How much does the watch face affect the battery time? I personally like EuroPilotPlus but feel that it drains the battery more than a standard Garmin digital wf. Using only a few functions like sunrise/sunset and permanent second hand. Anyone knows how much difference there can be? Are we talking about a few hours or several days on one charging? Or is it just my imagination? Have a Fenix 5 sapphire.
The environment for CIQ watchfaces is pretty restrictive - and it's all about the battery. They won't be quite as battery friendly as native watchfaces, but are close.
For example, with CIQ watchfaces there's no direct access to things like sensors, GPS, or communications, and the vast majority of the time, the full screen only updates every minute.
For things like "seconds all the time", the way that works is only part of the screen can be updated every second (where the second hand was or is moving to or where the seconds are displayed for digital watch faces), and the watchface is limited to running for at most an avg of 30 milliseconds every second.
The data displayed can have a small impact - for example, displaying sunrise/sunset will take a tiny bit more than not display those, but watchfaces can do things like only recalculating that when the day changes and not every minute.
That said, I mainly use CIQ watchfaces have have for 2+ years on various watches and have not seen any significant difference in how long the battery lasts (I write them so I mainly use CIQ watchfaces). If you suspect that a CIQ watchface is burning too much battery, you may want to use "Contact Developer" in the app store for that watch face, so it can be investigated.
Ok. Then I can use any wf without worrying too much about battery drain. As I said, maybe it is just my imagination. :rolleyes: Thx for a informative and good answer. :)
Animated and/or Connect IQ watch faces can have a big impact on battery life. (Consider using a non-animated watch face, and be aware that Connect IQ watch faces with certain features, such as those that engage GPS, can greatly impact the device's battery life.)
I had been using an analog watch face with animated second hand for the first couple of years for my Fenix 5s. I noticed a significant improvement in battery life after I changed to a digital watch face without animation.
For things like "seconds all the time", the way that works is only part of the screen can be updated every second (where the second hand was or is moving to or where the seconds are displayed for digital watch faces), and the watchface is limited to running for at most an avg of 30 milliseconds every second.
And on a watch face native to the garmin fenix 5, namely the only one that comes and is not analog, will the seconds spend a lot of energy?
Not as much as a CIQ one. Native ones don't use CIQ, and there is a small amount of overhead with CIQ. The impact of seconds on a native one will be minimal.
Thanks for the replay! Im noticing battery drain in the past two weeks, but its not related to the watch face.
For example, today i went for a walk (with gps + glonass), and the battery come from 39% to 26%. Its not normal, with GPS + Glonass, it used to be, before firmware 19.10.0.0, spending 1% of battery for 12 minutes of use.
