vivoactive 3 SW 7.30 is now live

This issue looks like a hardware problem. I had a VA3 which only reported like 70% of altitude climbs. It was exchanged by Garmin and the new Watch is now normally under 10% off (which is ok for such a device, only in really cold and cloudy weather it starts acting strange). 

You should ask for an exchange. 

About the configuration, I fould it really annoying on Android, but that is not 100% Garmins fault, because each device-brand has different ways of implementing the configuration menus and different self-build energy-saving mechanisms, so you need to exclude Garmin Connect from everything, see that notifications work, and so on. Once you get it set up it works constantly, at least for the last year I haven't had any issues...

Today I must really say that I am happy with my VA3 with 7.20. The first bug with the watch faces has happened to me a few times, but it does not really annoy me. Also the altimeter issues are nearly gone (I never have >10% difference over corrected altitudes). Battery drain has increased in the last few weeks, but I have not checked if some widget got updated, I would rather assume that as the cause, as 7.20 has really been working fine for me.

I wonder if Garmin has different hardware versions of the VA3? It seems suspicious that so many people still have lots of issues (and many of them quite similar), and other people are just happy with the newer Versions... I would say all versions between 6.XX and 7.10 were quite buggy (and we got updates for bugfixes quite often).

When I bought the VA3 I was thinking about the music version because of the newer HW and in theory better altimeter. However, today I am happy with my decision, I would never use the watch to listen to music (I have a smartphone for that purpose), and I really like the metallic bezel of the VA3, it has saved the glass from many scratches... I really wonder how the glass of a bezel-less watch would look like... 

It is really sad that Garmin has so much trouble getting the software right. I would really like to buy a Edge 530/830, but having to deal with all the software issues for a while just makes me want to wait until the price drops at least under 2/3 of the MSRP. 

This is really helpful!  Thank you.  

A day later than my previous post on this, some more comments. 

I live in a 13 floor condo building. I walk the stairs once a day as an activity. Before 7.30, I was given credit for 11 floors most times; occasionally 10 floors; and, from time to time, even less. Yesterday, I was given credit for 12 floors.

A day later, my battery life still seems improved. Whereas my battery would normally have 45% to 48% left at this point, right now it shows 59%.

I was having wallet issues before the update. Thanks to COVID-19, I have not tested whether it works more reliably yet.

Expect the same sync/disconnection issue as you go along, just have extra patience as well.

Heart rate accuracy in Cardio would be a good fix. It's useless!

These are the sort of issues that developers of widgets and watchfaces would need to have fixed so that their software can work correctly. It's not surprising that end users aren't complaining about these issues directly.

Switch from smart recording to 'Every Second', it can help a bit, however as buildings "echo" the signal, it will never be 100% accurate in a city. I faced similar issues and once I ran out of the town I saw the watch recorded my way correctly.

• Smart notifications can now be displayed in Connect IQ apps

What does this mean?