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Brand new Garmin Instinct Solar dramatically drops battery life after software update

9533424
over 4 years ago

I bought a new Garmin Instinct Solar several days ago (Best Buy in the US).

Went for a few bike rides and runs, full charged battery duration indicated as 18 days.

Yesterday I woke up and watch indicated on screen that software had updated itself while I was sleeping.

Since the update max battery life is not higher than 5 days.

I cannot figure out what that update did and how this battery life is now this much shorter than before. I went online and sought advice on how to extend battery life, turned off all functions that drain battery I could. Still only 4 days battery life on ~80% full battery now.

What do I do? How did the update "break" battery life? What do I do to prevent software updates in the future, since I am reading other peoples' posts who have experienced similar issues after software updates?

Thanks.

PS: I have no idea what the previous version of the software was and what it is now.

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    Just power cycle it. Under some conditions it can indeed happen that the watch starts draining the battery after an update, but shutting the watch down and starting again mostly fixes it easily, in such case. It is always better powercycling the watch after an update anyway.

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    Update:

    Beta firmware 9.91 fixed it for me

    i think its a software bug that doest show battery life correctly. 

    When i turn off the fitness tracker, it shows me 21d. If i turn it back on, it jumps back to 5d. However if i turn it back on with the garmin connect app, it still shows me 21d.

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    Same happened to my new watch today. Toggled activity tracker off then on again, and seems to have fixed it, very strange

  • 0 over 3 years ago

    I got mine a day ago (1-22-2021 BestBuy) and on a full charge it says I have 10 days of power left no matter what. It said 24 days the first couple hours then went down to 10 fo some unknown reason, with battery saver enabled it goes up to 14 days while PLUGGED IN to POWER  lol  BATTERY SAVER enabled and 14 days LOL this didnt make sense on a new watch. I think the software needs to re-sync with the battery. I found a FIX though.

    -> Download and install Garmin Express onto your Windows or Mac and do the setup then plug in your watch and let it connect, it 'should' do a FIRMWARE update silently, mine had updates for everything (currently on 12.20 software). Only after unplugging the watch from the computer did the watch say 'UPDATE AVAILABLE, DO YOU WANT TO UPDATE NOW?' select yes! IT took about 5min to update and reboot......  THEN do a factory reset on the watch (it's ok to save your previous stats so dont erase those) afterwards with the new firmware and connect it back with your phone and let it sync.  All seems fine now. Defently seems like a software bug and not a defective battery. 

  • 0 over 3 years ago

    I got mine a day ago (1-22-2021 BestBuy) and on a full charge it says I have 10 days of power left no matter what. It said 24 days the first couple hours then went down to 10 fo some unknown reason, with battery saver enabled it goes up to 14 days while PLUGGED IN to POWER  lol  BATTERY SAVER enabled and 14 days LOL this didnt make sense on a new watch. I think the software needs to re-sync the battery. I found a FIX though. And power cycling the watch didn't fix mine. It needs the new firmware update.

    -> Download and install Garmin Express onto your Windows or Mac and do the setup then plug in your watch to the computer and let it connect, it 'should' do a FIRMWARE update silently, you'll know if it takes like 10+ minutes on fast internet for it to sync its downloading a the new OS (great!), mine had updates for everything including radio firmware (currently on 12.20 software). Only after unplugging the watch from the computer did the watch say 'UPDATE AVAILABLE, DO YOU WANT TO UPDATE NOW?' select yes! It took about 5min to update and reboot back in......  THEN do a factory reset on the watch (it's ok to save your previous stats so don't erase those, it will ask, you want your previous data saved) afterwards with the new firmware and sync it back with your phone and let it sync up. And BAM!  All seems fine now. Defently seems like a software bug and not a defective battery.  I wish the phone APP let me customize the screen and stuff it would be so much faster.  I've been using it all day with it blowing up notifications and stuff and has said 24 days still with all the widgets enabled, barometric storm warnings enabled, all monitors enabled. GARMIN EXPRESS is important for firmware updates so it's a nifty tool to have on your PC.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to defalkner

    I have had the same strange behavior ever since my watch updated to 12.2.  I have done master resets, asked about it here, and contacted Garmin Support.  Nothing has helped the fact that my watch was good for at least a week with daily GPS tracking of an hour or more, then after the update I get 2 1/2 days.  

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to revcph

    Did you do the reset after the update? Thats what did it for me. I ran it all day today getting messages on mine, had it tracking my steps, heart beat, stress, energy levels and it only dropped to 23 days left by the end of day and I had it monitoring my sleep too. ALso, when you put it in energy saving mode (holding the CTRL button brings this up) what does it say when enabled? 

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to defalkner

    Not yet.  So far it has only drained 1% overnight, vs 15-20% before the update.  I ran Garmin Express, and that triggered an update.  I'll see what happens after using it today.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to defalkner

    It says 56 days when I turn on battery saver

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to defalkner

    There was a bug with PulseOx setting that they fixed in version 10 or version 9 something. Before that, even it was an on/off switch, it was possible to change the setting to a third state. After the update, it might have remained in an indefinite state, keeping the PulseOx sensor on, when it is supposed to be off. This would have lowered the estimate.

    You can see that for yourself if you toggle the setting from MENU -> Settings -> Activity Tracking -> Sleep Pulse Ox. Switching it on roughly reduces the battery life estimate in half. After you set it the way you want, the estimate should work as expected.