Users desperate

“Triangle of death” paralyzes popular sports watches

When the daily (sports) companion fails, this is unpleasant for many users - users of Garmin watches now have to deal with exactly that.(Bild: facebook.com/GarminD)

Many owners of Garmin sports watches are currently facing a major problem: their devices are crashing, restarting and getting stuck in the so-called "triangle of death" - a blue Garmin logo that won't go away. The manufacturer has now confirmed the problem and is working on a solution.

According to numerous reports from internet forums, the error mainly occurs when users start a GPS-supported activity such as running or cycling. The affected watches - mainly models from the Forerunner series (255, 955 Solar, 965) and the Venu 3 - then restart unexpectedly, but abort the process and only display the Garmin logo. In the community, the problem was therefore dubbed the "Triangle of Death".

Garmin responds and offers an emergency solution
Garmin has now published an official statement on its website: "We are aware of the issue and are currently investigating the cause. We thank you for your patience while we work on a solution." As a short-term measure, the manufacturer recommends restarting the watches or synchronizing them with the Garmin Connect app. However, in many cases this does not help.

Factory reset as a last resort
A working but drastic solution is to reset to the factory settings. Although this deletes all saved data, some users report that their watches work normally again afterwards. Garmin provides detailed instructions for this, as the procedure varies depending on the model.

Possible cause: Failed update
It is still unclear what exactly is causing the problem. Many experts suspect that a faulty software update is the cause. As the malfunctions mainly occur during GPS activities, an error in the GPS software or an incorrect update of the satellite data could be responsible. According to Garmin, it is working hard on a permanent solution.

Until then, many users will have to wait - or risk a factory reset.