935 buttons going soft?

Hi everyone

I'm experiencing the same problem. When i received the first device i wasn't really concerned about the buttons and didn't mind to push them under water. At first the back button went soft then it was really hard to push. I sent the 935 after 14 days of use to garmin and it was replaced by a new device. This device i had only one week to notice that the 'up' button went soft. I sent it again to garmin and I recieved a new device. Now I'm not swimming with it, trying not to split any water on the watch but the buttons are going soft anyway so I'm sure is not related with water(this time the down button has no click anymore). I thing it's caused by to much friction in the buttons sealing (maybe some production issue) or the sealing is to good between the body and the buttons(vacuum is building up by pressing) that is why some people arr reporting that after harder pressing the clicking is comming back for a while.

Have you got any idea if this is the case in the fenix 5 too? If not I would try to replace the 935 with the fenix 5. I just can't live with buttons that have a bad and non symmetrical response like a cheap product.

Hi again,

I stopped returning my 935 because it really makes no sense. The buttons aren't good in this device and that's the ugly truth...

...but I have little bit hope for you guys-a "solution":)

I'm sure that there are a few issues with the buttons. One is bad fitting machining. When I bought it (and recieved new pieces from warranty) out of the box the buttons didn't respond the same- every button on every 935 that a had was different so I can say that is a bad construction or something went wrong during production process.
Another thing is that there is e very small gap between the button and watch case. Every time when you press a button under wet condition, the water is getting under the button and its getting more soft espesialy the the buttons that was more soft(harder to press) out of the box.

I gathered some information and on water resistant watches the rubber seals on buttons are very often sealed and lubricated with silicone grease. I thought that it coulden't get worse so I bought a WD-40 silicone grease.

This is what I did: sprayed the grease in the gap between watch and button and pressed repeatedly until the button dosen't have any click respond and is harder to press- i knew then the grease is under the button. (I repeated this few times in two weeks- maybe no need). The watch must be dry to start so if you're using your watch under water consider drying it a few days before doing this.

But wait, is sounds like its worse than before? Yes, at first the response is very bed, mainly because the grease that I used has 95% disolvent and 5% silicone and this takes tame to evaporate. Additional when you use the watch, the grease polishes the surfaces between watch and button (my own hipothesis;)) and this takes time too. Give this process few weeks and don't get angry:)

Generaly silicon grease is perfect for rubber so it shouldn't damage the sealing in the watch. It is also water resistant so it should improve water resistance

the results:
after few weeks the buttons doesn't enoy me anymore and I'm super happy!
Before the grease operation the start/stop button and light button had the most click response and the rest was getting softer and softer. Now the start/stop buttons are a bit more soft but the rest got back their click response and I can say every button response is very similar (not perfect) which for me is all right.

Generally i'm very happy with my 935 right now and I hope that the next model will garmin improve so that I would not need to regard at any point spending that amount of money.

I'm only sharing my experience so do it on your own risk. It is possible that your warranty will be void after doing this, I have no idea.

Greetings from Poland!

Not sure why I didn't get notified of the latest replies here.

My "down" buttons is really annoying the heck out of me. It used to have no "click" like all the other buttons and I suppose I'd gotten used to it (could it some "click" back by pushing "hard" a few times) but for about a month now it generally "clicks in" and sometimes "clicks back" and sometimes doesn't. This unpredictable behaviour is quite annoying even though I can't say I've noticed it fail to respond.

Has anyone else noticed that behaviour ?

I suppose Garmin would cover this under warranty based on previous feedback but how does the program work ? Do you send it in and they fix it or do they send you a new watch and when you receive it you send the old one back ? Don't want to be out of a watch for too long if it's not the case. On the other hand I have a nice glass protector that would be lost if they do a straight swap. Thanks !

First the click for my down button disappeared completely and after a while (2 months or so) it came back. However, as webvan says, mostly get only the "in-click" but not the "out-click".
I don't mind too much as the buttons still work. Having said this, a friend of mine bought a new FR935 some days ago and when I showed him some stuff on his watch I realized how MUCH MORE clicky the buttons are out-of-the box. If I hadn't touched his watch, I wouldn't be so annoyed now...

I am also interested if they replace it under warranty. However, I would only send it back if they found a solution in the meantime. No point in sending it back if after 2 months the buttons are soft again. Does anybody know if newer batches remain clicky?

Haven't seen any mention of a newer batch at this time...

That random loud "click out" on the down button is really annoying and appeared out of the blue it seems. No other button does that, they "click in" quietly and the "click out" is very "subtle", barely there, that's ok, or at least I'd gotten you used to it. Might try to put a bit of silicone spray to see if it at least helps make it consistent.

I sent mine back and received a new one about 5 weeks ago. I had them ship out the new one before I sent back my old one. To do this, they charge you the full price of the new one and refund you when they receive the old one.

I think they can send you a refurbished unit as a replacement, but mine was new.

My back button had stopped clicking and was sometimes unresponsive (which was not convenient for track workouts) and the new one is fine...for now.

Thanks for sharing the process. So you're not without a watch then. Still I'd lose my nice glass screen protector, guess I'll wait a bit...

Yep, both of my up/down buttons and my start/stop button are sticky now.

WD-40 silicone grease.
This is what I did: sprayed the grease in the gap between watch and button and pressed repeatedly until the button dosen't have any click respond and is harder to press- i knew then the grease is under the button. (I repeated this few times in two weeks- maybe no need). The watch must be dry to start so if you're using your watch under water consider drying it a few days before doing this.

Thanks, this works for me .. I used a generic siliconic spray lubricant ;-)

So I gave it the silicone spray treatment as well and it doesn't get "stuck" anymore when it "clicks out", so the behavior is consistent even though not as pleasant as on all the other Forerunners I had in the past, oh well...