This discussion has been locked.

You can no longer post new replies to this discussion. If you have a question you can start a new discussion

Forerunner 735xt buttons not working

Former Member over 7 years ago

After swimming yesterday my Forerunner has been acting very strangely. The backlight is stuck on so the battery is running down really quickly and other buttons are not working properly either. When I try to access the menu it just continuously scrolls down and I can't get into any of the options. Also the up button doesn't work so I can't change the activity either. I have tried resetting it and that didn't fix it so any suggestions would be appreciated.

Top Replies

All Replies

0 Andy275 over 7 years ago

Sadly it sounds like water got inside. Did you my chance push a button while the watch was submerged? You can try drying it out (some people have had luck placing it in a bag of rice). If it is under warranty, Garmin will replace it. Otherwise they will charge you $110 to replace with a refurbished watch.

0 Former Member over 5 years ago

Did you ever figure out how to fix it? Mine has started doing the exact same thing after taking a shower.

0 paul.shelb over 5 years ago

Same issue here. My 735XT unit is exactly 1 month old and is now unusable. Pretty horrendous experience with Garmin products.

0 paul.shelb over 5 years ago in reply to Andy275

Pushing the button while submerged shouldn't damage the device. The whole purpose of this unit is to be able to record laps while swimming. It's also *supposed* to be waterproof.

0 tmk2 over 5 years ago in reply to paul.shelb

Read the manual. It says not to press buttons while submerged. It is waterproof as long as you don't press buttons under water. Not observing this restriction is the best way to kill your watch. I understand that you don't like it, but that's how it is. If I want to press any buttons while swimming I just take my arm out of water for a moment.

0 paul.shelb over 5 years ago in reply to tmk2

Where in the manual does it say not to press button of this *waterproof* watch underwater??

0 tmk2 over 5 years ago in reply to paul.shelb

https://www8.garmin.com/manuals/webhelp/forerunner735/EN-US/GUID-B9A459F4-A65C-4E04-ACF0-14E2593F491B.html

0 paul.shelb over 5 years ago in reply to tmk2

Wow. That's like selling a car and the manual saying "Don't drive in the rain!"

0 tmk2 over 5 years ago in reply to paul.shelb

I just checked the manual for a swimming-capable Polar watch (the vantage m). Same thing. Don't press buttons under water. Also, I have a 50 m rated casio and a 100 meter rated timex watch. Again, manuals for those watches say the same thing: Don't press buttons under water. In fact the only watch that explicitly allowed pressing buttons under water that I had in my hands was a 200 m rated casio g-shock.

Don't get me wrong. I'd love to have a watch with more waterproof buttons. Sadly, the industry standard for consumer electronic devices simply does not seem to be there yet.

0 paul.shelb over 5 years ago in reply to tmk2

I had a 910XT previously and a 310XT before that. Zero problems pushing buttons under water, for four years each. I'm amazed this is a common problem not solved.