Messenger AWFUL battery life

but you know that this is a GPS device?

GPS receiver is trying to do the job it is designed to do and this will drain the battery very fast.

I do not understand why people operate GPS devices inside buildings.

I am trying to educate hundreds of our rescue staff to swich off gps devices while inside buildigs. The older generation seem to understand this, the gen-z ignores this and keeps complaining.

First or all, I'm not a genz-er, I'm 40. 

Second, my phone is also a gps device and it doesn't destroy battery in buildings.

Third, it's not GPS that consumes the battery, but the IR.

Fourth, I've realized that the device only does that if it can't send the first position signal. Every following position upload is more reasonable on retry. So it seems like it is capable of doing its job, even inside of buildings? Oh? Which brings me to:

Five, it is therefore a bug. Garmin might be awesome at hardware design, but their software design is bad. I can see it from the UI, UX, naming, reliability and bugs. Trust me, I'm an IT PhD, senior software engineer, working for FAANG.

Sixth, cut it off with your disgusting, boomer-like "them kids these days" and what I can only call Stockholm syndrome of "I learned to love it. All you have to do is to follow these n simple rules. You're stupid if you don't!". Both, software and hardware have to work smoothly, seamlessly and be bug free. Your sort of attitude only encourages companies to release half baked junk. I'm getting flashbacks to the iphone 4 antenna fiasco.

no, your phone does not run GPS all the time. If in buildings it will not use it after short time, switching it on just for short time again, if no signal seen, it will switch off again aftr short time.

It is the GPS running all the time, as in such devices it is wanted to do so. It is not only your messenger, it is also all other similar devices who suffer from being inside a building.

There are many devices behaving like that, I am trying to educate our rescuers to switch off the GPS in their handheld VHF radios when inside building. Outside the beattery endurance is some 26-28h

Inside some 5h unless someone presses the button to switch the GPS search off.

Newbies in the SAR team tell me same, phone has GPS and does not use battery, so why other devices do. Our senior users switch off their gps and are happy to have over 24h operation.

There are devices which are more phone-like, they also shut down gps when detecting problems with it. But they use many other means of position calculation so they do not depend on fast gps recovery when placed outside finally and can start with already known position.

Those devices like the messenger or similar, depend only on satellite fix, so they try to run it permanently.

Try some older or gps only devices. with no IR. You will very soon learn to switch it off as soon as you enter a building, otherwise you will need a box full of spare batteries when not switching it off.

As far as any IR devices we operate, the battery will drain fast when inside building, even when tracking is switched off. We have various from the old Delorme IR (before Garmin time) devices up to the strange gadgets like messenger. All behave this way. Not only your messenger.

The Garmin iR devices also check automatically every hour for messages and if you are in a building and the device did not get a connection, it tries again and again (as far as I have understood this) and that’s burning much battery. So it is better to switch it of inside a building!

yes, the receiver for Iridium will switch on, but it has no function unless it receives calling channel signal. Only then it will attempt to ask for working/beam channel transfer.

GPS rx does not use much power either. But as it can not receive any signals at all on its own, it needs to run the pattern filters permanently just to check if there is some reception or not. This is where the power goes.

The point here is that the Iridium modem is powered up. It does use more power when actually transmitting. Once the device begins an active mail check, it will continue to (re)try more or less indefinitely. The (re)try involves transmitting a signal.

Regardless of the technical details, the unit WILL suck battery once the active mail check starts. And will continue to do so until it completes (or the battery dies). If you leave the unit powered up indoors, you WILL kill the battery.

As the comedian says, "Doctor, doctor! It hurts when I do this." "Then don't do that."

My Garmin InReach Messenger lost 5% battery within 24 hours while it was OFF -- what the heck?!