I recently got the top of the line samsung galaxy watch 7, 44 mm as a gift for my son, he is a swimmer and obviously he used it to record his training.
Not a month and a half of ownership, it stopped working completely, I sent it for repair, samsung said it has a " liquid " damage which not covered under warranty, they said it shouldn't be used in salt or chlorine water, only fresh water, so basically you can use it only if you are swimming in your bathtub or sink.
They asked a repair fee almost as high as what I paid for the watch itself
Im requesting to remove the swimming tap from the exercise app as apparently the watch can NOT handle it
I have been swimming at least 4 times a week with my watches 2, 4 & 7 for a combined total of 7 years. Not once was my watch water damaged, not from a pool, not from the ocean. It happens that a seal can be faulty even on a "water resistant" watch. Also, the deeper you go the more likely the pressure will exacerbate a weak seal. The water resistance is only to a depth of, I think 25 feet for up to an hour, but I've swam longer than that. It is important to note that while the watch may be waranteed for water resistance, damage from the defective part is never covered in any warranty on any product, ever - unless specifically stated it is. As a matter of fact, if you read any warranty, you will see it specifically excludes "incidental" damage caused by a faulty part. So, if you had a car that had a 10 year engine warranty, and an engine rod broke and punctured your radiator in year 2, the damage to the radiator would not be covered by the warranty, even if the radiator itself was covered, as the damage was not caused by a fault in the radiator. Likewise any damage to the engine caused by the failure of the rod (if the engine fell to the ground and cracked, if the rod penetrated the engine, etc.).
There is no myth surrounding the water resistance of the watch, millions of users swim with them with no adverse affects. Your son just happened to get one with a faulty seal. One of the reasons I decided to replace my watch 4 with the 7 was because the battery was failing, and anyone willing to replace the battery would not guarantee the water seal once the watch was opened. if I wasn't a swimmer, I would have just replaced the battery.
Adding some of my own experience to this thread: The Galaxy Watch 7 is IP68 water and dust resistant. Both my Watch 4 and Watch 7 have been completely functional after swimming for hours in chlorinated water. The seal can be damaged more by chlorine and salt, but Samsung has most likely thought of this already. Your unit was probably faulty.
Also, if your son happened to shower with it, soap is worse than either chlorine or salt when it comes to the seal. The watch should only be worn in a shower if one is simply rinsing off.
I understand guys, but the watch is not even 2 months old, we haven't uses it for ever to wear off the seal
the samsung repair representative, instead of owning the problem, and although not covered by warranty, admitting it was a defective unit, she made it sound like it was our fault for using a sport watch to track swimming practices in a regular pool
It doesn't matter how old or new the watch is. It was evidently a unit with a defective seal, or the case was not properly tightened. If they want to charge almost as much for the repair as a new watch, just go buy a new watch and have them send the watch back to you. Buy the regular 7, not the ultra. Even if they "repaired" it, it will never be 100%.
If you do end up buying a new watch or repairing the old, It is good practice to rinse the watch off under plain clear water after emerging from the pool. This will keep the chemicals/salt from degrading the seal.
