This discussion has been locked.

You can no longer post new replies to this discussion. If you have a question you can start a new discussion

Disappointing battery life

I have just upgraded from a Fenix 5 to a Fenix 5 plus and so far I am finding the battery life to be a lot less than I would expect.

I used to get nearly 2 weeks battery life out of the Fenix 5 but so far the Fenix 5 plus has used 25% in 2 days, both watches are set up and used exactly the same.

I know the Fenix 5 plus is supposed to have slightly less battery life but at this rate it is not even going to last a week.

Does anyone know if this will improve if I cycle the battery a couple of times or if this is normal for this model

Top Replies

All Replies

0 JulesHolleboom over 6 years ago

I can confirm the issue with the charge indicator. Charged it to 100%, then turned it off and back on, it's down to 93% straight away.

Doesnt booting your watch consume a lot of battery?

0 Former Member over 6 years ago

Doesnt booting your watch consume a lot of battery?

Restarting the watch does not consume a lot of battery. The only time the battery level jumps is after charging. I'm not sure why something so simple is so flaky. This doesn't happen on my Iphone and so I am marking this as a bug.

0 JulesHolleboom over 6 years ago

Restarting the watch does not consume a lot of battery. The only time the battery level jumps is after charging. I'm not sure why something so simple is so flaky. This doesn't happen on my Iphone and so I am marking this as a bug.

Maybe it consumes a lot of battery (it does on my watch) because it takes ages to boot, see my other topic here: https://forums.garmin.com/forum/on-the-trail/wrist-worn/fenix-5-5s-plus/1420412-fenix-5s-takes-over-10-minutes-to-boot

0 Former Member over 6 years ago

Doesnt booting your watch consume a lot of battery?

It shouldn't. The usual suspects of battery usage is GPS, screen brightness, and bluetooth. I've rebooted my watch (5+) multiple times after charging it to 100% and have only seen a drop after the first reboot. My findings...

100% -> reboot -> 96%
94% -> reboot -> 94%
87% -> reboot -> 87%
77% -> reboot -> 77%

Also, reboot to watchface (where you see the time) usually takes 12-15 seconds on my watch.

0 Former Member over 6 years ago

Maybe it consumes a lot of battery (it does on my watch) because it takes ages to boot, see my other topic here: https://forums.garmin.com/forum/on-the-trail/wrist-worn/fenix-5-5s-plus/1420412-fenix-5s-takes-over-10-minutes-to-boot

Your case seems very atypical. Booting time is about 12-20 seconds from your link, TrailCat's reply and from what I experience too. If it is taking more than 10 minutes to boot, you should reach out to Garmin's support to fix the issue.

0 zetxx over 6 years ago

humm, strange, we are loosing at least a day from incorrect charge, this means that everyone can make RMA with this strange behaviour.

0 Dr Phil over 6 years ago

Is it incorrect charge or incorrect display? I only have less than 24hrs experience with a 5S+ but have already noticed some irregularities in the display of the charge. It's obviously not good and it wold be nice to know what the problem really is. Is it charge? Is it display?

0 zetxx over 6 years ago

i will try to test next time when i charge, however nobody should sale such a poor build device on that price. im disappointed of garmin one more time.

0 Skynet5 over 6 years ago

I think this is a small issue.

I'm on 6 days and 15hrs with 48% remaining. 1 hour of GPS and phone connected only to sync and mess about with watch faces for maybe 12 hrs.

I think two things are happening. The battery monitor is reporting full a bit early, this will be based on voltage measurement. When the phone reboots that is pulling ever so slightly more from the battery that reports a slightly lower voltage than when just charged. Hence a different % read. Typically, it will bounce up to 100% on its own as it settles down.

i suspect I will charge over night next time, as it trickle charges still when it hits 100%.

If anything I think this is battery management working, but giving a poor user experience.

The only thing I am currently annoyed about is the terrible forum setup that logs you out and that all my posts need to be approved.

0 Gr4z over 6 years ago

Played golf this morning. Started with 37%. After 3 hours 20 mins I was down to 11%. Got home. Was on 9%. Set a run activity and left on kitchen worktop. Was dead in 25 mins. So effectively lost 37% battery is less than 4 hours. Not acceptable.

This is far too high battery drain. Garmin need to fix this. This is their premium product.