Battery life issue GPS - Enduro 3

Tim 10 days ago

Hi all,

First time posting on this forum. Hopefully somebody can help!

I have been using the Enduro 3 for about 5-6 weeks now and the battery life in GPS mode seems to be off.

At the moment I have been going on short runs, typically 30-45 minutes. Each time I do one of these activities the battery typically loses 2 percentage of battery (occasionally 1). Yesterday I ran 36 minutes and I lost 2 percent of battery and the expected hours you can do a GPS activity for went down from 43 to 41. I use normal power mode and for sattelite setting is set to 'auto select'. I am not exactly sure how long the battery is supposed to last in these conditions, but these numbers do not add up I think. If it uses 2 percent of battery for half an hour run then it would last like 25 hours on full battery and if it uses 1 percent it would last like 50. (don't know if you can calculate it this way but it was the best way for me to approach it). Even in all systems + multiband mode it should last about 60 hours.

I have no additonal apps or widgets installed and I would classify my use during the run as typical. I do not use the maps screen during the run. Also my smartwatch mode battery life seems to be okayish. I think. it lasted about 3 weeks on the first charge and is on track for 4 weeks for the second. I typically record 3-5 activities per week.

To me the battery life in GPS activities seems quite a bit off hopefully somebody can shed some light on this!

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0 1000000000 10 days ago

Unfortunately, it can be standard battery drain. As always, there is huge difference between reality and marketing claims or claims by some infuencers. I have 2,5 % per hour. I met other people having similar drain.

Note that 2 % can due rounding represents values in interval [1,5 - 2,5).

0 VelinDilov 10 days ago

I hope they can fix it.

0 Marc Krawitz 10 days ago

I suggest you check the backlight and Bluetooth. Turn off each individually to see if either explains this. You might have the backlight on at a high brightness with no timeout.

0 Clifton 9 days ago

I recently used my E3 for the Javelina Jundred (100miler). I started the race with a 99% charge and finished the 100 miles in just under 23 hours and my battery showed 81% charge remaining.

Everything was turned on including course navigation, power mode "normal", Satellites was set to GPS Only and gestures active after sunset. The GPS/timer was never paused and remained constant connection for the 23 hours with +10 hours of darkness.

I'd say that is pretty amazing battery utilization.

0 Tim 9 days ago in reply to 1000000000

Thanks for the reply! Only in my case it would be almost twice as much as you stated. I lose somewhere between 1-2,5% per half hour, not a full hour. You are right that there is a difference, but a difference like I am noticing seems too far off from claim vs reality.

0 Tim 9 days ago in reply to Marc Krawitz

Thanks for the suggestions! My timeout is on however and brightness is not on high. I will play with these settings though to see if it makes a difference. Bluetooth is on but only to connect to my phone. I do play music on my phone I will see if this makes a difference.

0 Tim 9 days ago in reply to Clifton

This seems more like it. In this example it is actually on target for what is advertised.

Would you be able to specify what you mean with 'everything' was turned on?

0 Tim 9 days ago

I think one of the main questions that comes to mind (apart from how do I get more decent battery life of course) is: what does garmin classify as typical use? Does anybody know. This could help determine where the difference comes from.

0 Clifton 9 days ago in reply to Tim

By everything turned on, I just mean the watch setup is almost 100% out of box default. For the race, I didn't turn things off like Wi-fi, bluetooth, performance condition, heart rate etc. Coming from the forerunner 955, for Ultras I'd have to turn just about everything off and skinny the watch down to just a GPS device. With the E3, all functionality was enabled except for blood ox. I do believe the intense sun (Arizona dessert) helped the solar to slow the battery drain.