Battery issues after update 19.20

Everyone with battery life and other issues needs to call Garmin support and lodge a ticket and send the requested files. BTW there is a V19.21 to address other issues. 

I have upgraded two different watches to 19.20 with radically different results

1) Fenix 6x - Actually a brand new watch, shipped with 15.20 software. After upgrading to 19.20 the watch showed 21 days battery estimate but around 8 hours later with the watch otherwise unused it showed 11 days

2) Fenix 6 Sapphire - Upgraded from 18.71b to 19.20. Stayed at 100% for over 8 hours, and showed 98% over 24 hours later. Thought the battery indicator was stuck at first. This is with wrist HR, phone connection, BT on. This obviously isn't accurate as that would indicate approx. 30 days with less than 3% a day..., so it will be interesting to see what I finally get (I usually get 7 to 8 days max)

Well I had a support chat with Garmin and they advised a reset. I performed a hard reset and spent the time to get things mainly back as they were. It’s only been a couple of hours but I’m still losing around 1% an hour so it looks like it’s still draining at 20%+ per day. It seems clear to me that there’s something in this update that’s causing a significant drain. 

I didn’t mention this earlier but I have noticed that the red PulseOx LEDs seem to be on far more often than before. I know having PulseOx monitoring all day is a significant drain, but I’ve been running the watch like that for about a year without issue, and I’ve only noticed the LEDs on very occasionally when reading at night. Recently though they’re catching my eye all the time. Maybe that has something to do with it, maybe not, but it’s a change I’ve noticed. 

I think it became clear, based on the multiple posts on this forum and e.g. reddit, hat 19.20 has an impact on battery life. This is the most popular post and I can't find someone got a proper answer of Garmin to see when this get fixed. I can imagine there is missed impact in software updates, but I also expect a quick fix of Garmin to solve this problem. To have the updates features and bugfixes without battery drain.
So anyone got some new/clear information? A reply of Garmin maybe?

With every new firmware release a few people complain of battery life problems. Most do not. I've owned a 6X Pro Solar since December 2019, so heading towards two years. I've installed most firmware since V5.0 including betas and RCs. I've NEVER had a problem with unusual battery drain.

From the multiple threads across multiple firmware versions it seems to me that the battery problems are possibly caused by some sort of file corruption on the watch, not the firmware itself. This is why only a few reports emerge rather than thousands.

I've been running 19.20 for two weeks with zero problems. Yesterday I installed 19.21 and charged my watch to 80% exactly. Today, 16 hours after charging, the watch still shows 80%. I imagine it will drop a % or two when I walk the dog this morning and again when I bike ride. My typical consumption over a week between charges is about 50-60%, or 7-8% per day. I doubt that will change with 19.21.

I only use a Garmin watch face and widgets and I have only a few CIQ data fields. When I install new firmware I always soft restart the watch and then hard restart it. Maybe this contributes to my good fortune. I'm not sure. 

I imagine it is very difficult for Garmin to resolve these problems if they are localised to some individual watches due to corrupt files (or possibly CIQ additions), rather than any fault in the firmware itself.

eezytiger said:

I've NEVER had a problem with unusual battery drain.

Sorry but how is this helpful to the people who do? - think before you speak - there have been MULTIPLE documented fixes for battery drain within Garmin firmware updates over the years.

I get really annoyed when people jump on here and essentially blame the user - it's really clear that there are battery drain issues at various points as Garmin's changelists literally mention fixes for them!

You can't just dismiss problem reports because you never have them or try to minimise it - I find it hard to get my head around the motivation behind the people who do, frankly.

Correct. The user should be the one served. Identify, fix and communicate. All Garmin needs to do and we’re all happy

Yes. It is now on 79% after a 42 minute dog walk with GPS+GLONASS, WHR and Tempe connected. There was also 10-15 minutes GPS soak while driving to the park.

   .  

The only evidence I have of the drop from 80% can be shown in the DCRainmaker Analyser graphs for the walk.

   And 15 minutes later it is down to 78%, so the battery gauge is not stuck.

I won't clog the feed with more photos, but after 100 minutes indoors cycling with power meter, cadence, speed and chest strap, and three hours later than the last post, the watch is down to 76%.

So that's -4% in 24 hours including two recorded activities. I do not use any battery saving profiles, music or pulse ox. Backlight is all day long except for DND between 22:00 and 07:00. It's very much business as usual regarding battery and everything else for me.

I just disabled the pulse oximeter to be only on while sleeping and I am finally back to a pre 19.20 battery