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It's annoying that Garmin don't make it easier to swap batteries. Plenty of perfectly good watches being junked just because the battery life has dropped and owners don't feel confident in changing the battery. I can see why Garmin want you to just buy a new watch but they should do that by bringing out new features that users want not by trying to stop them doing something as simple as changing a battery 🤯
It's annoying that Garmin don't make it easier to swap batteries. Plenty of perfectly good watches being junked just because the battery life has dropped and owners don't feel confident in changing the battery. I can see why Garmin want you to just buy a new watch but they should do that by bringing out new features that users want not by trying to stop them doing something as simple as changing a battery
Battery replacements are absolutely possible, I went through something related in this Thread from 6 months ago.
A battery replacement on my (relatively old V1 Instinct Solar) only cost me £35, obviously not from Garmin. Watch is good was re-sealed and is working a treat again.
Interestingly (DC Rainmaker/Des noted it too IIRC) the most recent Edge computers are now apparently designed to accommodate battery replacement (screws and a gasket so you can open the units rather than being glued shut) to comply with recent EU legislation/Right to repair. I would hope this extends to the next lot of watches they release.
Battery replacements are absolutely possible,
Yes, I agree and I posted above how simple the process was on a Fenix 5. It's probably just as easy on the newer Fenix watches too, but that doesn't change the fact that people are avoiding (and upgrading from) perfectly good watches because they "think" it is hard to replace the battery and the fact that even Garmin wont attempt it probably plays into that perception.
It's annoying that Garmin don't make it easier to swap batteries. Plenty of perfectly good watches being junked just because the battery life has dropped and owners don't feel confident in changing the battery.
To be fair to them, at least in my Fenix 6 Pro, it's seven screws, reusable o-ring seals and a plug-in battery. It could only really be easier if there was a flap to stick AA cells in. Anyone not confident to take fiddly electronics apart could almost certainly go to a jeweller or any high-street phone repair shop.
I still find the main problem the fact that Garmin won't supply a replacement for a consumable part. So you're left with a crapshoot of repurposed ones stripped from unsold units or taking a chance on a third-party battery from Amazon / eBay / AliExpress. Having gone through 5 replacements, the "good enough" one has certainly degraded faster than the original. For all their empty talk of sustainability, they've made something even less repairable than an Apple product.
Plus, of course the modern attitude that electronics are knackered and destined for landfill after a few years, and a general reluctance to repair anything.
They're not the only ones of course limiting access to spare parts (you'll probably end up taking a similar punt on a battery for a mainstream 5-year old laptop, for example), but it's really not something that makes me look on their brand well.
I went with the 255 direct from Garmin using the STW discount.
1-2 weeks dispatch time, but worth the wait to save a bit of coin🙂
So much for their 1-2 weeks dispatch estimate, it's just been delivered 😀
but that doesn't change the fact that people are avoiding (and upgrading from) perfectly good watches because they "think" it is hard to replace the battery and the fact that even Garmin wont attempt it probably plays into that perception.
I wholeheartedly agree. But I suppose it’s important to understand that Garmin are a business and while they’ve had the “technology” for a long while, to make a robust, weathertight watch with GPS and HR that can go 14+ days between charges, and that, with a couple of battery replacements, would probably last the owner a decade, actually doing that would probably be commercial suicide for them.
The expectation has been set now, new gadget watch every 2-3 years, ever increasing price points, new features you probably don’t really need or want but are wowed by when you get them… Could be worse though, you could get into apple watches 😉
Quite fancy a Garmin watch for route logging (instead of Strava on my phone) and connecting to my bike for monitoring battery level (since it lacks a display and I don't want more stuff on my bars).
Not interested in any of the sports or health stuff.
These ones I quite like the look of are the Enduro, Fenix 6 and Forerunner 255, which are all compatible with the Orbea RS Toolbox and seem reasonably priced on eBay for a refurb (£100-£150ish).
Any reason not to buy one of these models? I don't know anything about Garmins!
Cheers!
I am still using a fenix 6, I don't notice any major problems with the battery but then I only charge it a little bit at a time. I tend to just put it on the charge when I jump in the shower to give it a little bit of juice and it sits permanently at about 70%
I'm really happy with mine and I suppose at some point I will upgrade to an 8 but for the moment the 6 does everything I wanted to do