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6S real world battery life?

gustavbl
over 4 years ago

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.

  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 1 year ago in reply to MaxR6

    Does using Navigation (following a course) use more battery than just using the GPS tracking by itself?  Can the unit be charged while in the middle of an activity without losing or resetting the activity?  Thanks

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to Former Member
    Does using Navigation (following a course) use more battery than just using the GPS tracking by itself?

    Yes, definitely. In some real world tests almost double the energy. Not just because it need to navigate, but because I usually keep the map on most of the time (unless it's a super easy route to follow with few turns) and I fiddle much more with the watch, going up and down between map, climpro e standard pages.

    Can the unit be charged while in the middle of an activity without losing or resetting the activity?

    Sure you can. In fact, if you like me use external HR straps, you may store the watch pretty much anywhere on you, as long as it has a clear view of the sky. 

    However, as I said, in most daily hikes I rest for lunch at least an hour, so in my case if I walk out of the door with 100% charge and an external battery, there's no chance I'll drain the battery even if I come back at night.

  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 1 year ago in reply to Labronico

    Very helpful info, thank you.  I currently use a HR strap, do you know if this is advantageous or detrimental to battery vs the Optical HR of the Watch?  I am not tied to either method, the one that causes less battery drain would be my preferred choice.

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to Former Member

    Never bothered testing battery consumption with or without a (arm, in my case) strap, because I think it would change veeeery little compared to GPS/Navigation/backlighting and so on. Plus my Polar arm strap is so much more precise and quick to react, especially when hiking with poles or running, that there's no choice for me, really.

  • 0 over 1 year ago

    Have your doubts about battery life been cleared?

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to MaxR6

    How do you get that graph? Does it appear on garmin connect web if you use a certain widget? 

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to CrimSoukyuu

    I use the Garmin Connect IQ data field Battery Up Down.
    Yes, it displays the graphs in Garmin Connect.