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Is Solar worth it?

SLIME4LIFE
over 2 years ago

I own a Fenix 7 Solar Sapphire.  I will admit first off that my training block and my work schedule, I’m not outside enough to experience the true benefits of Solar. 

but yesterday, I was outside at a amusement park from 10:30 AM to 6 PM. 

weather was sunny , 91 degrees with some clouds but not enough in my opinion to affect Solar intensity.  I actually looked various points through the day and the little circle indicator on the widget was more than 80% filled each time I looked .  

I ended up getting no “actual” charge.  Watch was at 69% when we got there and left at 65%.  I threw my watch into power saver mode , which had the following settings 

  • Watch Mode : Low Power 
  • Music disabled 
  • Phone disconnected 
  • Wifi disconnected 
  • wrist heart rate don’t change 
  • pulse ox turn off 
  • backlight don’t change .

My entire day I got 131 LX HRS.  


Can someone explain to me how this is valuable.  I feel like I’m misunderstanding the feature and/or it’s poorly advertised.  I want to like it, but almost 8 hours in the sun and nothing to show for it?

Thanks for any info you can provide.  

  • 0 over 2 years ago

    Checking back in after 2 weeks of using solar. Can't say it is amazing but honestly it helps keeps regular battery drain from going down. I have the Tactix Pro and almost bought the regular Tactix but glad I got the solar as I do like the red ring and any extra battery life over 3+ weeks is better than nothing. Charging of course for 10 minutes is faster and more efficient than the ring as others have pointed out.

    Now if we are talking about my 1040 solar I have to say that does really well minimizing the drain in sunny conditions. Also showing how much time back is really nice vs. the lux that the F7 line does.

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to ericbfit

    yeah that's it. the tactix 7 pro is useful if you're out and about and it definitely helps slow the drain if you're doing a solid 5 hour hike, but it's not going to appreciably charge the battery (nor do i think garmin ever said it would). i'm looking forward to getting the 1040 solar shortly, but that's not really a fair comparison as 1. the pure solar panels are MUCH larger and 2. the background panel is 14-15% efficient vs 7% on the tactix due to the lack of sapphire glass on the 1040. also i'd say 3. the 1040 being a bike computer that is always facing the sun at all times will have an unfair advantage over a wristwatch (although i'm looking forward to seeing the results personally as i mountain bike. how does it do harvesting under tree canopies? stay tuned...)

    still, i think garmin needs to do a much better job of showing what power is being harvested on the watches. i was sitting out today in full sun and saw that it took 40 seconds to increase 1k lux. what does this mean in terms of savings? no idea. also, it's great that you can see the history in GC, but it would be nice to be able to see averages and totals. for example, last wed you had 60k lux and for the week you averaged 50k lux each day, which represented 17 minutes per day of battery savings. something like that...

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to Skyewalkr

    Yes they need to transition to time gained, etc based on the lux. It is just easier to think about vs. the lux. I don't get all caught up in it so it does not bother me but I am guessing since the time gained for F7 series is so little compared to the 1040 solar (for obvious reasons) I think this is mainly the decision to keep it lux based.

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to ericbfit

    most likely. but then you get threads like this asking what's the point? better for them to just be honest and show that yes, you saved 3 minutes in battery today. congratulations

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to Skyewalkr

    Totally agree. Someone mentioned that there is an option to get into developer or similar mode and then battery drain can be seen in mA. The same person said that he can see negative drain from the battery when watch is exposed to the sun, which means battery is getting charged. If we know battery capacity we can calculate how much is charged. However, keep in mind that charging energy is just leftover of what is needed to power the watch. And required power depends of the watch usage.

    In my case when I'm outdoor and watch is exposed to the sun, most of the time I'm doing some workout and using GPS. Which means, watch is most likely using more energy than solar can provide but at least, solar can slow down battery discharge. How much? Probably not so much but still better than nothing.

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to Skyewalkr
    Skyewalkr said:
    yeah that's it. the tactix 7 pro is useful if you're out and about

    dumb question, but why are people who are not 'out and about' buying a GPS outdoor focused watch??

    Complaining about solar if you don't leave the house seems odd.....

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to 5135968

    There are quite a few people on this forum who don't often actually go outside and record activities; rather, they sit indoors and search for bugs to complain about. It's easy to spot them, look for popular phrases like "costed 1000 euro" and "shame on you Garmin"

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to Geroelltrampel

    Everyone is free to express their opinion, but no-one should be rude. This is a forum where people come to exchange knowledge a learn from others.  Just follow a simple rule and respect eachother. If you cannot add value don't post offensive remarks.