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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
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 6 years ago
    Some improvements with software 5.0.

    I switched to a stock watch face and definitely noticing increased battery life. Less battery drain after activity and during general use. Was probably 1% per hour with CIQ watch face, now slightly less probably 0.5-0.8%.
    However I am still noticing about the same battery drain with activity, which seems to be much higher than most people, not sure why.
    1 hour run (GPS + Galileo, connected to RD pod, no music) lost 17%.
    2 hour half marathon (same settings as above) lost about 35%.

    I am afraid to try running with music because I already have such high battery loss.
  • I tried another activity, 2 hours of gps, stock watch face and 10% drain 1.25h after I saved the activity. This is on 5.00.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 6 years ago
    @ Garmin-Heath
    I have received the update to FW 5.0 on my Fenix 5S+
    I have changed back to stock-watch-face.
    This morning charged to 100%, activity started shortly after charged being disconnected
    Activity run, GPS+Glonass, no music, Garmin HRM Run for Heartrate, 47 min of activity
    Battery dropped to 89%
    During shower (15- min) this dropped to 88%, now, 4 hours later I am at 86%
    I would say that there was no BD after activity.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 6 years ago
    Have that as well.
    Using Battery Gauge i have ~0.5% per hour during workday.
    A one our run ~8% with GPS.
    Afterwards i see a hourly drain of 3%.
    When rebooting the watch everything is back to normal. Bit a disappointing when coming from the Fenix3.
    I also noticed both strange jumps when loading (and staying at 100% for hours after fully loaded the watch over night)


    Updated to 5.00, Battery drain seems to be gone/better.

    A 3,5h run with a bluetooth Wahoo Tickr was ~30%.
    No bigger drain afterwards,

    Accoding to Battery Gauge i have ~0.7-0.8%/h with no activity (some Smart Notifications, OHR measurement) - this is still ~ 20%/day which could be better.
    Reboot does not change the usage.

    Standard watchface, Smart Notifications, no music, nothing special.
  • I am very impressed with the battery life since 5.0. 5+ with a standard watch face, notifications, OHR, no activity since charging it on Monday, and at 85% (15% drop over 36 hours).
  • No issues with my 5+. Currently on 9 days (exactly) with Activity tracking, OHR, BT notifications and 3 hr 15 mins of GPS+Galileo running.

    Took off charger at 11am 24th September and only plugged back in for a minute to download the 5.0 update since. Now at 11% at 11am 3rd October so would get at least to 10 days.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 6 years ago
    @crutlefish.
    That's roughly 10% per day. So 10 days use. I was expecting closer to 12 days use under those conditions.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 6 years ago
    @ Garmin-Heath
    Update (F5S+, FW5.00, Stock Watchface, no notifications):
    02.10.2018 until ~06:00 charged to 100%
    02.10.2018 06:00 - 06:47 Activity (Run) with GPS+Glonass, no music, Garmin HRM Run for Heartrate, 46:53 min. 89%
    02.10.2018 ~07:05 dropped to 88%
    02.10.2018 ~11:00 dropped to 86%
    02.10.2018 16:23 dropped to 82%
    02.10.2018 16:42 - 17:25 Activity (Run) with GPS+Glonass, no music, Garmin HRM Run for Heartrate, 42:30 min. 68%
    03.10.2018 13:07 dropped to 56%

    That is
    roughly 0,6 - 0,7% per hour (no activity), would be ~6 days without charging
    roughly 15 - 19% per hour (activity), would be 5-6 hours without charging

  • @crutlefish.
    That's roughly 10% per day. So 10 days use. I was expecting closer to 12 days use under those conditions.


    Well, to be honest 10 days vs 12 days doesn't worry me because I'm usually charging every few days due to lengthy activities.

    It's a huge difference to the Apple Watch it replaced which required charging every day irrespective of what activities you did.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 6 years ago
    Well, to be honest 10 days vs 12 days doesn't worry me because I'm usually charging every few days due to lengthy activities.

    It's a huge difference to the Apple Watch it replaced which required charging every day irrespective of what activities you did.


    That's fair enough. It should however match their advertised stats. It's woefully short of the 5's battery performance for me as well. It all depends upon what you're comparing it to.