Battery drains overnight

I have a brand new Instinct Solar, which I've only used on a few minutes of activities. I charge it to 100%, and within a few hours just sitting at the home screen with a few notifications firing, the remaining battery has dropped from 24 days to 19 days (73%) and dropping... overnight it went down to 5%.

I have the latest firmware 18.54 installed. I've tried the soft reset (hold power button) and it didn't help.

I tried to call Garmin support in Australia but I waited on hold for a long time and never got to speak to someone.

Is it faulty? Should I return it to the place of purchase?

Top Replies

Garmin - Chris over 2 years ago in reply to hmoffatt +3 verified

I am sorry there is an issue. Ensure your watch software is fully updated and shows v18.54 when you go to your Settings > About menu. If fully updated, try the following:

Reset your Watch:

- How to Reset…
bluefish over 2 years ago in reply to hmoffatt +1

hmoffatt said:
I've turned off Bluetooth on my phone

If you disable Bluetooth on the phone, you still don't know if the watch will continue to try to connect.
Disable Bluetooth on the watch, and…
bluefish over 2 years ago in reply to hmoffatt +1

Turn off Bluetooth on the watch itself.

Then do a soft reset by holding down the light button until the watch goes off. This will take some time.

Then wait about a minute and turn the watch back on.

All Replies

0 hmoffatt over 2 years ago

I've turned off Bluetooth on my phone to ensure it's not the notifications draining it. It's still gone from 24 days to 21 days charge in a couple of hours of just sitting idle on my desk.

+1 Garmin - Chris over 2 years ago in reply to hmoffatt

I am sorry there is an issue. Ensure your watch software is fully updated and shows v18.54 when you go to your Settings > About menu. If fully updated, try the following:

Reset your Watch:

- How to Reset Default Settings on My Garmin Outdoor Watch

I hope you are good to go again. If your issue continues, please return your watch back to the vendor. The lithium-ion battery is defective or there is an internal hardware issue causing the issue.

0 hmoffatt over 2 years ago in reply to Garmin - Chris

Thanks for your reply Chris. I checked the software is updated and did a full reset from the System menu last night, and skipped the pairing with phone. It's still going flat in hours. I'm pretty sure it's going flat while switched off also. I'll take it back to the retailer for exchange.

0 bluefish over 2 years ago in reply to hmoffatt

hmoffatt said:
I've turned off Bluetooth on my phone

If you disable Bluetooth on the phone, you still don't know if the watch will continue to try to connect.
Disable Bluetooth on the watch, and watch the battery consumption.

0 hmoffatt over 2 years ago in reply to bluefish

I've reset the watch and didn't pair the phone at all, and it still happens.

0 bluefish over 2 years ago in reply to hmoffatt

So you have explicitly disabled Bluetooth on the watch?

0 hmoffatt over 2 years ago in reply to bluefish

No, but if it doesn't work with Bluetooth enabled it must be faulty.

0 bluefish over 2 years ago in reply to hmoffatt

Turn off Bluetooth on the watch itself.

Then do a soft reset by holding down the light button until the watch goes off. This will take some time.

Then wait about a minute and turn the watch back on.

0 hmoffatt over 2 years ago

New unit pefect so far. Hardly any discharge in nearly 24 hours.

0 Garmin - Chris over 2 years ago in reply to hmoffatt

hmoffatt said:
New unit pefect so far.

I am happy to hear your new watch is good to go.