I love my Garmin...I hate my Garmin

For my birthday last November, I got a snazzy Garmin Forerunner 220.  I had borrowed my husband's old Garmin a couple of times for races and I was excited to get a GPS of my own.  I was looking forward to tracking my distances and paces, observing my heart rate data, and seeing my cadence.  And it's a pretty violet color. 

I've been using it since mid-November, and I can honestly say that I love it.  And I hate it.  I love the data.  I love going to the Garmin Connect dashboard and analyzing a run.  I love it when it tells me I have a new personal record, such as a new longest distance or a new fastest 5k.  I love that it connects with the Garmin Connect app on my phone and enables me to start a LiveTrack session so my husband can see where I am on my run.

And I hate it when I depend on it and it doesn't work like I expect it to.  There was one run where I just couldn't get the satellite signal.  There was another where my fully charged watch kept turning off like it had no charge (and when I plugged it in to the charger I watched it slowly work its way backward from 100 to 0...huh?).  And the latest frustration - the app was updated and now LiveTrack doesn't work.  If you click on the LiveTrack menu you are booted out of the app.  It's been a week and I am impatiently waiting for this critical feature to be restored!

So what have I learned?  Always connect your Garmin to the computer the night/day before a run.  Check for firmware updates and install them.  There was a firmware update waiting for me after the run when I couldn't get a satellite signal, and another one waiting for me after the bizarre downward discharge.  And maybe wait to update your app until a couple of weeks after a major update is released and be sure the reviews are good.  My phone is set to auto-update, which may not be in my best interest when it comes to Garmin app.  If I had read all of the scathing reviews from angry people who installed the update, I would have waited. 

Overall I do love my Garmin.  And when I am careful to maintain the firmware updates and a full charge I love it even more.  And I look forward to the day (which I hope comes very soon) that I can again say that I love the Garmin Connect App.

EDITED: the app fix has been found!  Delete the app from your phone and re-install.  Always good advice for a malfunctioning app and I wish I had thought to do this sooner!