Disappointing battery life

So I picked up my 5plus on Saturday. I was waiting for the Black Friday Deals, but in the UK the suppliers are limited to basically one that I would trust, and I don't think there would be much of a discount anyway.

My first issue was that the battery was completely dead. No charge. I plugged it into a power bank for 40min and nothing other than the garmin triangle, followed by a charge indicator and then go off. Ended up plugging into a computer and this seemed to kick it in to life quickly and it was reading 0% charge. I then plugged it back into the standalone charger and it charged all the way up to 94% and then jumped to 100% within a minute or two.

I did what others have said and rebooted, and it showed 94%. So plugged into charge again, and did this on repeat until on reboot it said 97%.

I then plugged in one last time to get it up to 100% (within probably 30s).

Did the Garmin Express stuff to upgrade the firmware.

In watch mode (disconnected from my phone and wifi) with no activities, it has reached 48hrs so far using a fraction over 15%. So I would say 7.6% per day. I've connected to my phone just a few times.

So I think that is only "ok". Appreciating battery drain will not be linear that is roughly 13days without smart watch mode (it should be 12 with smartwatch mode)

This being the first charge, I don't know if I should expect more, nor how much smartwatch mode will consume extra (I guess that depends on number of things being synced)



I will run this through with this usage, before I do a full GPS drain to see that performance.

I'm not too worried about smart watch performance, I hate my phone and I hate people messaging and phoning me...so I really don't want it connected anyway :-)

I suppose that for 18h recording time, you have to use only gps, without hr, without loaded maps. These are the minimum settings for participating on ultra races up to 15-18h. If you see that the battery will not last, you have to change the settings into UltraTrac.

I did what others have said and rebooted, and it showed 94%. So plugged into charge again, and did this on repeat until on reboot it said 97%.

I then plugged in one last time to get it up to 100% (within probably 30s).

I experienced a similar issue. Synced the 5 plus to my computer and it also charged to 100% before I went to bed. Woke up and later in the morning, calibrated the altimeter with a little GPS usage, then I checked the watch to see that it still read 100%. Seemed strange since it was now 9 hours since that charge. Rebooted the watch and now it reads 96% which sounds right.

Are these battery woes likely to be an issue with software? I am about to go from the F5 to F5 Plus due to altimeter issues (prone to static) but it would be such a shame to lose battery capabilities. Currently get over days easily on mine and sounds like it might be a lot less with the new model :-(

Are these battery woes likely to be an issue with software? I am about to go from the F5 to F5 Plus due to altimeter issues (prone to static) but it would be such a shame to lose battery capabilities. Currently get over days easily on mine and sounds like it might be a lot less with the new model :-(

So far battery life on my 5+ has been as advertised. I'm getting 7%-8% drain per day with no GPS, 30 minute treadmill workout 4 times a week, no music, 20% backlight, but the phone is connected for notifications. That turns out to be 12-13 days of usage.

The issue I have is that sometimes the battery gauge gets stuck on a certain percent. Rebooting the watch clears this and shows the actual percentage. Others have reported more serious issues, but I have not experienced them at this point.

So far battery life on my 5+ has been as advertised. I'm getting 7%-8% drain per day with no GPS, 30 minute treadmill workout 4 times a week, no music, 20% backlight, but the phone is connected for notifications. That turns out to be 12-13 days of usage.

The issue I have is that sometimes the battery gauge gets stuck on a certain percent. Rebooting the watch clears this and shows the actual percentage. Others have reported more serious issues, but I have not experienced them at this point.

Thanks - good to know!

Are these battery woes likely to be an issue with software? I am about to go from the F5 to F5 Plus due to altimeter issues (prone to static) but it would be such a shame to lose battery capabilities. Currently get over days easily on mine and sounds like it might be a lot less with the new model :-(

Don't mate. The altimeter is no better on the 5plus. It is ok during activities when it constantly calibrates, but outside of that it is pretty random.

Don't mate. The altimeter is no better on the 5plus. It is ok during activities when it constantly calibrates, but outside of that it is pretty random.

Interesting. With my current F5, the altimeter is mostly accurate - it's just when it's been subjected to static for sometime (dressing gown sets it off) and it then goes crazy (+/- 2000ft), and it even struggles to calibrate. Activities are also badly affected. The only fix is to soak it in warm water for 10 mins and it behaves again...

In that case you will see an improvement. Mine has never had that issue, and has never been off by more than 200ft and calibration immediately puts it right

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.