Does Garmin still provide support for this watch?

I'd say no, they have not abandoned it, considering that the latest FW update, 5.2, was released about two months ago. That they are or will be addressing some of the long-standing complaint is another story...

There is also the matter of not having a simple "Yes" as one of the pre-defined options when replying to a text from the watch. You would think that too is a trivial fix.

I personally do not use the payment feature, but I can definitely see how this can be maddeningly frustrating for those that would like to use it. I believe Garmin said from the get go that it won't work if the battery is below a certain threshold (probably due to the added power consumption), but I have seen here on the forum many complaints about not working or working erratically even with a fully charged battery or even worse freezing the watch.

The stride length issue is intriguing. I do have custom strides set for walking and running, but always assumed those values are used only when NOT using the Connected GPS (for example when an activity autostarts). I have compared the distance recorded by the watch through Connected GPS with a known distance or against a distance measured independently by an app on my phone and they have always been very close.

Even when not using the GPS I have verified that if I adjust the stride length the watch does record a different total distance when walking. In fact, I found the best stride length value with a bit of a trial and error, walking a known distance multiple times and verifying I was hitting the 1 mile and 2 mile marks in the right spot.

I usually reset the watch and delete all data after each FW update. I believe it is not required per se, but I have found that in a couple of occasions some of the metrics were off after an update, until I reset and deleted all data. It is a bit annoying, as you have to un-pair and re-pair the watch with the phone and re-adjust all settings that you may have changed, but now it takes me just a few minutes to do it, as I know what it is that goes back to factory defaults.

Thanks, I'll try the reset. I know its using a wrong stride length as it tells you what it used under 'Running Dynamics>Average stride length' in the data for the run. GPS not used.

Sadly the releasing of new firmware does not mean the watch is still supported. There will be a common code base and general cross product feature changes will filter down on a firmware rebuild. With basic long term faults going unfixed it does seem it has been abandoned.