Discontinued Garmin watch service?
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350+ views and only one reply. 
While I didn't spent too much time searching, there certainly doesn't appear to be much out there. However, I did find this outfit (no experience or association with them): repair-service-smartwatches-garmin — Joe's Gaming & Electronics (joesge.com)
If they could get save your 'dead' watch from the trash bin/get another couple years of service for a nominal cost, might be worth it. Or perhaps the watch has some sentimental value for your adventures you want to keep.
I get it - it probably takes more than a little bit to cleanly and properly repair electronics, which have a relatively short lifespan before becoming obsolete, but if manufacturers can refurbish, why can't they repair (other than the obvious economic benefit to them and its usually just quicker to replace than fix an electronic 'lemon' in today's day & age)?
I do believe Garmin makes quality products, but it seems less than ideal that after you drop a not insignificant amount of money, your support seems somewhat limited/short-term.
What say you?
$.02 worth,
- M
While I didn't spent too much time searching, there certainly doesn't appear to be much out there. However, I did find this outfit (no experience or association with them): repair-service-smartwatches-garmin — Joe's Gaming & Electronics (joesge.com)
If they could get save your 'dead' watch from the trash bin/get another couple years of service for a nominal cost, might be worth it. Or perhaps the watch has some sentimental value for your adventures you want to keep.
I get it - it probably takes more than a little bit to cleanly and properly repair electronics, which have a relatively short lifespan before becoming obsolete, but if manufacturers can refurbish, why can't they repair (other than the obvious economic benefit to them and its usually just quicker to replace than fix an electronic 'lemon' in today's day & age)?
I do believe Garmin makes quality products, but it seems less than ideal that after you drop a not insignificant amount of money, your support seems somewhat limited/short-term.
What say you?
$.02 worth,
- M
In most cases price of repair almost equal to price of the model you repair. There is about 0 point in doing so.350+ views and only one reply.
While I didn't spent too much time searching, there certainly doesn't appear to be much out there. However, I did find this outfit (no experience or association with them): repair-service-smartwatches-garmin — Joe's Gaming & Electronics (joesge.com)
If they could get save your 'dead' watch from the trash bin/get another couple years of service for a nominal cost, might be worth it. Or perhaps the watch has some sentimental value for your adventures you want to keep.
I get it - it probably takes more than a little bit to cleanly and properly repair electronics, which have a relatively short lifespan before becoming obsolete, but if manufacturers can refurbish, why can't they repair (other than the obvious economic benefit to them and its usually just quicker to replace than fix an electronic 'lemon' in today's day & age)?
I do believe Garmin makes quality products, but it seems less than ideal that after you drop a not insignificant amount of money, your support seems somewhat limited/short-term.
What say you?
$.02 worth,
- M
Like at some point i dropped my Samsung S10 which i got refurbished for 400$. It was like new and served me only 5 months. Crack in the screen... was worth about 340$ to repair. By that time price of S10 was about same. Same story was about 2 year old Samsung smartwatch. I am totally against increasing garbage piles, but on other hand if you do repairs it sometimes a chance thing. It may not work. Devices were not built for repairs. It getting better now with some been designed to be repaired but for quite a time most of them been built as single use things. Same goes for quartz and mechanical movements until it reaches certain monetary value they are disposable.
In some cases there are 3d party DIY kits and may be you can find some for your Garmin and try it.
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regarding refurbishment, I've never believed that it actually existed in the electronics world. Whenever I bought something that was listed as a refurb (one DSLR camera and one or two printers) the item I received was a brand new product AFAICT, but in a plain cardboard box rather than the original mfr packaging. I think refurb is just a term they throw on excess stock of discontinued models to sell them at less than MSRP without offending people who bought the same product at MSRP earlier.
I've had a few discussions on the topic over the years and others have come to the same conclusion.
There are several problems with doing any repairs on electronics. The first is that many electronic modules are simply not repairable, there's no way to do it properly. The second is when electronic devices are packaged into a finished product, custom equipment is usually involved, that is probably unique to the assembly line for a given product. Its not something that is going to be available at a reasonable price to the company or third-parties to use for repairs. The third is the skill level and time required to carry out repairs, if they are possible, makes the financial equation not worth it to the consumer, or the company. It is cost prohibitive to the company to setup the infrastructure to repair many different models that don't share a lot of common parts, and I think that's what you're seeing with Garmin. I agree with you that many of their products are priced well beyond what someone would consider a throw-away item, and I'm not happy with the answer I was given regarding my Fenix 6, but there's nothing I can do about it now.
I'd contact Garmin to see what your options are on your device and go from there.
When I clicked on power/battery on the Joe's link you provided, it quoted an initial estimate of $300 for my Fenix 6, which seems like a lot for a battery change.
But that what they going to charge. they come from assumption if new was 1000$ you will be happy to fork 1/3 or 1/2 of the price to keep it going. Price of the parts and work involved probably has nothing to do with it.
Also what about WR? Do they perform WR testing after or you on your own?
100m WR smartwatch is not exactly phone or tablet.
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I bought a water tester over the summer and my Garmin was one of the first I experimented on. The Forerunner 35, at 3 years old, started blowing bubbles out one of the pushers or edge of crystal. I immediately yanked it out of water to prevent water intrusion. Now it's used for dry land only. Not worth cost of service vs what I paid for it.
That something else. Battery is actually cheap and fast to replace. I don't think part itself retail would cost more than 20-30 USD. Rubber in buttons is something else but it also should be doable if you have tools and parts. Rubber rings if bought in bulk are few cents a part. That said in many cases smartwatches made with glue and with time it can degrade. I had same experience with Samsung. It also doable but bit more costly and requires water resistant glue for a crystal/HR module cover.
Whole watch costs between 60-140$ to make depending on materials. More exotic titanium DLC will cost more especially if bracelet included but all parts are dirt cheap. That said they are more expensive or equal to many mechanical watches. That's why it really make no sense for manufacturer to fix it.
Same with many entry level mechanical watches. ETA powermatic 80 is excellent movement but it machine made and at the end of the line there are 10s of them every minute. If you count all lines in the factory it can be 1000s. Probably at some 50$ per piece or less to make. There are 0 magic there it cheaper to toss it aside and pick one from the bin instead of heaving some highly skilled professional spend hours on full process of figuring out what is wrong and how to fix it, fixing it, testing it.... By the time it done line already produces 1000s of watches. Even Rolex makes more than 400 watches per hour. I think in many cases prices so high to discourage people to use service. Polite way to say we don't want it here. Go buy new.
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regarding your comment about being happy to pay 1/3 to 1/2 of the purchase price to keep it running, feedback I read on the Garmin site suggests people are not happy at all. Mechanical watch owners factor service costs into the cost of ownership, but the smartwatch crowd doesn't seem to feel the same way.
regarding the WR comment, Garmin doesn't perform any service, period, so WR testing wouldn't apply to them. For Joe's service, its not clear if that's part of the service.
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In another related thread, someone commented that as soon as a Garmin is made and sold, it becomes, essentially, electronic waste. I believe he spoke to the disposability aspect of Garmin and related products and I can't say I see much evidence to the contrary.
It not exactly waste and not as soon. You have warranty period when they will repair or replace it. And it no more than any other electronic device with high integration. I am sure Casio is not repairing their affordable to mid watches and not like they repair modules. Just swap and toss away. Battery is actually replaceable and if OP did his homework instead of asking Garmin there are plenty of DIY instructions. It really easy. I brought this point in Casio smartwatch thread. There is economical threshold with smartwatches. At it and below when 3-4 years after purchase it more tempting to get new model instead of bothering with anything. Above it like G-Shock you spent your money on some experience. I don't do it but i am not here to tell people not to do it if they have money.
They been replacing for free (warranty) or selling it at less than 180$ so it cheaper than 1/3 or 1/2. It also cheaper than repairs quote.
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You're over-reading my post and responding to points I was not making.
I brought that up as much for a general comment on the state of consumer electronics design vis-á-vis lifecycle considerations. So, think philosophical musing rather than analysis of a specific, concrete example. It's easy to tell the difference when I write one versus the other.
And not everyone wants to DIY, for valid reasons of their own which vary from one device type to another. I would never want to open up my iPhone but I'm comfortable disassembling and doing basic work on my Casio and G-Shocks. Casio and G-Shock are qualitatively different from "smart" devices. They aren't dependent on another device or current OS/drivers to function properly or at all. This is why I have cases of 20-25-year old Casio, G-Shock, Pathfinders, etc. that work brilliantly. The point at which they become electronic waste is when they stop working at all, not when their proper operation is prevented by software or an extra-device dependency.
Surprisingly digital watches are not different from smart devices they just prior to them in timeline.
They have all components you will find in smart watch: processor, memory, some have storage, display, battery, firmware serving as OS. It all there. Thing is it 30 years prior to tech you will find in smartwatch. Which is tectonic.
Also, ironically, Casio support of BT watches was even more short lived than smart watches. Casio disposed their first BT attempts very fast. They do work as watches. I still have one.
Smartwatches do work as standalone too and probably will work 20 years into future or more if their battery will be still good and storage will continue to hold, but that not in design as you mentioned. There is no point in doing so now, because of constant progress from one side and yes manufacturers need to constantly sell new products. Problem Casio faced long time ago and we all know how it turned out. If you look at videos of Garmin (Apple watch and Samsung and some others are different) they as easy to work on as digital watch. I used to take apart Suunto GPS watch to replace cell for a friend and it just 4 screws and few connectors. Sure if you want it to be 42X10mm thick that not going to be the case.
Also, considering how many watches in bulk find themselves in drawers after battery or proprietary strap fail, it not that different from smartwatches. Sure potential to last is there and it much higher for regular watches. There is no point in arguing here. It's true.
But if you want to keep your Garming running few more years and you not tempted by getting much faster and better one. It all possible.
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Here's a quick and dirty of my first Garmin watch:
![Watch Clock Gadget Font Rectangle]()
And another quick and dirty of my first "modern" generation Garmin fenix watch:
![Watch Clock Rectangle Material property Watch accessory]()
Both still work flawlessly within the limits of the available features and technology.
The Forerunner 205 was not a daily worn watch because it was a tool used only when I needed it - no smartwatch features back then; but it was my first wrist-worn GPS device and opened up a new world of activity tracking for me. This was followed by a Forerunner 310XT and a Forerunner 910XT.
The fenix, on the other hand, was worn daily from September 2012 until I found a newer Garmin watch that either met my needs better or offered the promise of something I had no previous experience with. A Garmin watch of one variant or another has been on my wrist almost every day since.
First the fenix, then a tactix, followed by a fenix 2, fenix 2 Special Edition, tactix Bravo, fenix 3, Instinct, Instinct Solar, fenix 6x Pro, Instinct 2 Solar Tactical, epix Gen 2, tactix 7 and most recently an Instinct Crossover.
All still work flawlessly within the limits of available features and technology and have never required service or a battery replacement. Given my track record with these watches over the past 15 years or so (and still counting), concern over the availability of service some years in the future is the last thing on my mind when considering my next purchase.
I can't wait to see what Garmin come up with next!
HTH
And another quick and dirty of my first "modern" generation Garmin fenix watch:
Both still work flawlessly within the limits of the available features and technology.
The Forerunner 205 was not a daily worn watch because it was a tool used only when I needed it - no smartwatch features back then; but it was my first wrist-worn GPS device and opened up a new world of activity tracking for me. This was followed by a Forerunner 310XT and a Forerunner 910XT.
The fenix, on the other hand, was worn daily from September 2012 until I found a newer Garmin watch that either met my needs better or offered the promise of something I had no previous experience with. A Garmin watch of one variant or another has been on my wrist almost every day since.
First the fenix, then a tactix, followed by a fenix 2, fenix 2 Special Edition, tactix Bravo, fenix 3, Instinct, Instinct Solar, fenix 6x Pro, Instinct 2 Solar Tactical, epix Gen 2, tactix 7 and most recently an Instinct Crossover.
All still work flawlessly within the limits of available features and technology and have never required service or a battery replacement. Given my track record with these watches over the past 15 years or so (and still counting), concern over the availability of service some years in the future is the last thing on my mind when considering my next purchase.
I can't wait to see what Garmin come up with next!
HTH
I had Forerunner 110 which was still working in 2022 but strap finally cracked. Can't complain about it it was nice watch. Got it gently used and to my surprise gently was including logs of 60km + runs.
I did seen failed cell on Suunto Ambit 2 and it was very easy to replace. Again used device and not mine, but key to battery failure i think was habit of the owner to run it into ground during occasional 24h endurance races. To have faulty battery or have stupid firmware bug draining it is not unheard of and Garmin not immune to that. I had few times with Samsung when battery suddenly died way faster than i excepted. Restart/recharge usually solved it. From what i seen along long distance runners, Garmin is a nice and useful tool and very much robust. I love to get one, but ... It tid bit overpriced for my tastes especially after they hiked prices in Canada for new models by some 30%. Instinct used to be 299$ and Instinct 2 is 449$ now.
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