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Feedback - Garmin Instinct 2X Solar with Course Map (Battery issue)

Kelly
over 1 year ago

Hi team,

This message is meant for the Garmin developers however I would be interested if anyone here has encountered a similar result. 

I recently purchased a 2X Solar (Tactical version) and am currently training for a marathon which is coming up this month, so I'm at the stage where I'm doing my longer runs once a week. I have only had the watch for 6 weeks and I've already had it run out of battery on me twice at the end of my runs, just after stopping and saving it.

As you can imagine I was a bit surprised to encounter this considering the long life of the battery

The first time it happened I did a 25km road run, with the course map... and I also used the built-in light for 30 minutes at default brightness settings. Unfortunately, I don't recall what the battery level was when I started my run so I can't use this as a definitive example.

In the second instance, I took part in a 30km trail race. I charged the battery the morning of the race, and it was at 98% when I took it off the charger. Again, a course map was used but no light.

My time was 4:47 and it died again at the finish line just after saving. You can view the data here. All other settings are default, including GPS etc.

I have been running with an HRM-Pro Plus at the same time, and during these long rungs I also have my phone with me. Bluetooth is on so this is another factor to consider.

My previous Garmin was a 245 Music, and I did half marathons with it, with Course Map active and music running at the same time. Absolutely no issues.

I have since gone on other longer runs (21km distance) without Course Map running and I don't have the same issue with the battery draining.

Is there an issue with Course Map related to the firmware?

I have not contacted the retailer about the issue as I'm hoping it can be resolved via a firmware update. To be honest, it's not a major issue for me, however I do wonder if the battery in my watch is the issue rather than just the firmware.

Thanks

  • 0 over 1 year ago
    Kelly said:
    I have since gone on other longer runs (21km distance) without Course Map running and I don't have the same issue with the battery draining.

    It is normal that a watch with MIP display (like the Instinct) consumes more battery if you have the map page constantly open. On this page, the pixels are constantly updated, which consumes power on a MIP display. A static display without pixel changes consumes virtually no power.
    Tip: only call up the map page when necessary and then switch back to another page that displays less data.

  • 0 over 1 year ago

    I think you need to do the same trail route and not some other (longer) route with and without course maps (and all other settings being the same or nearly same, including the weather conditions) to pinpoint navigation as the source of battery drain.

    MIP is already power efficient compared to AMOLED and the I2X only has breadcrumb navigation, so for an activity like running where the change in pixels in a map is relatively slow, I would think that using map wouldn't consume a lot more power than what the ever changing data fields would during an activity. So if the power drain is significantly more for the same course with map enabled than with just the data fields screen, it might be a bug after all.

  • 0 over 1 year ago

    Something doesn't seem right here.  I have the exact same watch and have used it in similar conditions but biking.  Just a few weeks ago, I participated in a two day 100mi ride.  I charged the watch up before the first day and didn't charge for the entire 2 days.  Recording for over 8hrs total with the map screen on most of the ride, I recall that I used less than 50%. 

    Connected sensors: HRM, Tempe, Cadence, Speed, Varia Radar. 

    GNSS setting: All systems

  • 0 over 1 year ago

    Hi there,

    I'm recently ran a 25km 1200eg mountain race on my 2X in which my settings using Multiband and navigating a course, my battery from 90% went down to around 55% for a total of 5hours 45min total time.

    I would experiment further with leaving your HRM strap behind. I had a weird experience from previous firmware where running a steady 1 hour easy around my neighborhood drained my 2X for 30% while using my Wahoo Tickr in BT mode. 

    Did you set your running dynamics to use the HRM Pro as well?