Disappointing battery life

yes, return it

I would say return it if I’m honest.

Got about 4.5 days with 3 runs of about 4 or 5 hours in total, before I decided to charge on about 22%. I would have left it longer but since yesterday the battery had started to drain at a higher rate. Which I’m hoping isn’t indicative of the problem showing up on this watch and just a first charge niggle.

I would say return it if I’m honest.

Got about 4.5 days with 3 runs of about 4 or 5 hours in total, before I decided to charge on about 22%. I would have left it longer but since yesterday the battery had started to drain at a higher rate. Which I’m hoping isn’t indicative of the problem showing up on this watch and just a first charge niggle.

arcalius Hi.. Have you attached any Ant+ devices? Do you know your average battery drain/hour when in GPS mode? One second or smart recording etc?
I can achieve the advertised 7 days in smart watch mode [If I'm economical with my settings], but using GPS I'm not getting 11hours advertised, more like 8 Max. with GPS only, no Ant+.
I guess the target GPS% use is 9%/hour to meet the Garmin 11hour GPS spec.

I run every day so I’m not expecting miracles. But I don’t use ant+ And I use smart recording not 1 second.

i dont know my average drain drain exactly but I ran 15k today in about 1:20 and lost 5%, but since the run I’ve lost another 4%. But that is the dreaded post activity drain.

I hope that’s all it is.

Hi guys..
For what it’s worth... I have had my 5 plus for 2 weeks now... never lasted more than 3 days in watch mode and less than 2 when I did a 3K run.....

i called Garmin Europe in the UK today and was told there was a case open already for my serial number (I haven’t called before).... there is a certain chipset in my batch of serial numbers that doesn’t accept the v.6 software update... I had the RMA within 10 mins and will be picking up the replacement from Argos tonight... new, in-box replacement!

very happy and this might help others as they are “working on it” but need all the data they can collect.. so call ‘em up!!

regards
Simon K

This thread has been very helpful to me. My 5 Plus Sapphire is a month old. With BT et enabled, it started at .035% an hour and has now stabilised at around .27% per hour. GPS tracking drain is as expected and I don’t get any post GPS extra drain. So I’m happy BUT:

- first watch December 2018. Started okay but within 3 weeks was 1.5% per hour. RMA for a new one
- second watch Feb 2019. Had those strange ‘is it charged’ issues as per this thread but eventually it too succumbed to the 1.5% per hour. Interestingly, it was fine from fully charged and for the first 4-6 hours would drain at .2-.3% PH. Then as soon as it dropped below 100%, it would be back to 1.5%

I tried LOADS of stuff Garmin suggested. All of the things in this thread. Pointless. The power saving stuff might make a bit of a difference to a ‘good’ watch but it does not address the symptoms of a ‘bad’ one.

I nearly gave up and bought an Instinct. But glad I stuck with it and finally received a ‘good’ one. Hope that doesn’t jinx it. Really tho, if you have a bad one, RMA it, there’s nothing you can do to make it better.

Thanks for the feedback! I ooened a request at Garmin and they accepted to return it without any hazzle. So hopefully will receive a replacement next week.

I I were to purchase a new watch now, is there I way I can look for any serial number to determine if the unit will encounter a problem OR is the battery drain just something you wait to see show up?

How long did everyone's replacement take to arrive? Between shipping your defective one out and getting the new one?

I have had my genus 5s plus for about 4.5 months and the battery life, despite charging overnight, no longer sleeping with it on, maybe recording one activity of 1 hr a week! Full charge on 3rd April, recorded one swim and battery on 7th is at 10%. Any suggestions on what I should be doing to make it last longer. The battery life is much worse than 735XT