Related
Options

Solar ring color - is one better than the other?

C.sco
over 3 years ago

My first 7X Solar Sapphire developed an issue where it ended up in an infinite boot loop, and had to get sent back to Garmin. I found another one locally at a store, and before I got a chance to send the old one back to Garmin, I was able to compare them side by side. These are the exact same model watch. Old one on the left, new replacement one on the right.

You can easily tell the solar panel on the old one was a lot redder, and the new one is a lot yellower. I assure you, it's not due to different viewing angles, the solar panel on the new one is substantially yellower at all viewing angles and in all light.

I asked Garmin if this was something I should worry about, and they essentially said "no", and said it was probably due to different viewing angles (it isn't). Anyways, not knowing which one was better, or whether it even made a difference at all, I just let it go.

But in the 2 days I've been using this new one, it seems like it struggles to get very much energy from the sun. This is a screenshot of my watch after driving to work this morning - the bright morning sun was hitting it directly during the entire drive, for 30 minutes - the watchface was perpendicular to the sun, and my window was down so it was not in between the sun and my watch. You can see, it got VERY little energy from the sun. When I did the same thing with my previous 7X, it would net 10-15k Lux hours. This time it barely got 1k. And I noticed the same thing yesterday, walking around outside in the sun, that it barely seemed to take in any energy from the sun at all.

Is it possible that the yellowish version of the solar panel just sucks? Should I return it and try to get another one with the reddish solar panel? It seems like my first 7X solar worked vastly better than this replacement one I got.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to C.sco


    My watch had green or red this morning depending on the angle against the lamp in the room. This evening dark red at home this evening pointed on a different lamp. For me it looks like the argument from Garmin is right, the color is all about the angle and maybe type of lamp. No sunlight here today.

    Yesterday I remember it also at a more yellow color at some times.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to Tom77_no
    Tom77_no said:
    My watch had green or red this morning depending on the angle against the lamp in the room. This evening dark red at home this evening pointed on a different lamp. For me it looks like the argument from Garmin is right, the color is all about the angle and maybe type of lamp. No sunlight here today.

    Yes, absolutely the color does change depending on the angle and the light - but as I showed in the OP, when holding the watches side by side you can clearly see they are different, at the same angle and in the same light. No camera tricks, the difference was as clear as day no matter what angle I looked at them together.

    With my 1st and 3rd watches, the solar rings was mostly dark red at most angles and in most light conditions.

    The 2nd one was mostly yellow at most angles and most light conditions.

    You are correct that it's totally normal for it to look yellowish at some angles and in certain light - but what I'm trying to convey, is that the watch that had solar issues was almost always yellow, regardless of angle or lighting.

    The two I've tried that have good solar, look like your pictures. The one that had bad solar looked only like the top picture, but all the time. Never looked reddish like your bottom photo, in any light or at any angle.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to C.sco

    Ok, see. Guess that could indicate a problem then.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to Tom77_no

    Today I just did the same experiment I did yesterday, with hanging my arm out my car window on the way to work this morning. 30 minute drive, watch in direct sunlight most of the time. Basically the same weather and sun conditions, and same time of day, as when I did it yesterday. The results:

    16.4k Lux hours today (with the new watch)

    1.0k lux hours yesterday (with the previous watch).

    Obviously not a totally scientific experiment, since I was unfortunately unable to test them both at the same time side-by-side, but I think the massive difference definitely shows something was wrong with yesterday's watch.

    It's all good though, I know every watch (from any company) can't be perfect, that's why we have warranties. In the end, it all worked out fine. I mostly just started this thread to make people aware of what to look for in case people think their solar isn't working right.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to C.sco

    When the solar ring is lit by the sun, it becomes redder with time, when there is no lighting, it turns yellow. This is my observation. My F7X Sapphire Solar in different lighting:

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to keiw72

    Hmm.. interesting observation. The second one I got is still red, and it's only ever been inside apart from a few runs in the dark and 30 minutes in the balcony in dreadful weather. The other one is still yellow but does get outside a fair bit during daytime and also got the same 30 balcony minutes. Weather is *** here though and I've not seen the sun in about a week.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to keiw72

    I stand corrected! This morning both watches were red. After spending the night in a dark bedroom. Hmm.. The mystery deepens. Just put them on the balcony again, and both got a massive charge of 1.9k lux/hr. Weather is still *** here.

  • 0 over 3 years ago

    Just for information to anybody who wonders about the colour of amorph solar cells, here are some examples :-)

    As this solar technology has been established in the 70th or 80th, the production process should be rather stable. Due to different semiconductor substrates, the color can vary from green, blue, purple to bronze or yellow. I don´t think that the efficiency is affected too much by the color, so if you notice any severe deviation, e.g. much lower than 50.000Lx in bright sun, there may be an issue with your watch.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to keiw72

    This is a very good observation. Thanks for the picsThumbsup

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to Geroelltrampel

    I have a foldable solar panel (20x40 cm) for my wearables for years. During a break in bright sunlight, I get about 20% battery/ hr for my F6xPS. This would last days for the on board solar loading functionality of the device.