6S real world battery life?

Hey guys and gals with the 6S. What are your experience as far as real world battery life with the 6S. I previously had the 5S Plus and with that I got about 40hours total which included about 3 hours worth of GPS time, and one hour with music. This meant I had to charge it every other day and I could forget about traveling away for the weekend and leave the charger at home. It was a huge pain. I also felt that the display was quite dim. For these reason I sold the watch. I ended up replacing it with a used Polar V800 which has amazing battery life and the best screen I've ever seen on a "modern" exercise watch. Unfortunately it's heavy and ugly.

So the new 6S is looking quite sexy. But there is no way I'm spending that amount of money if the battery life still is terrible. I use about 1.5 hours of GPS time 5 days a week and 30 minutes of music a day. I figure I need at least 96 hours of battery life, including these activities to justify the purchase. What kind of battery life are people on here getting?

I did actually have the regular F5 before the 5SP, and that gave me very decent battery life. Unfortunately my wrists are one the smaller side so it just didn't look very good on me.

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0 davidrmartin over 1 year ago

I have come to the conclusion that the 6S is for short events. There is absolutely no way my fenix 6s Pro will last (on one charge) for my Persistence Backyard Ultra this weekend. Maybe I can get 6 hours measuring GPS every second. That could extend to 9 hours on GPS only and "Smart Recording". Never tried Ultratrac, every minute recording just seems so imprecise. Might be alright on a looped course that lasts for 20+ hours

0 5925888 over 1 year ago in reply to davidrmartin

Your watch is broken. My 6S does 20 hours without a problem, even after 1 year of moderate usage.

0 Labronico over 1 year ago in reply to 5925888

With very simple activities, no active routing and little to no fiddling with the watch (same page with 6 data fields) I get close to 5%/hour of usage (recorded with Battery Discharge Rate from IQ Store), which roughly equals to 20 hours.

With more real words activities, such as daily hikes, with routing, map show at 50m scale for long periods (30-50% of the time) and much more fiddling with the pages, I get an average of 7-9%/hour, which equals to 11-14 hours before the watch dies.

All of this more or less from the beginning of its life. I bought the watch in December 2020 and I train quite a lot every week, mostly outdoor with GPS+Galileo.

0 Former Member over 1 year ago

I was looking at the 6S Pro for GPS Routing on longer hikes,12-18 hours. I don't need any features other than GPS/Routing/HR. The specs say 25hrs from what I can determine for my needs, but I assume from reading the comments that this is a pipe dream - or has anyone else gotten this type of run time out of the 6S Pro?

0 Labronico over 1 year ago in reply to Former Member

It's a dream. If you exclude what Garmin employees or accolades may tell you, realistically I've reached 5%/hour with no navigation set and no fiddling with buttons, just by looking at it. So if you charge it up to 100%, let it drain to 0% (both of which are not good for a Li-on battery, especially the latter), you may reach 18-20 hours before an energy charge.

If you really need 25 hours of usage definitely get a bigger version, or accept the fact you'll need to charge it during rests (if you spend 30 minutes or more during an ultra marathon while eating or resting, which is not that common btw).

0 Former Member over 1 year ago in reply to Labronico

Thanks, that's what I figured. I have Garmin Cycling GPS Computers and getting the stated run time from them has never been a reality-even with every feature turned off.

0 MaxR6 over 1 year ago in reply to Former Member

Fenix 6S Pro, an example:
After about 19 hours, I still had just under 20% capacity. Then I charged a bit with an external Accupack in the size of a check card for my safety during the run. Average consumption 4.2%.
GPS only, no Ultratrac, smart recording, multiple data fields and sides, frequent use (approx. every 10 minutes), with automatic display shutdown and activation on twist movement.

My extra accu pack with cable weighs a combined 110 grams and I have no problem at all taking it on longer runs and recharging my watch as needed.
The battery consumption has also given me sleepless nights before. However, I don't find the larger fenix models that sexy and I don't like the less legible display of the new fenix 7s either. So I had no other choice and I am now fully satisfied with this solution.

0 Labronico over 1 year ago in reply to Former Member

I forgot to add that I use GPS+Galileo because I need better signal and tree coverage and/or near steep/high mountains, and I don’t use smart recording but “every second” because I don’t like holes in my data.

Reducing precision you may reach indeed less than 5%/hour but it’s a trade-off I’m not wiling to accept unless I’m really forced to. During full day hikes I just recharge while having lunch with a super small and light usb battery.

0 MaxR6 over 1 year ago in reply to Labronico

Labronico said:
I don’t like holes in my data.

I have never had holes in my data

And if I should ever need more "precision" for whatever reason, then I just recharge my watch 2 hours earlier.
I have no problem with that at all. Plug in, plug out, done.
Don't make your life more complicated than it is.

0 Labronico over 1 year ago in reply to MaxR6

MaxR6 said:
I have never had holes in my data

"Hole" is maybe not the better word. From my test, despite what Garmin states here: support.garmin.com/.../ I get lower precision tracks when moving slower in more dense tree/mountain coverage.

MaxR6 said:
And if I should ever need more "precision" for whatever reason, then I just recharge my watch 2 hours earlier.

I do the same when I know I may get low battery for longer activities. That's not rocket science.

MaxR6 said:
Don't make your life more complicated than it is.

Huh? What's complicated? I see no complicated life here. I guess it's all in you head.

And before I forget, we need to take into account the age of the watch. I train a lot every week and it's 20 months old. A newer watch should have longer battery life.