Instinct 2/2X Solar is Not Always Solar Charging When It Should Be

The idea behind the unlimited power isn't that the watch will charge when in sunlight, but the that solar power will compensate for power usage (to put it differently, instead of seeing battery % go up, you will see it "not going down"). You should see zero "net" battery usage, not strong charging. The math Garmin is providing is that you should have 150k lux (3 hours per day outside in 50K lux conditions) for unlimited power. The exposure in your chart is well below that.

your daily avg 18.8 is not much. but if you start the days with for ex 50 % and end with 51 % then you have unlimited battery if you countinue like that.on my instinct 2 solar i get around 1-2 procent if i leave it in full sun for 1 hour. you need 50 k lux for 3 hours to get even on battery consumtion that day.

"Hello, my Instinct 2X doesn't charge by sunlight.."

18k sunlight? Thats perhaps 5min direct Sun? If you habe 100k lux then you will see the watch charges over the Day but 18k is nothing 

Hello.

Nope, several hours of sun exposure. Check the graph in the attached photo from the connect app.

Should I fly into the sun to get the promised solar charge?

As I wrote before, I left the watch in full sunlight for a day.

Vlad B said:

i left it on the balcony in direct sunlight, no shadows, it was on power saving mode all the time.

This is the full amount of direct sunlight my city gets in one day.

Garmin promised 2x solar charging. The commercials say infinite power, the reviews on big websites applaud the almost limitless energy with solar charging.

I don't think 1% charge while on power saving mode, not being used, after a full day in the sun (direct sunlight, no window or anything else in between) is up to the hype Garmin promoted.

I really love the watch - it has a cool design, the health tracking is very nice, i love the black and white screen. Still I was hoping for a more sturdier solar charge - maybe leave it unused in the sun 2 days and get 10-20 percent? But I only get max 1% in a day.

It’s not Garmin’s problem your expectations are not aligned to reality - unlimited power doesn’t mean 10-20% charge/day, it means your watch doesn’t discharge.

I understand your point of view, but the feature says solar charging... it's a bit misleading if the feature does not do this.

Even so, the watch discharged quite a bit even between daily sun exposure.

I got 89%, left in the sun (the available sun in my city) 1 day, got up to 90%. Then wore it to bed for sleep tracking. Went down to 88%. Which is cool, gives me quite a long period of usage between charges. Still... on my particular unit I can't seem to benefit from the solar charging. It seems to be discharging normally, without any real impact from the solar charging.

Maybe my unit is faulty? Or maybe this is the normal thing?

Still... the ideea of solar charging entails getting a boost on battery, no?...

I don't know. And please be more thoughtful when replying to others. It is Garmin's problem if a customer isn't happy with one of their products, the same as it would be my problem if I were a producer and a customer was unhappy with my products.

Thank you

Vlad B said:

I got 89%, left in the sun (the available sun in my city) 1 day, got up to 90%.

Letting the watch on the sun alone is not a good idea, since it overheats (unless cooled for example in a water container), and the charging is then inefficient. And it makes little sense to me removing the watch from my wrist for a day, when I can charge it to 100% in half an hour with a charger.

The primary role of the solar charging is to help reducing the consumption, hence prolonging the battery life while you are active, it is not supposed to be a replacement of the USB charger.

The specifications are quite clear (with a caveat that the unlimited charging applies to smartwatch mode). And weekly daily solar chart did say you haven’t met these conditions a single day. Of course you have every right to be disappointed but please don’t formulate your disappointment as Garmin not meeting their specifications as that’s not true.

... also please note the word "outside" in the quote thr4 posted. Because if you let the watch charging inside, behind a window, then you should be aware that the window filters the UV part of the spectrum that is being harvested by the Power Glass of the watch. It means by charging it inside, you further reduce the efficiency of the charging (apart of letting it overheat if it is not worn on the wrist, or cooled artificially).