Garmin Releases Varia Update With Known Safety Bug to Forerunner 965
Reader @BrianTR pointed me to a rather unusual situation on the Garmin beta forums.
Forerunner 965 software v20.29 has now gone live. No big deal you might have thought.
It’s gone live with a bug. Again, these things happen.
However, this is a safety bug related to Varia Radar that was reported well over a week ago, dangerous to the point that @kansasironman commented “This makes the radar mostly useless! Come on Garmin, get this fixed!”
S/he goes on to say
The radar gauge (green, yellow and red on the right side) appears only randomly with no rhyme or reason. Mostly, just a half bubble at the top saying vehicle approaching and then a beep when it thinks everything is all clear… When the gauge does appear, it has the number of vehicles BUT quickly disappears most of the time. As for vibration, I have the 965 mounted on the handlebars out front… So don’t know if vibration or not. BUT I do HEAR notifications in my ear buds that a vehicle is approaching just no visuals anymore that are consistent. Really a pain and not safe.
It seems that in this instance Garmin has software publishing deadlines to meet.
With 20 years of testing Garmin wearables and competing in triathlons at an international age-group level, I provide expert insights into fitness tech, helping athletes and casual users make informed choices.
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Thanks for getting the word out on this!
There is also a bug in the readiness area.
It was reported quite early in the 20.xx beta : https://forums.garmin.com/beta-program/forerunner-965/forerunner-965—public-beta-bug-reports/i/public-beta-version-20-xx/varia-radar-notification-screen-not-working
Garmin didn’t even looked at it.
I experience loads of bugs and annoyances with my 965. All garmin does is compile a list of people who are annoyed by a bug. And maybe, if it is a crash that is easy to reproduce, developers might look into it.
I don’t think garmin allows it developers to spend much time on bug fixing and quality assurance.
The real safety bug is the ear buds in the dudes ears during a ride/commute. Shame on you OP.
Same exact thing is happening with the 955 too. I upload a video of the problem to Garmin’s support website