I’ve got a Garmin vívoactive 4 that I’ve been using almost daily for the last 3 years. Recently it’s started causing some irritations on my wrist (slight redness and dry skin). I’m assuming that it needs a really good clean but I’m not sure what’s the best. Dish soap and warm water? Or is there something better?
I think dish soap is a great start. It’s mild and doesn’t have abrasives or harsh chemicals that may stain the watch. I have a Mk2i and that’s how I’ve cleaned mine when it needed it.
You may also have developed a mild allergy to whatever the back of your watch is made of, in which case cleaning won’t help.
The allergy part may sound outlandish but it happened to me with headphones. They were made of some kind of rubbery plastic which was absolutely fine for the first 2 years I used them, and then they became impossible to wear. Cleaning the headphones did nothing and the allergy got pretty gross, I had to see a doctor. Fortunately an ointment fixed my ears but I had to get new headphones. My guess is that the material they were made of started to degrade/change chemically with time, like faux leather and rubber does, and my skin developed an allergy to it.
I’ve had a feeling that it might be something like this. I had a free trial for Whoop and didn’t get a reaction to that.