Timers drain battery like crazy

Strange…I use timers regularly (to remind me when the washing machine / dishwasher is going to finish etc!) and don’t have this problem at all.

Do you use always on display maybe ? (I don’t).

I have not observed this, either.  Are you on the latest Software Version 7.35?

chuckwaterfield said:

12 days down to something like 30 hours

I use timers all the time with my f7 and previously with an f6; in some cases multiple timers at the same time.  Never have seen the battery performance (actual or reported) to be degraded by timer use.  What you describe seems to point to using a GPS enabled activity.

All, thanks for the inputs you've given. I've now figured out what is going on. I have the CLOCKS menu on the 'Activities & Apps' menu, visible when you click the START button. I haven't started an activity, I've just entered the menu where activities might get started. Once you've hit that START button, battery life is measured in hours, not days, even though you never start an activity. That seems entirely inappropriate.

You can confirm this by doing this:

    1. Hit START

    2. Do a LONG HOLD on the UP button

    3. You'll see a menu screen that shows battery life measured in hours, even though you've not started any activity (or any timer).

To avoid battery drain, you can have CLOCKS in the Activities menu, start a timer but then EXIT the Timer screen. When back to the watch face, battery life is measured in days. But if you leave the timer face visible, you haven't left the START button area and the battery live is measured in hours.

To avoid this, I need a convenient way to get to ALARMS that doesn't depend on the START button. So I've programmed the 'hot key' combination of START-and-DOWN key combination to pull up the ALARMS menu directly. I start an alarm and do a LONG HOLD on the UP button and my battery life is measured in days. And I've removed CLOCKS from the 'Activities & Apps' menu so I won't make the mistake in the future.

I think you're right, there is a bug that starting the Clocks app seems to engage and keep GPS locked (presumably it engages GPS to check the actual time if going this option), which results in higher battery drain and a shorter estimated life...with GPS dropped if you jump out of the Activity menu.

It should be like 'Run Indoors' or similar, and not require GPS (or only use GPS initially to potentially recalibrate the time).

However, I don't really understand why anyone would choose this cumbersome manner of getting to timers/alarms etc when you can just long press the top left button and get directly into timers/alarms/stopwatch? It seems odd to use an 'activity' !?

Thanks for the discussion. I certainly am in the minority in how I access my timers. I use them a lot, and I want to get there as easily as possible. Start button is the easiest button, and I have CLOCKS as the top item on that list, so it is click-click to get to the timers. Easier than press-and-hold top-left, then switch my finger to top-right and press again.

But now that I've done the dive into hot-keys I'm using that to get directly to timers in one long-click. Really, if they call that start menu the "Activities & Apps" menu, and things like the Garmin Connect App are there, they really should not be starting and maintaining the GPS....

as has been stated a few times, using the 'Start' function is a logical way to assume GPS is being engaged, and thus the ensuing battery drain. 'Start' would logically indicate the commencement of an activity, and would also assume the need for GPS accordingly.
Another shortcut you might try is press & hold the middle left button (the Up/Menu button) - in my case the CLOCKS function is second on that list and is easy to access, and is how I access the timer function quickly - as well as Alarms function, both of which I use a ton.
Good luck!

And I thought I was crazy. I have this problem with my Fenix 6pro. I access the timer by holding the up/menu button on the left, then clocks -> timers. If I don't go back to the watchface after starting the timer, it drains the battery as if I was listening to music. No background lighting or any of that stuff activated. 

I long press the upper right “Start/Select” button. A normal press pulls up your exercise/activity choices. A long press goes right to a simple timer/stop watch. 

I’ve not had any excess battery drain issues and I use my stop watch function multiple times a day.  I also forget to turn them off sometimes and seem to get the same 12-14 days between charges with gesture on.