Purchase a FENIX 6 Pro yes or no? WHR Issues Please Advice

vaggos13 said:

I charge the battery to 100% an goes down to 94% after a couple of hours without BT and using power save watchface. Battery usage is very high compared to how it was when I bought Fenix 6 Pro in 2019 (almost double battery usage).  Also the battery usage just for measuring HR 24/7 has increased more than double or triple compared to how it was with the older firmwares. Finally the HR a couple of times during the day it stays at 200bpm and it fixes only if I power off/on the watch. I only use stock watch face and widgets. I will send the watch to service  when I will be able to do so. I will also have to find an alternative device because the local service is slower than a snail.

Sounds like a defective battery.

There's nothing inherently wrong with the Fenix battery life - when you don't have a defective one, they work really well and last a very long time. But like any other portable electronic device, sometimes you get one with a defective battery, and that's why we have warranties.

bluefish said:

There was a lot of approval for my test result (23 upvotes) in this thread:

Just because you had 23 up votes doesn't validate that the F6 is plagued with this issue. Case in point.  Both my husband and I gave you up votes, but neither of us had the issue.  I can't speak for him as he's at work right now, but I gave you a up vote because your post was well thought out and explained what was happening to you clearly. It had nothing to do with me having the same problem.  With that, the best advice I can give Kinoal is if you like what the F6 has to offer, buy it. If you don't like it or you have issues, return it and try something else. 

If WHR is the singular feature on which you are going to base your go/no-go on, then the F6P is no better than any other watch.  It doesn't work for me when moving- only at rest.  The recent updates have made it almost functional for walking/hiking- but running it will invariably pick up my running cadence.  But- that's just me.  Other people have much better luck.  I guess my wrist/skin/blood flow- whatever, just doesn't work well.  I use a separate Optical HR monitor on my forearm (Wahoo TiCKR) that works just fine.  Perhaps the Forerunner 945 is a bit better on WHR as the watch itself is so much lighter.  It has all the same capability- albeit with a smaller screen size.  

That said- for everything else- it's the most fully functional and complete multisport training watch you can buy.  Think of the Apple Watch as the best smart watch- that also will track your activity.  And the Fenix 6P as the best sports watch, that will also be a smart-watch.   They really don't overlap much in their intended product space.  So- decide what capability you really want.  

I'm extremely happy with my F6P.  i'm jealous of those for whom the WHR works.  But- I'm jealous of people whose apple airpods stay in their ears.  I guess I just have to live with my physical deformities.

C.sco said:

My 6X battery has been nothing short of amazing, 3+ weeks between charges typically, and even with 24/7 pulseOX turned on for the last month I still get almost 2 weeks between charges.

Can you elaborate on what you've turned off in order to have 2 or 3 weeks of battery? 

With everything turned on, 10 days is the normal. With pulseOX turned off you get about 3-4 days extra. And these are the estimates after a full charge and without working out (i.e. activities)... 

One thing I found seriously increases battery life is set up a custom power profile that just leaves HR on and set that for overnight. Switching off Pulse Ox, Wifi and BT overnight seriously helps

Sure:

• Backlight off during daylight hours
• Gesture backlight off
• Backlight at 5%
• Automatic Battery Saver mode during sleep hours turned on
• Tones turned off
• Factory watchface (not ConnectIQ)

With those settings, and PulseOX turned off, I get about 3 weeks (give or take a couple days, depending on how much activity recording I'm doing). Turn PulseOX on 24/7 mode, it drops to a little under 2 weeks. In addition to those settings, I also don't use music with this watch, and during activities I make sure not to leave the watch on a map datascreen when I'm not using it.

The automatic battery saver during sleep hours I think is a BIG reason why my battery lasts so long - in the months before that feature existed, my battery only lasted 2 weeks at the most, using otherwise identical settings. The watch used to drain 3-4% every night while I was asleep, now it drains 0-1% each night. Stretch that out over a few weeks, and that adds up to A LOT of the battery capacity that was getting wasted by the watch unnecessarily displaying a fancy battery-draining watchface and communicating with my phone while I was asleep.

The watchface is the second biggest factor. Starting on day 1 of owning the watch, and for several months following, I used a fancy CIQ watchface that I had downloaded. As soon as I got rid of it and started using a basic built-in watchface, my time between charges skyrocketed (and also, the watch just starting performing a lot better all around - the UI is a lot more responsive when it isn't getting bogged down by a CIQ watchface)

Ɛpsilon said:

One of the only reviewers worth

www.dcrainmaker.com/.../amp

for me, the only thing that matters first is cartography and navigation without a smartphone and there no other watch is capable of this.

Thanx. I will try some of your suggestions and see how it goes. Some of them i was already using. But i believe Auto Power Saver during sleep time (which i hadn't turned on) will make a huge impact too. Initially i had it off as i was sleeping with the watch worn, but after seeing that the sleep tracking wasn't good, i never wear it anymore. So the Auto Power Saver is the best option. 

Your other suggestions, more or less, am using already. Especially the factory watchface, from day one. PulseOX makes a huge difference now too. I turned it off until next fall/winter as i won't be having any high altitude activities till then. Is there any other reason to have it on?? 

Bought a Grit X to compare them. I will keep the one that I like better. I can live without some of the functions of the Fenix 6 for better WHR, GPS and a better LCD screen. Let's see.