Does solar really work? Or we got fooled

bluefish said:

You are going around in circles.

Nope. The originally discussed text block addresses exactly this question and says exactly what I mentioned. Simple german language, no doubt about it.

I prefer the clear statements regarding this topic over your new quotes which are much more fuzzy and allow different interpretations or wishful thinking.

However, only Garmin knows the implementation for the Fenix 7 and you can try it like others did and find out what is really implemented. 

If you think that Garmin promises you something, feel free to contact them and let them explain it to you. I tried it several times and that was the last time.

Michael said:

Nope. The originally discussed text block addresses exactly this question and says exactly what I mentioned. Simple german language, no doubt about it.

Your interpretation of the statement "not in the conventional sense" seems to be the problem. Because that is what Garmin says.

In the support article you linked, there is simply NO statement that says "the battery is NOT charged when switched on.

Everything there is "not in the conventional sense" ... "as with a power supply". This does not mean that the battery is NOT charged.

Garmin describes in the English article "the solar charging is not to be seen as PRIMARY charging function". So it is charged. Plain English.

Michael said:

I prefer the clear statements regarding this topic over your new quotes which are much more fuzzy and allow different interpretations or wishful thinking.

plain english.

Plain german

clear enough now ?

bluefish said:

Your interpretation of the statement "not in the conventional sense" seems to be the problem. Because that is what Garmin says.

That's exactly your problem and leads to wishful thinking.  Read this text block again until the last sentence(!) and try to understand why they mention a much slower charging rate in case of a switched off device and why they don't do that for a switched on device.

Quoting some other sites with completely contradicting statements which may or may not address the Fenix 7 does not help. It shows only that Garmin is not consistent in their statements.

Michael said:

Quoting some other sites

Michael said:

which may or may not address the Fenix 7

Then just look up which device this manual I linked is about ;) Fenix 7 !

See: Device Information - Charging the watch - Solar charging 

https://www8.garmin.com/manuals/webhelp/GUID-C001C335-A8EC-4A41-AB0E-BAC434259F92/EN-US/GUID-CA57BF17-793A-403C-B89E-F7B2E93D340A-homepage.html 

bluefish said:

clear enough now ?

—-

Michael said:

Quoting some other sites with completely contradicting statements

Nope, it's not other sites. It's the exact same support article you're referring to, which states that the solar energy generated is converted into battery charge. And that the solar energy obtained is displayed on the watchface or widget.
That this display of the charge supplied to the battery (as described above in the article linked by you) does not occur in the off state, I think is logical.

https://support.garmin.com/de-DE/?faq=kGDYS8VOj30eMl3lMyqSi6 

——

I have read the statement in the support article you linked several times, and both I, as well as other people in this thread can not confirm your assumptions about Garmin's statement.

It seems like all these replies are for the regular size Fenix. I honestly don't think that the Fenix s series solars work at all. I wonder about the regular size, but nearly halving the face size, there's just no way that could not have an effect. I have tried every possible test I can think of, have replaced my watches, have compared them side by side with non solar Fenix and non solar other garmin watches, and the solar is always the worst. Usually, the battery drains much faster when it's in the sun (I think it'd because it has that intensity tracking app that probably uses more juice than the cells could produce). It wouldn't be a big deal if it just meant a little battery drain, but here in the USA, I paid $1000+ for my Fenix to be solar. A regular pro would have been half the price! And, there is so much about how limited the solar is on the full size Fenix here and I had told them a good 2+ years ago...Garmin had to know that the solar at least on the s models would not do anything. Sadly, I finally just have to accept that I feel conned and conned out of a pretty good chunk of money.

In my opinion solar is what HR sensor was when introduced: a marketing trend not really usefull (solar provides very short additional battery life while integrated HR sensors are not a real benefit if you want to base your trainning in your real HR).

The problem is NOT having high-end versions without solar or HR (or even sapphire).

Yes, over time most things improve. 

However even casio has been using solar on their watches for 25 years with functions: barometric altimeter with air pressure and  temp.  This year casio introduced OHR sensors with Polar on selected sport watches and now their solar power capability is reduced to being assistive solar charging (like Garmin).

So while some may argue solar currently is a gimmick or not useful it is a matter of perspective given that these watches have power hungry functions. The solar feature really shines when you are doing long outdoor activities/events (in terms of nearly all day) to give you the extra hours of use (reducing the battery drain while using power hungry chipsets).   If you are indoors, 16+ hours-a-day (8 hours work & 8 hours sleep as an example) and workout only an 1-2 hours outside then the solar feature really won't be noticed as beneficial. 

I started this thread sometime back. I have seen lot of opinions on what is written in the manual and what we should have expected etc. Honestly there is nothing to interpret or understand.

The word SOLAR says it all. If the watch is SOLAR it means, it should charge by the sun. I have tried all possible options and combinations and in my experience it does not charge for real.

People defend saying the power consumption is higher etc and it may not support or get the charge since output is more than input.

If this was a ideal survival outdoor watch then, in worse case scenario with the watch off, the watch battery should have picked up charge to help the user to get information from the watch when it was really needed. But it does not charge when its off.

we all bought solar because we thought of one of those bear grylls lifestyle where you have a james bond on our wrist which will save us in any situation :)

Bottom line i would still like to conclude that SOLAR does not work. This is a half baked potato served to us with some extra $$.

If you go to youtube and also look for the star reviewers of garmin watches, no one really clearly says about it working as desired.

Ive learnt my lesson and i will be careful when i buy watches from garmin again and not fall for the new features and maybe buy one down model and not feel cheated.

Same here, I was expting to notice any battery optimization with solar but nothing (even if I consider the basstery life is very good). But to be honnest, I don't if the solar is bringing something real to the watch. Don't know if I will spend more monney for solar next time...