Battery care for new 7X?

It was recommended long time ago for different types of batteries. Garmin most likely is using lithium based battery. Such battery is recommended to be not fully charged and left like that for long period of time. Neither to fully discarded and left. It's recommended to not let drop below 40% and not change above 80%. But for watch probably is enough to not discharge too often.

What Mr Z said is correct but I will add my version (more detailed).

It all comes down to how many years do you plan to keep the watch, if you usually keep it for 4-5 years before upgrading then continue to read this, if you plan to upgrade as soon as something else shows up (Fenix 8) you might as well ignore the rest of the message because no matter how you use the battery it should last 2 years with no problems.

So what is really bad (worse case scenarios) for the battery chemistry and what in the end manages to wear the battery faster is to charge the watch to 100% and turn off and place it in storage or leave it on till it hits 0% battery and leave it at 0% for weeks/months at a time. 

Also avoid placing the watch for long periods of time in a hot place, high temps also tend to wear the battery faster... 

I usually charge the watch up to 80-85% and let it discharge to 20-25%.... I only charge it to 100% when I actually need it (long weekend, long hike, long weekend away from chargers and so on). I always have a USB power brick for my phone and watch when I am away for long periods of time.

If you would like to store the watch for long periods of time charge it to 40-45-50% (max) and place it in a cool dry place... Also check the charge at least once every 2-3 months and keep it in the 40% ish range

If you take good care of the battery you will loose about 2 to 5% battery capacity per year... if you don't you will loose about 5 to 10% per year... 

It will also depends on how cheap it's to change the battery... if you have a Garmin service center close by and the battery swap is cheap you might not want to keep things in check all the time.

timed1 said:

It will also depends on how cheap it's to change the battery... if you have a Garmin service center close by and the battery swap is cheap you might not want to keep things in check all the time.

Garmin does not replace batteries on the fenix. 

uugghh.... that's bad...

With the Right to Repair movement things might change in the future...

It is actually not very difficult to replace the battery.  I have seen them available at a very reasonable price on aliexpress. I recall one of the tear downs of a fenix discussed how to change the battery. There are also YouTube videos. 

https://youtu.be/La73m_t0Sr0

https://youtu.be/2o_F6NxtkAk

https://youtu.be/tQB_MKGYTeI

I hope someone will eventually show what battery is in the 7 series and how they are connected to the watch. The 5X, as in the videos, actually has a connector on the battery whereas a 6 has a battery soldered directly to it. So that could make it a bit more difficult to change the battery. 

Personally I would worry about compromising the waterproofing if I took my own watch apart. I doubt the gasket (or whatever they use to seal the watch) is really meant to come apart and go back together - I'm guessing that when Garmin services their watches they probably (at the very least) replace the gaskets, and possibly also apply some sort of grease or other treatment to them.

While you are correct Brian let me take this discussion a but further because there are some issues that people need to know

- While indeed replacing the battery is not very complicated, you still need some skill, patience and some basic tools.

- Battery. Getting a new battery of a good quality is not something common these days since there are so many manufacturers (mostly from China) and not all offer good quality... mostly offer low price and poor quality. Even the higher priced batteries are not on the same level of quality as the original one. My experience with Aliexpress is not great... without getting into details I was after a certain battery and I had to buy 3 from 3 sellers in order to get a good one... My car backup camera, I had to buy 5 in order to get 1 of very good quality, 1 was garbage, 2 were decent, 1 was good, 1 was excellent. Yeah, I am very picky, it's true. If you ask be I rather pay more for a good battery right from the start and not try my luck on Ali.

- I am still hoping that things will change with the Right to Repair movement and Garmin will give us the opportunity to be able to buy high quality parts from them.

From what I have seen on other sport watches there is a special silicon to grease the gasket before assembling the watch back. Also the gasket wears down (will become not so flexible in time or changes shape a bit) and need replacement after 2-3-4 years if you decide to open the watch. Also you need to be careful not to pinch the gasket while you put everything back (seen it happening). Like I said... you need patience and some skill and knowledge