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Any help and advice before I send this back for a refund?

Mitch Peplow
over 3 years ago

Hi all,

Got a bit of an issue with my wife's Venue SQ.

To be honest, she's had issues with it since day one but I convinced here to persevere with it and the pumps would iron out as the watch 'bedded it'. Alas, she's starting to see through my smoke and mirrors Grin

Biggest issues we've had recently are these:

  1. Battery life is completely random, could be hours, could be days, regardless of use or from a full charge. Had it go from 100% to 2% when off wrist in like 2 hours one day, another day it went from 90% to 4% instantly then shot back up to 80%?

  2. The time is wrong on the watch and won't update no matter what you do, then randomly it will update to the correct time, and not at say midnight or when it sync'd

  3.  Watch freezes and needs a hard reboot to get it active again

Now this could well be a software issue, but when I check on GCM, there's no option to check for a software update like there is when I check on GCM for my Garmin watch (I have the Instinct Solar 2)?. If I check on the watch, it states v4.2, then if I check for updates it seems to connect to GCM but then just returns to the update page and no message is displayed either on the watch or the phone, yet online it seems like there is a software update available? Can somebody confirm what the latest software version is?

Also, in Explore, the watch is found, but it says it's not supported. Why is the Venu SQ not a supported device as you can also check for software updates and change the settings through Explore rather than GCM which I find easier sometimes.

  • 0 over 3 years ago

    There are several things that will drain the watch battery regularly, like always on,certain third-party features, data recording set to every second instead of smart . . .   For random or sudden drains, I found that updates do this, I have my watch auto update set to off so I can update manual from Garmin Express.   I have never noticed a watch showing the wrong charge amount, then auto correcting.  

    The time, date, and weather come from the connected phone.  If the device is having issues finding the phone, it cannot update until it finds it.  The Android phones have a feature that will cause the phone to automatically reconnect with the BlueTooth if it loses connect.  

    I have only seen the watch freeze when I tried using a third-party watch face.  I stopped using the face and the watch stopped freezing.  (That face also drained the battery.)

    My Venu Sq would not update through the watch, it continuously tried and failed.  I turned off the auto update and complete the updates with Garmin Express on my PC.  

    I have had many issues with my watch, things like recording high Respiration when I am not wearing the device, not recording steps, missing on the pace (probably step related) recording wrong SPo2 (Pulse Ox) readings or not reporting them at all.  Bad sleep reporting, the watch says I am awake when the spouse enters or leaves the bed, or it says I am sleeping when I am awake and working.  The heart rate readings are pretty good and I enjoy the ability to design my own strength training program so I keep it.  (I have used Fitbit and Polar: Fitbit is charging for features currently and Polar has zero customer service.)

    Since none of the posted issues are standard with all watches, perhaps she could return it for a replacement.  Maybe the replacement will work better for her.    If she is using a third-party feature or face, I would remove it first and see if the watch behaves better before sending it off.  If it turns out it still behaves badly, she can install it again from the Garmin Express window.  Hope it can be worked out.  The Garmin Venu Sq is really the 'best cost' watch for fitness currently available.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to Chaz

    Hi @Chaz,

    She's not using any custom face or 3rd party feature/sensor etc, purely the bare bones of the watch, so heart-rate and step count.

    I can understand the watch syncing with the phone for the time, but it was like the time had just jumped to a completely random number as it wasnt even just a time zone difference. God knows!

    What current software version is your Venu Sq on?

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to Mitch Peplow

    The software version us 4.10

    The ANT/BLE version is 2.30

    Has she completed a full factory reset since this tarted happening?

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to Mitch Peplow

    The watch also will get time from a GPS signal.  I don't use GPS because it doesn't work on indoor tracks.  Does using the watch with outside programs / activities change the way the time behaves?

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to Chaz

    To be honest she doesn't use the activities, this watch was just an upgrade from a FitBit as I was raving about how good my Garmin watches are, but this one has been nothing but problematic.

    I know it's the cheapest of the bunch, but the price is relative to the user and the price shouldn't really reflect if it works correctly or not, especially when she could buy a watch 1/4 of the price and it work just as reliably if not better. It shouldn't be I have to spend 7-10 times the amount to ensure I have a watch that works from the same manufacturer, and in reality, what impression does this leave with my wife? All I'm getting now is, 'Can I get an Apple watch'. Expensive, yes, but it has all the things she wants, and it just works. I'm happy to live with bugs and iron them out, to a point, but devices like these are so competitive nowadays that it doesn't take much to make people switch . . . 

    As for the factory reset, yes, I've done this twice, made no difference.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to Mitch Peplow

    The chose is always yours.  If she wants an Apple watch, nothing Garmin can do will satisfy her.  There is an option for replacement, but if she doesn't want the Garmin Venu, it probably won't satisfy her needs anyway.   Apple watches are not any better than Garmin, they just cost more.  I will not recommend the Apple brand fitness watches. 

    Best Cost is all about getting the best product for the money spent.  It does not mean the cheapest.  If the wife was not insisting on a Apple brand watch, I would suggest trying Polar.  They are the original fitness watch company, been doing it for decades.  Polar needs an armband or chest strap to get an accurate heart rate for activities.  If she doesn't do activities, then this won't matter.  Sorry I cannot help you more.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to Chaz

    No worries Chaz, your help and advice has been much appreciated, so many thanks.

    At this rate I think she'll be going back to the old faithful Casio she has stashed in the drawer Wink

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to Chaz
    Chaz said:
    I have my watch auto update set to off so I can update manual from Garmin Express

    Could you please tell me the way how you turned off auto update of the watch firmware? Thanks.

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to m4dx

    There is a setting on my phone.  One can turn off auto updates of apps in Garmin phone app.  One can turn off auto updates on the phone.  Since my watch doesn't speak directly to the internet, not allowing the phone to update without notice causes the watch to not update.  I have to plug it into the PC to get updates.  It may not be the best way to handle updates, but I had an update try to happen while I was using the app and it stopped everything I was doing to do the update, then tried to reset the watch.  Not a good thing with me.I use the PC to charge so updates are checks and ran at that time.

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to Chaz
    Chaz said:
    There is a setting on my phone.  One can turn off auto updates of apps in Garmin phone app.  One can turn off auto updates on the phone.

    I see. You mean Connect IQ apps - this setting:

    I thought you are talking about the watch firmware.... It's really pity we as a customers are not allowed to disable forced firmware updates.

    Thanks anyway.