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Fenix 6: Battery life in mind - connect only to sync+upload current activity

4688120
over 4 years ago

Currently trying to lengthen the battery life.

How can I have automatic upload of an activity - immediately after saving it?

Without having the phone connected *all day long* to the watch? 

Does the phone has to be connected during the activity? 

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    The activity already does upload automatically upon saving. The Bluetooth Low Energy (BTLE), that Garmin devices use, has a rather negligble energy consumption, so you won't gain much, but if you really want to turn it off, just set up a shortkey for turning it off and on, or use the Quick Menu for the same purpose (not sure about Fenix 6, but on Instinct you can access it with long-press of the Ligth button, and the BT On/Off function is there already by default)

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    That's exactly what I did, and yesterday's run didn't sync automatically. 

    Still figuring out Garmin's different features. 

    I thought that having the watch connected to the phone while in "running" activity will sync the activity when saved.

    Am I wrong? 

    Could I turn off the phone connection during a run and still have it sync automatically? 

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to 4688120

    If you do not care about the "connected" features requiring mobile data (like for example the Live Track, or Incident Detection, weather forecasts. ...), then you do not need to keep the phone connected.

    The activity is being synced to the phone after saving the activity (or within a few minutes after it), assuming the phone connection is established. You can sync the watch anytime manually, by tapping the double arrow circle symbol up right on the screen of the GC Mbile app.

    However, as already written, you will gain practically nothing noticeable by turning off the BT. It consumes completely negligible amount of energy, in comparison to the GPS, PulseOx, and other components. There are many devices using the BTLE that run several years on a single button cell battery.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to trux

    Thank you for the elaborated answer!

    Basically I'm asking whether they should be connected DURING the run (in the power mode) or AFTER  the run just to get it to auto-upload. 

    I understand the notion of BTLE, but during the 1st 2 weeks of using this watch - battery was at 20-30% after 6-7 days of use.

    That's why I'm looking to optimize battery to my usage. 

    So During the day the BT in the watch is Off and it does change the rate of which the battery is draining.

    The features I care about are:

    1. Auto upload an activity when finished. 

    2. Weather forecast for the day (I update it in the morning and it suffices for the rest of the day)

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to 4688120
    4688120 said:
    Basically I'm asking whether they should be connected DURING the run (in the power mode) or AFTER  the run just to get it to auto-upload. 

    The BT has to be available for the sync only. Any saved unsynced activity will sync to the phone and to the server once the BT and Internet connections are available.

    4688120 said:
    I understand the notion of BTLE, but during the 1st 2 weeks of using this watch - battery was at 20-30% after 6-7 days of use.

    That sounds quite reasonable. Do you have some problems charging the watch once a week? By turning off the BT you get perhaps an hour or two more, so if you cannot charge the watch once a week (for example when on a long outdoor trip), you better stop the watch completely when not in use, or take a power bank, or a solar charger with you. The turning off of the BT won't help you there.