Garmin Fenix 8: Garmin confirms display and battery bug, promises fix

Over the past four weeks, dozens of Garmin Fenix 8 ($729 on Amazon) users have reported on the Garmin Community Forum that the smartwatch has been suffering from an annoying bug since the firmware update to version 23.31. If the always-on display is enabled and the gesture to activate the display is disabled, the screen brightness can get stuck at the highest setting after the smartwatch has been exposed to direct sunlight.

This happens even when the watch is worn in a dark room – the ambient light sensor simply stops responding. The problem can be temporarily resolved by touching the touchscreen or pressing a button. However, if the user fails to notice for an extended period that the brightness is set too high, this can have a significant impact on battery life – an annoyance, since the Garmin Fenix 8 only manages around a week of battery life with the always-on display enabled anyway, or just four days for the smaller 43-millimeter version.

Garmin is now finally promising a fix. 28 days after the first report of this issue, a moderator on the Garmin Community Forum confirms that the smartwatch manufacturer's engineers have identified the problem and are already working on a solution. This fix is expected to be released as part of the next firmware update. However, the rollout schedule for this update has not yet been finalized. Until then, Garmin advises users to make sure they touch the touchscreen after the smartwatch has been exposed to sunlight.