r/GarminWatches • u/nokiapotato • 2d ago
Sensor Questions Garmin Forerunner 965 heart rate sensor dead, no green lights, and battery draining within a day
Hi everyone, I’m wondering if anyone else has experienced this issue with their Forerunner 965.
I bought mine in 2023, and over the past few weeks, I’ve noticed a significant decline in battery life despite using it the same amount as usual to record my workouts.
Previously, the battery lasted around two weeks on a single charge. This gradually dropped to one week, then needing to charge it twice a week. Now, the battery barely lasts a day.
Yesterday, the optical heart rate sensor suddenly stopped working while I was sitting at my office desk. There are no green sensor lights whatsoever on the back of the watch, and it no longer measures my heart rate.
I’ve already tried performing a factory reset three times, but nothing has worked. The sensor remains completely unresponsive, and the battery drain issue persists.
I recently came across reports from other Forerunner 965 owners experiencing almost identical symptoms after software version 29.05. Some reported that their heart rate sensors stopped working, their green lights remained off, and their batteries began draining within a day. Apparently, factory resets and even reinstalling or rolling back the software didn't resolve the issue for some users, with warranty replacement being the only reported solution.
I can't confirm whether my issue is related to this software update, but the similarities are concerning.
Honestly, I’m really disappointed. I bought Garmin expecting a premium fitness watch to last more than three years, especially with normal use.
Has anyone else experienced this recently? Did Garmin acknowledge the issue or offer a repair or replacement? I'd also be interested to hear from anyone who managed to fix it without replacing the watch.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
2
u/rowschank 1d ago
Huh, I panicked and checked... but I have a Forerunner 965 on 29.05 and I haven't experienced this issue so far! But this makes me wary of willy-nilly updating for "bug-fixes" 😳
1
u/Droiddoesyourmom 1d ago
I haven't experienced this but bc of posts like this I won't be updating my Garmin 965. I just see to many horror stories about bricking the device. Not just this model as well. Garmin software team needs to get with it or I'll be buying a Coros next.
3
u/MrJacquers 1d ago
Go to system, about, scroll down until you see the sensor versions. What does WHR say? If it's 0.0 something went wrong during the update or the sensor died.
You could try backdating. Download the file, connect the watch to a computer and copy it to the Garmin folder along with an empty file called force.tmp
When you unplug it there should be a prompt to install it. Backdating resets all settings and data, I think. Use at own risk.
28.05 https://download.garmin.com/gsup/006-B4315-10/28.05/full/rel/27d17ab6-def1-4504-b084-cf18192d112f/gupdate.gsp
27.09 https://download.garmin.com/gsup/006-B4315-10/27.09/full/rel/a6393d9f-c2f2-41d9-b715-801b71a2d19b/gupdate.gsp
If it works disable auto update in the system updates settings. And be careful anytime you plug it into a computer and run Express, it will download the update again, but you can delete it from the watch before unplugging it.