Reviews

Review Details

• Review fromDakota W

  Date: 02/08/2025

  I have owned a Garmin Instinct Solar (1st gen) for approximately 3 to 4 years now. Just over 6 months ago, I began having issues with my watch, which would randomly shut off during runs, even when the battery showed upwards of 15 days left of charge. At that time, I completely reset the watch and ensured all software was up to date (which it was). When yhe problem persisted, I reached out to Garmin support, and the only resolution was to send in my watch and pay upwards of $100 for a refurbished model (which according to several reddit pages, lasts only half the life of the original instinct). Considering the second edition was only a hundred dollars or so more, this seemed to be a ludicrous deal that I refused. Fast forward about month or two from the support request, and my watch is completely unusable for activities. Every time I try to start one, the device instantly shuts down. The last several days, the device will randomly shut off without even attempting an activity, even when the battery is fully charged. After scouring reddit once more (since Garmins only solution was to send more money for a refurbished outdated model with known issues), I found a thread that recommended turning off the pulse ox sensor and the vibrations for alerts. Since doing so, the issues have disappeared, but I have lost functionality. Ultimately I write this review to say that I was very disappointed with the product and support from Garmin. The battery on the device still lasts nearly as long as it did day one, which leads me to believe that the software/hardware was faulty to begin with. It appears this issue is isolated to the original instinct, and being that it is a known issue, it would be nice for the company to address the issue rather than request more money for another faulty device.

• Review fromAndrew A

  Date: 07/20/2024

  Sells products with artificial software limitations leaving some devices sold being borderline unusable.

• Review fromMary F

  Date: 07/08/2024

  Watch band broke. When I contacted them the agent automatically apologized if there were late responses. After 7 minutes I asked if I was still connected. Told yes. Then another 6 minutes I was told it would be $79 to replace the band. Never had this issue with Garmin after 4 watches. Won’t deal with them again

• Review fromJustin G

  Date: 04/24/2024

  I purchased the Garmin Force Trolling Motor. The motor has a defect from allowing the motor to update software. The motor quit responding on the lake while fishing. I called Garmin Support and after 5 days of back and forth, I was told that they could swap the unit, but the installation labor would not be covered due to the motor was not installed by a certified installer in which there is only 1 in the State of Georgia. I was told that I would have to pay the person to install the motor, install myself or I would have to call and schedule the repairs and pull the boat over two hours to that location. After several hours on the phone during several days, I was told that BassPro could do the install even though there was no certified installers but they would not pay the entire installation price that BassPro stated only what Garmin pays which is 1 hour. I was told that I could find someone to replace but I would have to wait 4 - 6 weeks for payment of the person after the motor was installed. This is ridiculous. This is a horrible way to do business. I was told by a representative that the new motor was shipped out, then received a cancellation email on the order. I called back and since I requested a refund for my Garmin Trolling Motor, they cancelled the order. For the refund, I will have to take the motor off, pay the shipping back to Garmin, and then wait 6 - 8 weeks for the check to come back to me. This means I have no option but to settle with the lousy customer service that is given. I have 2 graphs, livescope, and the trolling motor in total over 8000.00 dollars worth of Garmin devices and this is the service you get. I was told the upper management could not take phone calls to discuss issues like this with Garmin, so that tells me that the issues are swept under the rug and not forwarded to upper management for handling. Also, after talking with serveral different reps with Garmin, I was told different policies and handling procedures. Horrible company

• Review fromDave M

  Date: 11/13/2023

  Garmin withholding support in order to sell replacements. The auto navigator (Nuvi 65LMT) is a perfectly good operating system except for after an update, it started a popup that the power cable is not compatible for receiving traffic conditions. The popup usually appears when approaching a busy intersection, several times in a row. I have to reach over repeatably and cancel the popup to see the navigational map. This is a SERIOUS DISTRACTION AND SAFETY ISSUE while driving. I contacted the company about a simple setting or software fix and they say I have to buy a new unit to fix it, and I'm retired and on a fixed income. They claim unit is "to old and out of date". It may be but still works well and I won't throw it in a landfill. I don't know if the power cable is still available and wouldn't order one anyway. If I would break down and buy a new model, how long before the same thing happens with that. Email support can't be found on their wesite and I used an old support address from an old email from several years back and got an answer.

• Review fromCourt R

  Date: 06/06/2023

  disgusted to see this company supports sexual exploitation of minor children by sponsoring a gay pride drag queen show directed at minor children. DISGUSTING!!! You should be ashamed of yourselves!!

• Review fromMichael T

  Date: 03/14/2023

  I purchased Garmin 106sv graph from Garmin. Afterwards I tried to apply my discount code for registering my 106sv and it accepted it but did not apply a discount. The discount was supposed to be 10% off of accessories, when I contacted Garmin they said they do not consider the GSL10 black box an accessory. I explained to them that the black box can not do anything unless it is plugged into a graph as an accessory and that the should refund me the $50.00 they promised. They have failed to reply.

• Review fromDr R

  Date: 02/18/2023

  Purchased 2 Kenwood navigation radios with Garmin software, ($1,000 each), for my car and truck in late 2018 that were Garmin map updatable. This year, early 2023 and less than 5 years, Garmin wipes my model from buying map updates which make navigation useless now. Garmin support was extremely hard to get answers from and had a don't care attitude. ******* told me Garmin controls and decides which maps are released and where. Last maps I purchased was 2020 and roads change like crazy where I live. I will never ever purchase anything that has Garmin or Kenwood name on it again and advise buyers to be aware of this. Would rate ZERO STARS if I could.

• Review fromJames B

  Date: 12/12/2022

  The worst customer service. Whether you are on the phone with them or chatting online they are rude, flippant and condescending. They dont listen to your complaint or issue. They treat you like a child. And they are extremely expensive, which would be fine if you got good customer service. Go with another company.

• Review fromCharles C

  Date: 07/23/2022

  I tried to get an update from Garmins and I was lead into downloading Ultra View and then into a series of analyses of my computer showing how many bad/corrupt files I had. At this point I hung up. This also happened ten year earlier before I knew better and I purchased and downloaded the program they/Garmins recommended to clean my computer. This program corrupted my operating system and I had to pay a professional programmer to get my computer running again.