Garmin Forerunner 265S Charging Problem

Introduction

I wear Garmin Forerunner 265S when I run or have outdoor activities. It has been a great sports watch for me. However, I have also been encountering a disappointing charging problem with it.

In this blog post, I would like to share my experience of the charging problem of Garmin Forerunner 265S.

The Charging Problem

I often charge the watch with the original USB-C charging cable on my desktop computer. Not too long after I purchased the watch, I found that the watch sometimes was not charging or sometimes disconnected even if the watch was physically connected to the computer.

The Trivial Solutions

Initially, I could solve the problem by unplugging the charging cable from the watch and plugging it back in, or by reversing the charging head that connects to the watch. However, the problem became more and more frequent and the previously mentioned methods became less effective.

The Root Cause and The More Effective Solution

One of the root causes of the problem might be that the charging head that connects to the watch is not clean. Because we often wear the watch when we run or have outdoor activities, the charging head is easily contaminated by sweat, dust, or other particles.

I have never cleaned my watch. Those particles, even though not quite visible, accumulated on the charging head and blocked the charging connection.

So this time, I decided to clean the charging heads on both the watch and the charging cable with ZEISS Lens Wipes. After cleaning, the charging problem was occasionally solved.

The charging head on the charging cable might be a little bit difficult to clean, we might also use 99.9% isopropyl alcohol spray to clean it. Make sure ventilation is good when using isopropyl alcohol spray because it is toxic and flammable.

Sometimes this solution will not completely fix the problem. Sometimes when you plugin the charging cable, the watch starts to charge. But then when you touched the watch, the charging stopped and continued back and forth many times. I observed that there is a design flaw in the charging connection between the watch and the charging cable that the charging connection can never be stable. One can easily loose the connection by just accidentally touching the watch. If this happens, I would suggest just place the watch on the table with the watch face down, firmly press the watch and the charging cable together, and finally connect the USB-C head of the charging cable to the computer. This way, the watch will charge without interruption.

Conclusions

It seems that Garmin has been using this flawed design for almost all of their watches, including the high-end ones. They should have implemented a more stable charging connection design or embraced the wireless charging technology.

The only reason I chose to buy and use Garmin Forerunner 265S was that it was the lightest watch for runners and when I was a beginner runner I cared about it very much. If Garmin does not fix this problem for their future products, I will buy sports watches from other brands. What’s the point of spending hundreds or even thousands of dollars on a watch that constantly has charging problems?

References

• Glasses Cleaning