Bad battery life

I am using an iPhone to pair with the watch. I started from a full charge and estimated 26 days of battery life, with the following settings:

  • activity tracking + move iq
  • no gps
  • no move alert
  • no sleep pulse ox
  • 20% backlight
  • no backlight gesture

I also had good sunlight exposure almost every day. The watch lasted 15 days. I brought the device in my local Garmin shop, but they only reset the settings, which lead to no changes, as the next test with the same settings resulted in 16 days battery life.

Judging by what is supposed to be normal (https://www8.garmin.com/manuals/webhelp/GUID-A298EB1C-21D9-430F-8D06-A2CC74E5D5E9/EN-US/GUID-BCA44331-7CAC-4734-9222-6066B05C32AB.html), I am planning to return it to the shop once again. Does anyone else experience this issue? I am interested in what you guys think.

  • Where in the settings menu structure is the update rate ??

    And, yes, I read heavily on battery issues in this forum, on Reddit and on Amazon. It does not paint a positive picture of Garmin, at all. Also for many of their other watches.

  • In the instructions in the settings for updating values. Set up an update once a minute. It will increase a lot, as I wrote, with normal settings my battery will last 30 days, there are users whose batteries will last longer. There are no users with a battery problem. The big problem was the old instinct, the solar is new, the endurance has increased significantly. Of course, people who have a problem, but not what they don't have, will write here on the forum. You certainly understand that. Maybe it's a good idea to go through the whole instructions before you start writing on the forum. :-)

    for example

    forums.garmin.com/.../how-many-batteries-are-drained-in-one-day

  • "There are no users with a battery problem."

    Seriously? Are you trolling?

    What is the 'watch face update once a minute'? There is 'battery saver mode' in the power settings, where the watch face is basically reduced to a Casio watch from the 1980s.

    I have been reading your other posts. They always come across as condescending, fanboyish and totally detached from reality. Many, many people have been writing about battery problems.

  • You're putting something in my mouth that I didn't say. Maybe you're a troll? How long do you have a watch and how many tests have you performed? You have not provided any data yet. You saw the link I sent. You couldn't even read it while you posted. ;-) I didn't say that people here have no problem with battery life! Try to read the instructions and settings of the watch first, then the link about battery life before you ask other running questions. If you don't want to help and just want to argue, I won't participate in this discussion. I have a Casio watch from the 80's at home, it really was different ;-) You just parrot what others said. My only question is, why do you buy garmin watches when they are so bad? :-)
  • Okay, this is so stupid, I'm out.

  • Please provide some data before you start complaining. On the link I sent you, the user gave each day how many% of the battery ran out and whether he had activity with or without gps. Every day and how long the battery lasted. You haven't provided any data yet and you don't even know where to set the update rank once a minute and you're just insulting me. If you don't want to help, why are you writing here?

  • 15-16 days without GPS is pretty poor. Do you have bluetooth connection with your phone always on? Big amount of push notifications coming from the phone or interference in Bluetooth spectrum may cause battery drain.

  • Hmmm, yes. But as far as I know, the "smartwatch mode" specified by Garmin, includes the bluetooth connection. Without it, my watch has very limited functionality, without notifications, events, and weather updates.

  • That "smartwatch mode" battery life estimates are based on some average usage. If you're active on social networks and get hundreds of push notifications with vibration and backlight on for each pushed notification it will tax battery more than average. You can curate list of apps which can push notifications in Garmin Connect to some essential list like calendar, SMS, etc. Also do you use 2.4Ghz Wifi at home/work? It may cause interference with BT operating in the same spectrum and result into higher power consumption by BT chip.

  • Nope, I don't use social networks. The notifications I get are mostly from emails (which as you can imagine, are not that frequent). Also, my watch is on DND (do not disturb) mode during the night, and even then I get some drastic battery drain like 3% in the morning.

    Since this post gained some friction, I am gladly including my measurement table from the last charging session up until it turned off by itself.

    Date Time Battery % Estimated life Additional info
    08.07 19:00 100% 26d
    10.07 19:00 88% 22d
    12.07 19:00 78% 22d

    After full exposure to sun for two days

    14.07 19:00 66% 18d
    16.07 19:00 53% 15d

    After full exposure to sun for a day

    18.07 19:00 40% 10d
    20.07 19:00 21% 5d
    22.07 19:00 9% 2d
    24.07 19:00 0% Low Still on, after full exposure to sun for a day
    24.07 21:00 Shut down