Buy Garmin Opiniões 286

I know the GPS business went out for them with the emergence of the smartphone, but their watches are too dumb to be considered smart watches. Everything about this watch is limited, half****d, and unreliable.

I've read that the reason the Garmin app store is so extremely limited and practically useless is because they don't want to relinquish control to actual real app developers because they want to micromanage everything to try to maintain a longer battery life on their products. But this thing still doesn't get a great battery life anyway for the cost of not having any useful apps on it and an absurdly ridiculous proprietary cable I have to remember to bring everywhere.

I'd much rather have the freedom of USBC and having all of the necessary apps I need and use to use on my smartwatches. This watch is simply a dumb watch, but it doesn't even make up for that fact with anything else. Not even the workouts which Garmin claims this watch is geared towards are accurate. It never picks up my activities like it advertises and putting them in after the fact is just too much of a hassle. My simple Google health app on my phone picks up my activities on its own that this thing constantly misses and I'm constantly trying to manually input that data clunkily into the watch because there's no syncing it with Google health or anything useful, because again, Garmin wants to micromanage everything that goes into this useless little watch.

I'm extremely upset because I have it set to automatically log activities, including walking after 10 minutes, and I just got back from a intense power walk around the mountain that was several hours long, had an almost impossible time trying to locate where records of things like that are even stored because the user interface is so counterintuitive and unuseful, and then after I hunted and pecked through several convoluted menus on the phone app, found previous walks: but nothing within the last 3 days when I was working out the most!

I just checked Google health, everything is stored there accurately like advertised but there's no way I can sync that correct activity information to the watch or to Garmin's app in their strange twisted little ecosystem.

This thing was thrown together by somebody who did not know what they were doing. The whole attempt at an interface, all the coding, all the hardware, this is all so extremely sloppy and unworkable that I cannot believe these things have sold at all.

I really don't understand what all the hype is, whatever Garmin's next game is going to be after GPSs, this isn't it. From the moment it came out of the box, it's just been disappointment after disappointment as the handful of apps they offer are buggy and don't work and the hardware is definitely not what they boast. Just one example, from all the other few apps available that I downloaded that didn't work: Garmin makes its own proprietary to do list app. I need my to do list on my wrist to tick off tasks as I work. I use ticktick for this but since Garmin's strange task viewer app is literally the only option in their tiny app store, it's all I could try to use. It's limited and absolutely useless as it *does* actually offer syncing with Google tasks, but as soon as you open the app it errors out and locks you out of the device with the error " IQ! "

Every app I've tried just to download from their store just didn't work.

I've used a lot of tech over the years and worked for Apple for many as well and this thing honestly feels like some kid threw it together in their garage and is trying to maintain a '90s forum like app store out of their mother's basement with a sketchy payment system that often requires you to go to random basement developers' 3rd party websites with your credit card information to try to arrange for payments and unlocking keys for full versions of things.

I could not *not* recommend this product enough. If you're going to spend $300 on something, just buy smartwatch not this stupidwatch.

Did You ever question Yourself why Garmin -contrary to other professional companies - doesn't have any option to review their products on its official website? I might have an idea: it is simply contra-productive to offer a watch on a page where at the same time the potential customer finds 1 - star reviews. I use to have a Garmin Tactix Delta and as soon as the Amoled version came out, I was very excited. But then, the surprises: frequent software bugs and after I contacted in a very polite manner the customer service, I received a very unpolite answer, such as: 'The watch is a great watch, and if i am not willing to cancel completely my data, to erase the watch and to format my computer, it is not thier reasponsability if the watch doesn't work. After 14 months the back button just broke. Now, I am very meticolous about the care of my accessoirs, and the watch had never been abused. So i discovered on the net that from the Fenix 7 series on Garmin uses cheaper buttons and that they tend to break. Unfortunately, after i sent the watch in, instead of admitting this choice, they just replaced my watch (still on warranty) with a refurbished one and a new rubber band. In other words: they wanted to corrupt me...and i was not smart enough to refuse the deal. On the other hand, Garmin would had never refund me. And once again, after Update 25.11, the watch is a mess and for almost 4 months Garmin hasn't fixed the issues. Nothing really works, and I'm really tired to solve problems i did not create. Especially not when a Premium watch costs 1.400 Euro (1.500 US dollars). And I haven't mentioned yet Garmins' Mafia-attitude in the nautical world of Navionics: not only the chart plotters are very expensive, but also, once I don't pay any longer the subscription, not only the future maps are no longer available, but also the maps I already paid for in the past years are all gone and all waht remains is a grey, useless screen in the middle of the ocean. That is Garmin today, ladies and gentlemen. A mafia structured company that gets paid monthly for each already expensive premium product, without willing to solve paying customers' problems. At this point, I'll sell my Garmin Watch and the chart plotter and get back to my automatic IWC watch, listen mo my body, and get open source maps with paper charts, pencil, ruler, and my sextant while navigating the oceans.

I purchased a Vivoactive 5 Garmin Watch in January. All was fine until it did its first update about 1 month later. After update, the phone wouldn't keep its charge more than 12 hours. The store changed it for a replacement. The replacement would not pair so back to the store, who changed it again. I had the third watch 3 weeks and then it updated and again, wouldn't hold its charge. The shop then swapped it for a 4th watch. The shop told me to not do the updates. When I paired and set up the 4th watch, it auto did update, now 24 hours after having my 4th watch, I am now on 12%. Going back to shop after work. I will not be getting a Garmin watch again because it seems like everytime you do an update, the watch breaks. (its now beginning of April and since January I have gone through 4 replacements)

I purchased a Garmin epix Gen 2 in January 2022 for close to €1,000. After approximately four years of normal daily use — no drops, no physical damage, used as intended — the OLED display developed severe and permanent burn-in: dark patches, ghosting of interface elements, and persistent image retention that makes essential information (time, health metrics, navigation menus) difficult to read under normal conditions.
I contacted Garmin Iberia's after-sales service and was told the device is out of its legal warranty period. Their solution: pay €353.06 upfront as a blanket authorisation for either repair or replacement — with no prior diagnosis, no itemised quote, no right to approve the specific outcome before payment, and no guarantee that the unit would not simply be swapped for a refurbished device.
I formally escalated the complaint through CICAP, the Portuguese Consumer Arbitration Tribunal. Throughout the mediation process, Garmin's position was consistent: the device is out of warranty, the defect is not proven to be of manufacturing origin, and €353.06 is the applicable fee. At no point did the company offer a goodwill gesture, a partial contribution, or any acknowledgment that a premium device failing in this way within four years falls short of reasonable consumer expectations.
A few things worth knowing before purchasing:
First, OLED/AMOLED burn-in is a well-documented issue across the epix Gen 2 and Fenix 7 lines. A search of Garmin's own community forums returns numerous reports of identical symptoms on devices of similar age. Garmin's internal response to the mediation stated that their quality data does not support a manufacturing defect — but this assessment is made remotely, without physical inspection, and based on a photograph.
Second, Garmin's argument that a defect occurring after four years cannot be of manufacturing origin is technically and logically flawed. OLED burn-in by definition develops progressively from latent material weaknesses present at the time of manufacture. The timing of visible manifestation does not determine the origin of the defect.
Third, the repair model Garmin offers outside the warranty period effectively means that maintaining basic screen functionality on a premium device costs €353 every few years. For a product sold at this price point with this positioning, that is not an acceptable support structure.
I am not writing this out of frustration. I am writing it because the information I was missing when I bought this watch — about the OLED degradation risk, about Garmin's out-of-warranty repair costs, and about the company's approach to premium product longevity — would have been directly relevant to my purchasing decision. It may be relevant to yours.
Device: Garmin epix Gen 2
Purchased: January 2022 | Issue reported: February 2026
Repair quote: €353.06 | Outcome: unresolved

Watch strap broke and fell in the water,
Watch only 6 months old
Spoke to Garmin , not interested saying as Watch is lost cant send it back under warranty.
£189 up the swanny.
Offered me 15%discount on a new Watch, terrible customer service.
Do not buy .
I will never buy a garmin product ever again

I’m extremely disappointed with my recent experience with Garmin.
I purchased a brand-new Garmin Epix Pro Gen 2, and during setup I encountered persistent issues. After spending a significant amount of time troubleshooting with Garmin support, the device was confirmed to be faulty.
I returned it and received a replacement — only for the second unit to have similar issues, which Garmin again confirmed as faulty.
Across the week, I spent hours troubleshooting, contacting support, and trying to get a working device. This is not what you expect from a premium brand.
What made matters worse was the resolution offered. I was only offered refurbished replacements, despite both devices being brand new and faulty straight out of the box. This is simply not acceptable.
I ultimately returned the product for a refund and have now lost confidence in both the product and the overall experience.
Garmin has a strong reputation, which is why I chose them, but this experience fell well below expectations.

Took months to agree they had a faulty watch, they couldn’t fix or repair it and refused to replace it with anything other than a refurbed item when the original was purchased new and only 3 months old at the time.

Customer service response to this isn’t like for like, we do not negotiate and a very eloquent few paragraphs which equated to. We don’t give a damn we manufacture faulty items which cost hundreds of pounds, take our crap replacement or get lost.

User experience is complicated and unintuitive. The YouTube tutorial was incomprehensible - am returning the product and going back to my previous device.

Display problem on vivosmart 5, 2.5 years old, support offered refurbished replacement for £88!!

Wish I had read reviews about Garmin before I bought Forerunner 55 watch. It does seem more complicated to use than it needs to be. I've spent ages trying to synch it to my phone as I inadvertently let the battery run down and after charging it came up with wrong time. Absolutely nothing will make it synch - have tried all the sugggestions on trouble shooting and now giving up. Won't be buying another

When I attempted to update my Satnav maps I realised that I had been sold the wrong cable five years ago. Thomas at Garmin was very helpful and arranged for me to receive the correct cable free of charge.

I received a £130 smart scale as a gift. I tried to set it up and it wouldn't recognise me as a user. After much contact we support they said they would do an exchange. I happened to note the exchange was for a refurbished model. I went back to them and said that wasn't acceptable. They then said they would exchange for new as a gesture of goodwill given the product was so new. So basically they sold us a faulty product and wanted to palm us off with a £78 replacement. This amounts to theft IMO.

I bought this December your Garmin Vivosmart 5 for my son for his Christmas present. He has been using it since and been very happy with it with its function on his sport activities.
Unfortunately doing surf, that he does 4/5 times a week, looking at the smartwatch he realised it was not there anymore, it just popped out from the wristband. The wristband still there but no watch!,How is it possible? I find it quite unreasonable that a sport watch is not secured to the wristband.

My experience with Garmin has been nothing but frustration. Their products are overly complicated, unreliable, and fail at basic functionality. Connecting a simple device should not require endless troubleshooting, yet it repeatedly does.

For a company that positions itself as premium, the quality and usability are shockingly poor. If a product cannot perform its most basic functions properly, it simply isn’t fit for purpose. I would not recommend Garmin based on my experience.

Sadly a poor experience. They flagged(?) my login details as suspect? So I couldn't buy from them anymore it seems. Im putting question marks in as even with a different card/wife logged in it glitches. Im guessing its a commonality like the delivery address.

Ive had a Instinct 1 & 2 Tactical along with a Oled smartwatch. No issues.

Their response sadly is 'ok go elsewhere'.

Bought a Garmin Vevo active 6. They use UPS to deliver 14 days later UPS still have the Garmin! They say they have tried to deliver it every day but there is no sign of them on my motion activated CCTV. Garmin say it’s a UPS problem!

Waste of time limited 1 year warranty on £700 pound watch that developed a hardware issue and end result is to palm me off with a refurb and subsequent reviews of those don’t look good
The main cons of refurbished products include potential cosmetic flaws, shorter lifespans, missing original accessories, limited availability of specific models, and potentially shorter warranties,

Useless customer service. Watch still hadn’t been dispatched after 3 days, contacted customer service chat who said it’s not in stock and it might be next week. No email to notify me. I asked what happens if it doesn’t come in next week, they said I need to contact them again asking about delivery. Guy I spoke to was unhelpful and just said I can cancel the order?

A longtime Garmin watch user, I encountered the blue triangle problem shortly after the warranty ended. All they offered was £50 off a new model. Not the standout service I expected.