Garmin Instinct 3 solar battery drain

Good afternoon! I ran into a problem on iOS 8.09 when using Garmin instinct 3 solar. After installing CIQ and any applications (for example battery monitor), the watch starts to discharge 1-2% per hour. Is this a normal discharge

The first charge to 100% was enough for me for 5 days with 5 hours of GPS training.

I use iphone with software version 18.3.2 and the latest versions of the Connect and ConnectIQ apps.

  • The problem hasn't gone away. As soon as I install ANY app, the watch's battery consumption increases several times. As a bonus, I get reboots and crashes, bugs, disgusting localization of the app (for some reason, other companies are thinking about translating menu items into other languages).
    In general, Garmin scammed me as a naive fool.

  • I’ll criticize Garmin in the area’s that it’s worth criticizing (and there are plenty), but it’s not Garmin’s responsibility to optimize the app for the I3, it is the developers responsibility to update their apps for the I3.

    This is still a new watch and the first six months of any new product there are always going to be bugs that need to be worked out. Anytime you buy any software product,  you’ll always have issues once mass distribution of the product takes place that can’t be tested out 100% “in house”.

  • 1. I must be really lucky, as I can provide bug-finding work for the entire team of Garmin developers. In just a few weeks, I've come to believe that the company saved money by not hiring testers.

    2. I fully understand that Garmin is not responsible for third-party developers, BUT for some reason, "Connect IQ store" is signed by a Garmin developer. Funny coincidence.

  • I think this is different from an optimization issue since even Garmin's new I3 watchfaces from the connect store slow down the watch and have much higher drain. Even just putting the time only as a watchface is causing 3x drain.

    Seems almost as if they are running an emulation layer currently for I3. Either way I hope this is a known issue at Garmin and they are working on a fix.

  • As soon as I install ANY app, the watch's battery consumption increases several times.
    BUT for some reason, "Connect IQ store" is signed by a Garmin developer.

    So ANY app, or only those signed by Garmin? And which type of app exactly? I use multiple CIQ apps, and do not see any increased battery drain. Instinct 3 AMOLED even surpasses the specifications, and holds much longer than claimed. The Solar model is a bit short of expectations, but still has plenty of battery life.

  • Yes, for any applications. Both from Garmin and third-party developers. Currently, I have 15 days of usage with 8% battery remaining (Solar model, 45mm). During this time, there were no more than 4 hours of GPS workouts, 5% backlight (activated by gesture after sunset), a built-in watchface, SpO2 completely turned off, and about 20 notifications per day (90% of which are without vibration and sound). All of this seems quite far from the claimed specifications. 
    I was told in private messages how to collect error logs, so I'll try to gather them, although I will be temporarily unavailable

  • As soon as I install ANY app, the watch's battery consumption increases several times.
    Yes, for any applications. Both from Garmin and third-party developers. Currently, I have 15 days of usage with 8% battery remaining (Solar model, 45mm).

    That's with or without the CIQ apps? The specifications claim up to 28 days in smartwatch mode (no activities at all) at I3 Solar 45mm, if the 15 days are with the apps and you get several times more, then your watch would actually surpass the specifications by a huge margin.

    Or are you getting several times less than the 15 days with the CIQ apps? If so, how many times less? And which apps exactly?

    Otherwise, 15 days with 8% remaining, and 4 hours of GPS activities, corresponds roughly to some 20 days of battery life, which is (based on my measurement) the true limit of I3 Solar 45mm. The AMOLED 45mm model offers much longer battery time under the same conditions and without the Always On Display mode. I've got 55 days.

  • As I mentioned in the initial message, after installing any application, there is a significant battery drain of 15+% per day. I only achieved 15 days of battery life by disabling all possible settings (even the backlight at 5% and 4 seconds).

  • i never use watchfaces from ciq, they just cause problems, use only the ones that came with the watch, garmin ciq store is not good at all

  • I never use a knife and fork, they just cause problems, I eat only with my hands, utensils are not good at all.