Buy Garmin Reviews 

I bought the Garmin dezi lgv 720 and it is crap. For a trucking sat nav that can't find addresses it's a joke. I used it for I day and it was useless. I would definitely not recommend this to anybody.

sent me to collections after I unsubscribed on my phone. Not one single attempt on garmins side to contact me about said problem. Not one call, email or via mail. Just straight too collections. It’s almost feels fraudulent and scammy to not contact someone about their bill and just send them straight too collections. I will be going with a different brand for hunting this year, one my friends have had zero issue with. Sucks it’s a good product but I cannot stand behind customer service like that. Unacceptable that they would damage my credit score over 40$ with ZERO attempts to contact me about the situation. Will be making social media posts about the situation too because like I said that is unacceptable

Garmin never in my life after two uses the battery lasts 6 minutes they do not accept returns and they make the excuse that after the tests everything is fine and it is not

I have had to repeatedly replace my Garmin vivosmarts. I rang customer service. The phone dropped out 4 times. They never call back and I have had to repeat the story over and over I have wasted so many hours trying to resolve this. It’s irritating. I suppose my dragging out the email responses that just hope you buy a new one which I’m not going to do after this experience. I have been a loyal customer for over 10 years but that is neither here nor their to their call centre who just read responses off a sheet

Excellence in customer service....bought a second hand motorbike satnav with a few tiny screws missing, got in touch with Garmin, 20 mins later, they'd identified the correct screws and I received them next day in the post....free of charge....I always buy Garmin...great products, great service, customer loyalty, thank you Garmin

DONT BUY A GARMIN ETREX32 if you like to walk slowly. Mine works ok if I walk quickly (say 3mph) but when I walk slowly and stop to take photographs, as I like to do, it comes up with ridiculous figures (12 miles for a 4 mile walk, average walking speed 30mph!!!). I reported this to Garmin. They sent me a replacement but that was exactly the same, so there is clearly a flaw on this model I was disappointed that Garmin wouldn't refund me. Admittedly I requested this outside the 30 day period, but I thought they could have been more flexible given that their product is so poor.

I own a garmin 935 Watch I've had for several years. I love it but the strap eventually split due to wear and tear. After reading several reviews of unbranded straps I opted for a genuine garmin watch strap. Its fantastic and well worth the cost. It arrived with new pins and the tools to remove them. Fantastic thanks.

Watches are total crap - bought epix and disconnects continually when taking off to charge and phone is not within range - total waste of money and is a total pain to reconnect - have to do it every time feel like putting this heap off technology stone age crap in the bin - don't bother buying it unless you want to spend time after time trying to connect this piece of shi+

If you're going to spend $300, just buy a legit smartwatch not this really poorly thrown together stupidwatch. Everything about this watch is limited and unreliable.

I've read that the Garmin app store is so extremely limited is because they don't want to relinquish control to actual 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 for the cost of not having any useful apps on it and a ridiculously short proprietary cable I have to remember to bring everywhere. I had to get rid of one of my market standard USBC cables on my nightstand used for various USBC electronics just to make room for this proprietary cable that's only good for one device. It is so short, it can't reach from the AC adapter behind my nightstand to my nightstand so I actually have to use an extension cord with the outlet housing ON THE NIGHTSTAND so it reaches which looks ridiculously tacky.

Not even the workouts which Garmin claims this watch is geared towards are accurate. It never picks up my activities like it advertises. My Google health app on my phone picks up my activities on its own that this thing constantly misses and 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 have it set to automatically log activities. I just got back from an intense power walk around the mountain that was several hours long. I had an almost impossible time trying to locate where records of things like that are even stored because the user interface is so counterintuitive. After several convoluted menus on the phone app, I found previous walks: but nothing within the last 3 days when I was working out the most!

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

Don't trust it for tracking your sleep either! It's 3:22AM right now and I've been up, literally sitting up, on caffeine after a busy day. My wrist just buzzed with, “Good morning!” and my "morning" report. I just found out I slept for 1 hr 38 mins while I worked! Deep, continuous sleep with my eyes wide open and awake typing. Good to know not even the sleep stats are real. They're just making guesses to make you feel like you paid $300+ for something useful.

You can't turn their sleep mode off which turns the "always on" display off meaning you can't just glance at your wrist if you wake up at 4AM to see what time it is. You have to jostle around and wake your partner tapping at your wrist for those hours. I found a workaround so it's scheduled from 4:00-4:01AM every night so if I can't see what time it is on my own watch, at least I know it's 4AM.

This thing really seems like it was thrown together by somebody who really did not know what they were doing or what it's like living with and relying on a watch. The whole convoluted attempt at an interface, all the counterintuitive coding, all the unreliable hardware: this is all so extremely sloppy and unworkable that I cannot believe these things have sold at all.

One example, from the few nonworking apps available that I downloaded: 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 Garmin's strange task syncing app is literally the only option in their tiny app store. It *does* actually advertise syncing with Google tasks, which I don't use, but as soon as you open the app it errors out and locks you out of the device with the error " IQ! "

Another maddening bug with this poorly designed watch is it wakes me up at random times if I wear it to bed!

Do not disturb is on my phone with no apps set to circumvent it. A notification will buzz on my wrist to a reoccurring event that isn't until TOMORROW EVENING AT 5PM when its only notification is set for the time of the event tomorrow. I've used this exact setting for years and this never happened before the watch.

I've used a lot of tech over the years and regretfully 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 systems that often require 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.

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.