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Garmin Instinct Solar battery life and battery life estimator questions

Former Member
Former Member over 3 years ago

Sorry if this ends up rambling, but I'm curious about a few things regarding the battery life and the estimator feature on my Instinct Solar.

I've had it for a couple of months now, and have noticed that the widget that estimates how many days of battery life I have left is overestimating the life. It goes down about 1.5-2 days for every 24 hours I use the watch, even when using Battery Saver mode overnight. I wonder if it gives the life assuming it will be exposed to a certain amount of sunlight? (I spend most of my days inside, where its not exposed to sunlight any meaningful amount of time)

For example, I took it off the charger last night at 100% at 10 pm. It showed 27 days of life left. This morning at 10 am, it dropped to 26 days. Currently, at 2 pm, it dropped again to 25 days, and is at 95%. Some napkin math shows at this rate, the battery will last 15 days, almost half of the original 27 day estimate.

Its set to go into battery saver mode at night, and this morning (at 10 am, when I noticed it had dropped to 26 days) I changed the watch face to one that does not refresh every second, but it is still draining faster than expected.

I understand that battery estimators aren't totally accurate, but I was wondering if this is normal, and I should just adapt to it, or if I'm really not getting the battery life I'm supposed to be.

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to armytruckersgt

    Given your description, it sounds like your specific Instinct Solar watch has not been properly solar charging for you. I am sorry it has not worked well for you.

    If you haven't already, please do not hesitate to reach out to Outdoor Product Support in your region.

  • 0 over 2 years ago

    In my experience, the estimation is just not very useful unless your average drain happens to line up with the average drain used in the specs (for example, the 24 days of "smartwatch mode").  For example, after over a year with the watch I have an average drain of 6%/day (vs. 4.2%/day based on specs).  Despite that, after a full charge the watch still estimates 26 days, so it doesn't appear to adapt over long term usage.  I usually put it on the charger when the battery hits ~15%, but when I do that it will still tell me I have 4 days left, so the estimates also don't appear to adapt very well over the short term (1 charge). 

    I still love the watch and am happy with the average ~2 weeks charge I get out of it, but estimation could use some major improvements.  I also wish they would give more details in the specs.  For example, the 24 days of battery in "smartwatch" mode... what does that mean? 10 notifications a day? 50? Using an alarm every morning? Is sleep tracking enabled?  

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to 5188901

    On average, in the smart mode without many notifications that aren't built into the watch, I have to charge it every four days. If mine reaches 15%, I'd better be at home because it'll die in a matter of a few hours. I've never gotten close to the 17 days it estimates, much less 24 days. 

  • 0 over 2 years ago

    I'm running 18.54. No battery drain issues, but I only do call notifications.

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to armytruckersgt

    >  I have to charge it every four days

    Yeah that's pretty bad. From what I've read, unless you have Pulse OX enabled, sounds like you may have a problem with your watch

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to Former Member

    Agree... I keep a calendar note each time I charge mine. It's a instinct 2 Solar tactical. I need to charge every 10 to 14 days!

    I have basic settings and I go on a 2 hours of GPS workouts per week in total. 

    Was expecting it to last 28 days at least, it shows 28 days but each day I wake up it updated and minus 2 days lol

    To me Garmin is doing a bad job of false advertising. 

    So if you reading this and wonder if the solar is worth it compared to the normal standard instinct 2. Hopefully this is your answer! 

    So here is the kicker... If I am cycling in the sun and I have  2 hours battery life, the battery will drain 3 times faster than it chargers, so to me extra cost of the watch is not justified.

    I paid more thinking if I was in a race, and my battery was running low, at least in the sun it will charge... I am afraid not. 

    Don't get me wrong... I love every feature of the watch and it is well packaged and really great to use and the stats are brilliant and readings and sensors very accurate! Just wish the solar claim was more on point when making my final decision, I would have saved some bucks.