Disappointing battery life

I also logged mine and was asked to return to Garmin for exchange. I also refused stating that unless they are sure it is a unit issue then I would rather wait until they can prove it is not a software issue.

It would be good to know if anyone has a watch that does not have PAD.

I have had mine less than a month so they asked me to exchange it with the retailer. Did they ask you do download your Garmin file and send it to them?

After a few days of back and forth walking me through the Master Reset and things I already knew, they told me this morning that they were adding me to their "case that [they] have on this issue" and asked for the contents of my Garmin folder.

I've already sent them two or three tables showing them the hourly battery discharge after GPS activities (with OHR on). I've been tracking it hourly for about 5 or 6 hours after my outdoor runs.

I'll add that after updating to the latest beta last week the drain is still there, though it's less extreme. And after today's run I manually turned off all sensors (including OHR) and, again, the drain is still there, but less extreme than with OHR on (though that could just be attributable to the way PHR normally functions).

As I suspected. Flat out lie from support today then. Told me in no uncertain terms that they had no previous logs from anyone with this battery issue. Frustrating

I really don't get it. I own the Fenix 5S for over a year battery life should have gotten worse, right? But it's still good. So I know the 5S Plus has less battery life than the normal 5S (3 days less?), but this is really worse than that. If I turn off every connection and workout 3-5 times a week, 1-2 times with GPS, and just use it as a fitness watch not a smartwatch, I maybe get 5-6 days of it. But this is with everything turned off, no BT connection, WiFi rarely used. And as my normal 5S is over a year old I thought it would be a good comparison, but battery life between the two is really like day and night. 15% each day with the 5S Plus, 6-8% with the 15months old 5S!

I love the 5S Plus with it's bigger, brighter display with better resolution but this is a No Go! WiFi connection also has issues, often needs 2-3 attempts to connect and sync.
I really wanted to switch to the Plus model because of the display and new color, but battery life is even worse than the Vivoactive 3. Really, really disappointed. I guess I will return it and keep the 5S.

I also own the 5S and the 5S Plus. I agree with most of what you said, but have decided to stay with the 5S Plus due to the additional features you mentioned and most particularly due to it being able to play music. I am using all the features, but only use backlight after sunset, and at 20% and do not use WiFi. Otherwise, I always have BT enabled, use GPS and music for runs, and GPS for other sports, always have optical HR enabled, and have all my regular notifications on. I charge the watch every 3.5 days if I have 2 or more activities like running. For me, this is an acceptable trade-off for the feature set.

Yeah I understand that. If I would NEED at least one of the new features, esp music and maps, I guess I would keep it too. But for me it's just the obviously better display and getting a new color. And one more negative thing, I can see it's even thicker than the 5S which is thick as hell for a "small" sport watch. So a watch which is and also seems even "bigger" at a small wrist is another disadvantage. But a minor one I gotta admit. Still obviously "bigger".

But in general I can confirm the previous comments about the bad battery life, esp after a GPS workout. I didn't expect the 5S Plus to be that bad. I would lose a full 24h day of 5S battery in just one night with the 5S Plus!

Hi

I`ve noticed that when i charge my watch, it jumps from say 90% ish to 100%. If i disconnect it from the charger and restart the watch, it shows 90% again.
If i then put it back in the charger, it charges it 1% to 91%. Then it jumpes back up to 100%. And so on..

Has anybody else noticed the same?

I contacted Garmin support and they told me it wasnt suppose to be like that and to reset the watch. I
have`nt done this yet.

Yes, I posted about this exact same thing a while back.

Follow-up from Garmin today on the post-GPS activity battery drain. I've already sent them the data from my watch –

"So, this case is still being resolved. I will let you know as soon as we have more information. The next step might have to be setting you up with an RMA.

Thank you for choosing Garmin,"

I returned my F5S plus due to battery only lasting 3,5 days. But also very much due ti it's chunkiness. I do find the F5S+ very chunky and I was surprised to see it even thicker than the old one. This is unfortunately the wrong direction although the screen is better. Yet compared with my FR645 (non-sapphire) the screen looks dull(!). On the FR645 colors are brighter and better.

So in many ways, as I see it, the F5S+ is a step forward but also 2 steps back in other areas... So I returned it and stayed with my FR 645. However once the new Polar Vantage is out, I'm gonna change. Rumors are saying 40 hours of battery with GPS, OHR on best setting...!

I also own the 5S and the 5S Plus. I agree with most of what you said, but have decided to stay with the 5S Plus due to the additional features you mentioned and most particularly due to it being able to play music. I am using all the features, but only use backlight after sunset, and at 20% and do not use WiFi. Otherwise, I always have BT enabled, use GPS and music for runs, and GPS for other sports, always have optical HR enabled, and have all my regular notifications on. I charge the watch every 3.5 days if I have 2 or more activities like running. For me, this is an acceptable trade-off for the feature set.

Agreed. I run 3 to 4 hours per week (music, GPS, HR) and wear my 5+ 24/7 with everything on in smartwatch mode. I have to charge about every 6 days and that's perfectly acceptable to me.