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Confused About Wi-Fi Setting an Battery Usage

DerDembo
over 3 years ago

I am a bit confused regarding the impact of the Wi-Fi setting on battery run time.

One argument would be, that 99% of the time the F7 wouldn't need a Wi-Fi connection. It should mainly be active to send workout data or download maps & music.

However, on the other hand Garmin states (https://support.garmin.com/en-US/?faq=dE6g4Z9DUz9cCcXMENwfK7):

  • Wi-Fi: The watch will download updates and upload step and other activity data through Wi-Fi. When it is always active, it is continually searching for, and maintaining connections. The Wi-Fi on the watch will connect through any open Wi-Fi source, including many restaurants.

Now that could potentially result in an incredible battery hit. Just imaging walking through any city, I usually see a massive amount of unencrypted networks. Most of them would show you a landing page to actually access the internet, however, if the watch attempts to upload step and health data every few minutes by randomly connecting to any unencrypted network it sees (and then failing to do so) would quickly chew through the battery (and probably be a security nightmare).

So are there any clarifications from Garmin? Is the linked document really the way things are supposed to work? Simply restricting the whole process to known networks would be a big step towards somewhat balancing things out, but I didn't find a corresponding setting.

  • 0 over 3 years ago

    Yeah that does not make sense.  I wouldn't want the Wi-Fi to poll much at all.  It would be nice if it polled in a sort of cyclic way.  Say, turn on and scan every 2 minutes for 1 minute.  If unsuccessful stretch it out to 4 minutes for 1 minute, then 8, 16, 32, 64 minutes up to 256 (about 4.5 hours) and then start back at the 2 minute.  That way it tries to be aggressive at first but then backs off as if it makes the assumption you are not going to be near your WiFi anytime soon.  I only have my home and work networks saved in the watch so I don't know why they'd let it poll for open networks all of the time.  Most networks are locked down anyways and it's not like there is enough reason to poll unless it does  to pull down weather updates.

  • 0 over 3 years ago

    Yea I only turn wifi on to update/download music, then it gets turned right back off.  I use Garmin Express for Map updates.

  • 0 over 3 years ago
    DerDembo said:
    Now that could potentially result in an incredible battery hit.

    But it doesn't. My WiFi setting remains on 24/7. Granted I've never checked to see how much of a difference there really is between off and on but I do know battery life is pretty close to as good as Garmin suggests it should be. 

    DerDembo said:
    So are there any clarifications from Garmin?

    Unlikely to be any clarifications from Garmin unless you are experiencing a problem with battery life that you can pin down to WiFi issues. In which case you should contact Garmin Support directly.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to Dr Phil

    Well, I've written support. I think they shouldn't publish contradicting information, but I have no high hopes that they sort out their communication. 

  • +1 over 3 years ago in reply to DerDembo

    Thank you for your feedback.

    The behavior of your Wi-Fi being enabled on your watch mirrors how a smartphone behaves. The reason I do not expect the Support Center article to be changed, the description is accurate to the Wi-Fi functionality. Bigger picture, your watch will rarely use Wi-Fi since your #1 default is for all syncs to go through your Connect Mobile APP first when your Bluetooth is enabled in your Connectivity > Phone menu settings.