Alternatives to Garmin watches - Garmin has no after-sales support

[Dexter-morgan]

There was another hubber that offered to do the replacement on another thread if I can remember.

[dasilvarsa]

The Reason Battery on watch Gets Weak is because of continuously charging to 100%.

It's a Lithium Ion Battery Problem.

Do This, Every time you have a Shower Put Watch on Charge Once You Finished Showering take watch and put it on your wrist. Battery will Last Years Longer.

Garmin is the Best but It's Not Practical to Repair Sealed Units. (Unfortunately)

 

Edited April 17, 2023 by dasilvarsa

[SwissVan]

19 hours ago, dasilvarsa said:

The Reason Battery on watch Gets Weak is because of continuously charging to 100%.

It's a Lithium Ion Battery Problem.

Do This, Every time you have a Shower Put Watch on Charge Once You Finished Showering take watch and put it on your wrist. Battery will Last Years Longer.

Garmin is the Best but It's Not Practical to Repair Sealed Units. (Unfortunately)

 

What happens when a shower is enough time to charge to 100%
 

Sorry but I’m a bit confuzed, Did u mean to say that the watch should only be top charged and not fully charged?

 

[Dexter-morgan]

2 minutes ago, SwissVan said:

What happens when a shower is enough time to charge to 100%
 

Sorry but I’m a bit confuzed, Did u mean to say that the watch should only be top charged and not fully charged?

 

I think he implies that you should not charge the battery to 100% just a little bit every time, I know Samsung phones have a function to charge the battery only to 85% every time, not sure how true this is.

[SwissVan]

6 minutes ago, Dexter-morgan said:

I think he implies that you should not charge the battery to 100% just a little bit every time, I know Samsung phones have a function to charge the battery only to 85% every time, not sure how true this is.

I know you should not let them go completely flat as this allows some kind of loss of the chemical properties, maybe it’s the same risk if they are overcharged… for example if the charging does not automatically switch off

 

[lechatnoir]

26 minutes ago, Dexter-morgan said:

I think he implies that you should not charge the battery to 100% just a little bit every time, I know Samsung phones have a function to charge the battery only to 85% every time, not sure how true this is.

it's true that they do. it's also true that after a year of using my S22 like that, battery life is sure degraded. then again, evidence isn't the plural of anecdote...

[Skott5]

Whose the dude that was selling Fenix 3 Batteries a while ago ?

Think I recall him saying he had a few extra

[Dexter-morgan]

I found this.

I can change it for you,19dupie86@gmail.com for details.

from this thread.

 

or

 

Edited April 21, 2023 by Dexter-morgan

[Shebeen]

On 4/17/2023 at 5:26 PM, dasilvarsa said:

The Reason Battery on watch Gets Weak is because of continuously charging to 100%.

It's a Lithium Ion Battery Problem.

Do This, Every time you have a Shower Put Watch on Charge Once You Finished Showering take watch and put it on your wrist. Battery will Last Years Longer.

Garmin is the Best but It's Not Practical to Repair Sealed Units. (Unfortunately)

 

depends.

Do you know what 100% voltage level is actually on a Garmin? battery management by the manufacturer should protect from this.

 

https://www.wired.co.uk/article/how-to-improve-battery-life-tips-myths-smartphones#:~:text=The problem is that you,shouldn't be harmful.”

 

[MORNE1102]

Bought the Watch Ultra and I'm never going back to Garmin. Only "draw" back is the 3day battery 

 

[_David_]

4 hours ago, MORNE1102 said:

Bought the Watch Ultra and I'm never going back to Garmin. Only "draw" back is the 3day battery 

 

+1 for the Apple Ultra.
 

 

Edited April 21, 2023 by _David_

[TheoG]

On 4/17/2023 at 8:40 AM, Tacet said:

Morning all,

My GF's Fenix 6S's battery has died, so we took it in to Garmin.  They don't replace batteries at all, but takes in your old watch, and offer you a bit of discount on a new one.  I have the same problem with my Edge 520 - one of the rubber buttons has torn, and the only "fix" (trading in on a new one) Garmin has will cost me more than R2k.  We've tried all the fixes for the 6S - hard reset, deleted temp files (thanks, NavWorld, who didn't even charge us to assist!), upgraded firmware...

Has anyone looked at alternatives to Garmin that offers a bit more after-sales support?

Basic requirements for watch:

1. Must have >24 hour battery life on GPS (she does ultras)
2. Must have a barometric altimeter
3. Must be able to sync with Trainingpeaks
4. Must be able to sync routes and do navigation.
5. Must support Ant+

The Fenix 6S was perfect in functionality, but Garmin's after-sales policy is a bit of a put-off.

Thanks!

I'm very happy with my Polar Grit X Pro.  The only thing on your list it doesn't do is ANT+, Bluetooth only which is fine by me.  The Vantage V2 got the same functionality just more "fancy" looking and not as "rugged".  Battery last about a week on a charge with at least 3 trainings of an hour or so using a HR strap.  For my weekend rides I dont use the watch but Polar V650.

Polar focused very much on heart rate and running watches in the past but the latest watches cater for all sorts of sport.

Edited April 21, 2023 by TheoG

[MORNE1102]

14 minutes ago, _David_ said:

+1 for the Apple Ultra.
 

 

100% the way to go! 

[dasilvarsa]

Battery will eventually fail on all Watches.

[MrJacques]

1 hour ago, dasilvarsa said:

Battery will eventually fail on all Watches.

True, but they really should make the battery replaceable. It's a waste to throw out electronics just because of a battery that can't be replaced easily.

[guidodg]

Amazfit T-Rex 2