Starting to see severe battery drain with 12.20 and 12.77 beta!

In the last week or so with 12.20 installed, every time I start an activity, such as walk, hike, etc. the battery level drops around 10% every 30 minutes (just recording the data to the main activity screen, not using the map screen). It never used to drop that much before, and if I extrapolate those figures I will only get up to 5 hours before the battery is exhausted! If I wanted that poor battery life I would have gone for an Apple watch ;-)

I do remember seeing an update notification (I think it was for BT) just before this started to happen, so it may be linked to that? BT version is 6.11. Edit: Yes the last change was indeed the BT update to 6.11.

I have also tried the 12.77 beta, same results... 12.20 before that last BT update was pretty good, certainly I didn't see anything like the level of battery drain I'm now seeing when doing an activity (walk or hike).

Battery drain otherwise is around 10% per day (when not using activities, map, navigate, etc.)

SPO2 is disabled, and I have no Tempe, Footpod, etc. and I don't use the music feature at all on my Fenix 6X Sapphire.

The watch has been rebooted (powered off and back on again after updates), the only thing I haven't tried is a hard reset, but I'm loathe to do that.

Edit: I have now turned off BT on the watch and have now tried a few activities and the battery drain is (with BT disabled) around 5% per 30 minutes, which still seems high as that means that in just 10 hours it would exhaust the battery; this is not normal!

  • I do remember seeing an update notification (I think it was for BT) just before this started to happen, so it may be linked to that?

    When mine started to drain (10%/hour) I switch to battery saver. I really think it is a Blue Tooth issue in my case as every time it is happening after piloting my phone music player or podcast play with my watch.
    The fenix also forget it is linked with my smartphone's players like a golden fish. Very strange.
    Back to battery saver and back to 0.1% by hour.

  • remember seeing an update notification (I think it was for BT) just before this started to happen, so it may be linked to that? BT version is 6.11.

    Try turning off Bluetooth on the watch during one of these hikes or walks to see if it can be eliminated as a cause or if the issue remains?  You can still take your phone with you for emergency situations. 

  • I'd also try rebooting your phone or at least turning Bluetooth off and then back on. Removing the watch from Garmin Connect and adding it again is something else I would try. Good luck!

  • Well you are not alone!

    I thought that 12.77 had cured the problem.

     1 week without huge battery drain despite 2 activities per day.

    Alas this morning, 14% per hour....

    Again no music, no CIQ add on.

  • I use a 645M and noticed last week that after looking at the connect app, the location/navigation seemed to be staying on for ages on my phone (iphone, blue circle around the time) 

    Wonder if the app may be playing an issue in this battery drain issue if it thinks still connected?