Backlight - impact on battery?

Heikoo 26 days ago

This is not strictly a Fenix-only question but rather applies to all MIP watches. But i guess here is the best location to get an answer:

Did anybody check how much different backlight settings affect battery life (e.g. % per hour), when kept always on?

For example will i save much by setting it to 5% instead of 20%?
Or maybe the backlight draws so little power that it doesn't really matter?

Top Replies

gaijin 26 days ago +2 suggested

I don't have any exact numbers for you, but after years of experience with Garmin backlight on MIP watches, it is evident that the backlight is a major battery consumer.

Anything that can be done to…
martinowen 26 days ago in reply to gaijin +1

I'm pretty sure if you reduce the timeout time too, you'll see an increase in remaining battery life. Also, I used to keep bluetooth on all the time, but gain 2 days remaining battery by turning it off…
Heikoo 26 days ago in reply to gaijin +1

thanks a lot, good to know! Currently, i leave Backlight permanently on for pool swims and evening training runs (set to "after sunset"). It's more a convenience thing to improve visibility…

All Replies

0 gaijin 26 days ago

I don't have any exact numbers for you, but after years of experience with Garmin backlight on MIP watches, it is evident that the backlight is a major battery consumer.

Anything that can be done to reduce backlight intensity and duration will result in significant battery saving.

So yes, you will save a lot of battery by reducing the setting to 5% instead of 20%.

HTH

0 martinowen 26 days ago in reply to gaijin

I'm pretty sure if you reduce the timeout time too, you'll see an increase in remaining battery life. Also, I used to keep bluetooth on all the time, but gain 2 days remaining battery by turning it off. I then only turn on to connect to my phone maybe once a day

0 Heikoo 26 days ago in reply to gaijin

thanks a lot, good to know! Currently, i leave Backlight permanently on for pool swims and evening training runs (set to "after sunset"). It's more a convenience thing to improve visibility - not strictly necessary.

0 jan.shim 25 days ago

I could be wrong but I think backlight that's activated by wrist gesture also turns on during the day even in full sunlight, leading to unnecessary power consumption. I have back lighting turned off and only during activities after dark do I ever need to look at the screen.

0 AssimilatorX 23 days ago

Mine are set to 5% normal, 5% in activity and adaptive in sleep mode, using gesture activation after sunset. For me as an electronics repair man, seems that the flashlight led is more power efficient than the one used for the display LOL.

0 Heikoo 21 days ago in reply to jan.shim

no, the gesture activation can also be set to "after sunset" only.

0 RDIFRA 20 days ago

You can do some tests adding a datafiled in the activity profile that record battery usage, and check the battery life after the activity.

in garmin connect you get a chart with the values.

I use "Battery Up Down"

0 mmoy 14 days ago

My experience is that intensity and duration have a fairly big impact on battery life but I'm charging once a week and have it on high brightness and eight seconds duration. If you want to maximize battery life, set it to minimum and the duration to minimum.

0 Tosk_F 14 days ago

Anecdotally, using my settings that include after sunset / before sunrise, the watch will use 1 - 3% extra battery per day compared to only using button press backlight.

The percentage range is relative to available daylight and amount of activity per day.