Firmware 5.70 worked fine with my bluetooth headphones (outdoors/left wrist). There was the occasional dropout but nothing unmanageable.

Firmware 5.90 is a different story entirely. So many dropouts that my headphones (QCY QS2) are basically unusable with the watch outdoors.

It's all well and good to force upgrades if you're sure your software is up to the job. But too often, new firmware breaks things on this watch.

I seriously think Garmin needs to improve not only its software development and quality control (see: https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2019/06/competitor-software-instability.html), but also its customer support. I don't even bother contacting customer support after a few instances where they couldn't understand even the most basic operations of the watch.

And while I'm complaining: how is it that the list of compatible bluetooth headphones hasn't been updated in years and has the same tired 9 headphones on it?

  • 0 over 6 years ago

    Looks like 5.90 brings more problems than solutions - I think I won't upgrade yet.
    And yes, that "compatible headphones" list is old - and not even correct. I tried the bose wirless, got dropouts whenever my left hand hangs down when walking outside.

  • 0 over 6 years ago

    Interesting article, though recently Garmin does seem to be improving their focus on engineering.  The article has a lot of history behind it, so we have to see if Garmin can now climb the hill they have created.  My perception over the past ~2 years of the FR645M (my first Garmin watch) has been that marketing has more power internally than engineering, and I hope that really has changed this summer.

    For my first run with 5.90 yesterday (sadly truncated after just 20 minutes due to a calf issue), my Trekz Air would not come on at all but the Sony WI-SP500 that sat in the drawer since I got the Airs were still good and had no drop-outs.  I find it is all about the power envelope on both devices - the headphones and the watch.  The Sony headphones have big batteries and never drop out, the new Trekz almost never.  The cheap ones I had before dropped if I hid my wrist.  The watch is a lot more complicated and the battery has to last all day, so I now put it on the headphones to amplify the signal and deal with the sweat - so maybe you keep yours fully charged, but if not I'd say plug them in for longer and try once more?

    Yes the compatible headphones page is woefully out of date, but those are the ones they actually bought and tested - again they are not prioritizing the engineering side.  The best info is from the headphones thread on this forum (it worked for me choosing the Sonys), but it seems to have been made un-sticky with the new forum software and needs updating with every firmware release.

    Based on my 'power envoelope' theory, I expect the 945M won't have so many headphone issues on the forums.  I really wanted one but the only thing I'm missing is the open water swimming - so after reading that article I guess I can put that away for now :-)

  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 6 years ago in reply to bueffelmichi

    Upgrade from what?

  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 6 years ago

    I've used to feel that Garmin SW development was crap.  At one point I got so frustrated I went to competing brands... I can tell you from experience that the other brands are just as much crap at SW development as Garmin is.  It's frustrating to say the least....