I have seen a few people say that they have had their watch bands on their Garmin watches break without warning, and hence their watch just descends to the bottom of the ocean never to be seen again.
I was in at my local Harvey Norman today getting a new watch under warranty (breakdown in GPS recording) and I asked the question as to whether the warranty would cover this circumstance. I may as well have asked what the square root is of 45678.
Has anyone who has lost a watch actually enquired as to the situation with warranty?
Interesting. Did the band suddenly give way, or did it happen during a crash or a gybe?
It really doesn't take much for these straps to come undone. If something catches the loose end of the band, it can easily be pulled open. Even with the two retaining loops on my Garmin watch, I've had the strap pulled right out of them and left hanging on my wrist by just the buckle. I was very lucky not to lose it.
I generally wear a long-sleeve wetsuit or rashie over my watch to prevent this from happening. If you search through these forums, you will also see that people have made custom covers out of old neoprene because losing watches in the water is not uncommon.
I don't think this would be covered under a warranty claim. In most of these situations, the band doesn't actually have a manufacturing defect or break I suspect. It simply gets pulled open or the pins give out under force.
Never use the Garmin rubber watch bands for watersports, the breaking of the band is almost guaranteed over time. I have a few brand new ones removed prior to the watch being used, always replace with a webbing band, and not one of those quick fit ones either.
Never broken a webbing band or lost a Fenix, but killed a lot due to start button failure,
.
