To begin, I must say that overall I was really satisfied with my VA3.
But approx a year ago I have started noticing shorter and shorter battery times... It was no more 5-7 days from full to empty, but more 3-5, then last half a year 2-4. This worsened a few weeks ago to a battery time (of a factory reset watch with default settings and everything off) to less than 22 hours.
I contacted the local Garmin service center (Slovenia) and sent them the watch. Got it back a few days later with a message that since I am out of warranty they can not help me with my watch, but can offer a refurbished VA3 replacement with a 3-months warranty for 115 EUR (as a service), or give me 60 EUR discount in case I decide to buy a new watch (VA4+ for a listed price of 304 EUR).
On Monday I updated watch to latest firmware (6.3) which fixes a battery-draining bug (or at least one of them) and watch's battery life improved from 22 to almost 40 hours (no GPS activity).
Don't know what to do.
On one side I like Garmin, but if their battery deteriorates to 25% within 2.5 years, and they think that is normal and they leave users with this problem, then I don't want another Garmin device ever.
I don't think paying 115 EUR for a used VA3 with a 3-month warranty is doing me any favor, especially since new VA3 can be found for just a bit more. And competition is really fierce - Amazifit GTR or Huawei's GT2/Honor Magicwatch 2 can be found for 100-180eur... with 2y warranty... sure - they are not Garmin, but I would not risk paying even more (300+-) for a VA4 - not with this attitude from Garmin!
...
I posted this originally on garmin's subreddit earlies today, and before post was removed by mods a few hours later (due to some rule that questions about devices should be posted in weekly discussion threads - where I don't expect any answer because of lack of visibility), I did receive two comments, telling me that 2.5 years is just OK for a device and that I should be happy with options presented by Garmin.
While surprised by both comments I disagree with them completely. Am I the only one thinking that any device should have a lifetime of more than 2-3 years? I mean? We are all talking about sustainability, but then we are ok to just throw a perfectly working (apart from battery) device away in 2.5-3 years? That is not sustainable, that is wild consumerism. If this is what Garmin is, then I don't want to be a part of it.
If 75% deterioration of battery is expected and normal in 2.5y, then either make battery user-changeable or at least repair center changeable. Looks like VA3 has neither.
What I want is to pay for a new battery. Not for a new watch.
But still, I am quite confident that battery should last 3-4 days even in ints current state, and that firmware is the problem. Again - a reason to not throw the device away, but for Garmin to do something (especially because of hundreds of other complaints about the similar short battery on VA3).
What do you think?
