Descent G1 seems to have worse battery life than the Epix 2

The Descent G1 seems to have worse battery life than the Epix 2 I owned for a few weeks previously, under the same activity use case.

I know I will never get the quoted numbers form Garmin, thats not the point, its that the quoted numbers for the Descent G1 are higher than the Epix 2, yet I am getting the opposite.

Epix 2 - AOD off - 16 days - I was getting just on 8 days

Descent G1 Solar - 21 days - I am getting about 6 days

Pulse OX was off for both.

I am using only built in watch faces, no IQ apps installed, and this is with no diving activities on the G1.

Despite this I really like this watch, I have always owned Fenix's since the 3 up to the 7X.

But decided I wanted a watch that I could use for everything, including diving, hence the change to the G1.

Any thoughts or others can share their battery life experience ?

Top Replies

6855936 over 2 years ago +1

There’s definitely something wrong. Mine shows normal battery usage every charge cycle (ie it will discharge very slowly). And then all the sudden it will start losing 10% in an hour or so. And I am doing…

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0 BastienL over 2 years ago

Hello, although you said you had the same use cases, were they actually the same or close-ish?
I've had the descent for a few months, most of the time when I just wear it as a 'health smart watch' in battery saving mode it can easily last 3 weeks (near 28days).

Of course it goes down very fast when diving, kitesurfing or any gps intensive activity but it's hard to compare if you didn't have the same schedules on the two periods (could you check the number of hours using gps for instance?). I'm personnaly satisfied as I don't feel like it lives off a power plug.

0 Maruzko over 2 years ago in reply to BastienL

Same use case with both these watches.

I found after uninstalling the Garmin Surfline app, the battery life has improved, that App doesnt always work well, receiving the data is intermittent.
Maybe it was consuming battery trying to download data.

I get about 1 week of battery, with 1 to 3 activities a day and smart notifications.

0 6855936 over 2 years ago

There’s definitely something wrong. Mine shows normal battery usage every charge cycle (ie it will discharge very slowly). And then all the sudden it will start losing 10% in an hour or so. And I am doing nothing differently.

They write it off and say to reset the watch but it’s a problem. I hope it gets fixed.

0 bluefish over 2 years ago in reply to Maruzko

Maruzko said:
I found after uninstalling the Garmin Surfline app

Didnt you said :

Maruzko said:
no IQ apps installed,

0 Maruzko over 2 years ago in reply to bluefish

I meant no IQ Apps from third party developers, not Garmin.

0 Maruzko over 2 years ago in reply to bluefish

OK, after a lot more usage, I found its not any particular App or Watch face using more battery.
Its the GPS usage in this model.

A 50 min walk uses the following on the battery:

Descent G1 Solar about 4 to 5%

Epix 2 about 2 to 3%

Fenix 7X Solar about 1 to 2%

Possibly the software is not as efficient or its just a different chipset.

In any case still a great watch that I use for all fitness, smart notifications and scuba.

Although if and when a Descent MK3 is released with color touch screen and AI I will most likely jump at.