Instinct Battery Life Issue

I have the same issue except mine is closer to 6 months old. over the last 2-3 weeks the battery has gone from lasting all week and some, with a run or activity most days to about 36 - 40 hour life without any activity. haven't changed watch faces, gps is not on, connected to phone but no smart notifications and activity tracker. I have done a hard reset and still the same. Could it be a software upgrade issue? 

What's the point of the activity tracking when you need to take it offline for charging every other day LOL.

Bought my watch online at REI around Mothers Day and I loved it. 
For the first few months I was able to get my smart notifications, weather and HR and it lasted close to two weeks. I have used it on a few hikes with GPS and it lasted approx 8-9 hours before it died, but I had expected that since I had the tracking on.

I have since turned off all the notifications. Bluetooth is off. All software is up to date and I haven’t used GPS at all. I’m lucky if my watch lasts two days. I’ll go to bed with 4 bars and wake up with 1. I thought maybe I was hitting buttons in my sleep so I locked the buttons. Still it made no difference. In the process of an exchange but they want my credit card info and I am not sure for what so until that’s answered I have not shipped it back. The battery I have noticed also can be at 4 bars lets say and I can look down a few hours later and it’s at 1. So it’s not an equal drain , when it goes it goes fast. I really noticed this since my husband did the 4.0 updates or which ever one but it was in the 4’s. Has anyone here completed an exchange? And did it cost you anything? 

I requested a cross ship for my replacement - meaning they send me a replacement unit first and then I return my defective unit after it's received - with the benefit that I have no downtime.  To allow for this, they need to put a hold on your credit card - and the purpose is you are charged for the replacement if you fail to return your original unit.  

As far as I know there would be no charge hold if you return your unit first, and wait for a replacement to ship after.  

My first watch initially lasted about 2 weeks between full charges.  That was with 5K hikes and runs on average 6 days per week.  Then one day out of the blue the full charge lasted 2-3 days tops.  Didn't seem to matter if I was active on those days or not.  

I just received my replacement a few days ago.  While it's better than 2-3 days, it seems the battery will fall just short of one week on a full charge.  I have 1 bar left after 5 days so no chance it will be close to 2 weeks.  Very disappointing...

Are you getting less than 5 days with no GPS and little to no backlight (important setting for battery)? 

My Instinct continues to get about 14 "units" per full charge, where a unit equals:

• a full day of smart watch and basic activity tracking or
• 1 hour of GPS of usage

On average per full charge, I probably get about 5-7 days including 6-7 hours of GPS (11-14 units).

I have GPS enabled when I start an activity (such as hike, walk, trail run, run).  My understanding is the GPS is not used at any other time.  Over the past summer I did a long hike that was about 6 hours long and there was a notable drain on the battery after that.  But my normal activities typically only last 30-90 minutes.  

I think you are missing the main point here - most people have had 12-14 day battery performance when the watch was new.  Then over time the battery life dramatically decreases with no apparent rhyme or reason.  For me the 12-14 day battery life lasted about 1.5-2 months when the watch was new.  Then just one day, without making any settings changes, my watch went to 2-3 days battery life.  There was no slow decline, just as if a switch flipped and it went from good to bad.  I had reset the watch multiple times to ensure I didn't accidentally toggle a battery draining feature on - it made no difference.  I've been using mostly factory default settings, only adding my activities.  I tried some tips such as dimming the backlight, and decreasing the time to turn off backlight etc.  It really made no notable difference and certainly isn't going to get me back 10+ days of charge.

Given the amount of posts with the same story this is a product design issue.  I mean really this could be a class action suit for false claims on battery life.

That makes sense. Thank you for the response.The only activity I have really tracked are my hikes. They average between 5-9 miles in the Whites usually. I did expect fast battery drain with the sensitive GPS tracking and mostly I was just testing the watch. Other than that any other exercise I haven’t tracked. Hoping the replacement works better. It’s too bad I really enjoy this watch. I’m hoping it’s just a defective batch and not an overall flaw! 

My point was simple:  users should not expect 12-14 days of battery if they are also doing much (or any) GPS.  Each hour of GPS will use up about a day's worth of non-GPS battery.  12-14 hours of a GPS activity will drain a fully charged Instinct - and that is to spec.  Above, you suggested that you were doing 8-15 hours of GPS per week.  There is no way you can do that much GPS activity and expect the battery to last 2 weeks.  With 8 hours of GPS use, you should get 5-6 days on a full charge (depending on other settings).

However, you seem to be experiencing a dramatic change in battery life with no changes in the way you are using the watch.  In that case, it definitely sounds like a problem with the watch.  I assume you are working with Garmin Support on a resolution.

 I think i have the same issue. I’ve been tracking my battery use with the saving charge tips of youtube (changing the watch screen, disconecting bluetooth etc).

- wednesday november 20 : 6:27 am fully charged. Didn’t used it for anything  like exercise or that.. just casual check of my day tracking before sleeping 

-Saturday november 23 : battery drained already to 3 bars today at 7:40 during my strength workout

.. I’m starting to think it might be a software actualization issue maybe??????? I think this didn’t happen to me a few time algo