Instinct Battery Life Issue

JAYMZ1972 over 4 years ago

It appears I have the dreaded battery life issue on my Instinct. Strange that a watch that prides itself on a 14 day life should be riddled with this battery problem.

The watch is only few days old. It has been charge to 'full' three times already. I have had several Garmin watches before including four Forerunners, two XT triathlon watches, Garmin swim and a Garmin Edge 500. Also a Garmin inReach + .... so I kind of know my way around Garmin but just wanted to know if there was anything obvious I may have overlooked.

The watch is pretty much default other than me changing the watch face and moving some widgets. My watch seems to be connected all the time to my iPhone. This seems to be the default preferred option and probably necessary to use it as a smart watch. That said, I turned off all Smart Notifications just to see what would happen.

Here is my timeline:

2019 05 06 MONDAY

Checked to ensure all battery guidelines adhered too. No true track.
Updated firmware to 4.0.0
Turned off Smart notifications
20:27 Battery shows as Charged Complete (5 Battery bars not flashing)
20:28 Wearing battery. Using wrist HR. Clock face just hh:mm no seconds.

2019 05 07 TUESDAY

05:35 Battery shows only 4 bars, down 1
07:00 Started a run using GPS (Battery 4 bars)
07:45 After a 45 minutes GPS run session another bar down (Battery 3 Bars)

As you can see, within 12 hours I have lost 2 bars. 1 overnight, 1 after a 40 minute run.

I have gone through some YouTube 'Extend Battery Life Of Instinct' videos but the watch seems to have those things done by default.

Do I need to send it back for a replacement? Someone else on here said they had purchased their through REI, which I had too. Maybe they have a bad batch.

Top Replies

All Replies

0 6951074 over 4 years ago in reply to 7286175

My battery drain experience has been similar. It’s extremely fast. Sometimes within a day. Every power saving measure was taken and every tip followed. Updated software etc. My husband has the same watch and his is fine. So we are in the process of exchanging it now. If you write to technical support they are very good with responding and giving you ideas on things to check. My watch was purchased end of May and this started happening sometime during the end september or beginning of October.

0 splattynz over 4 years ago in reply to 6951074

My watch did the same thing. It was replaced by Garmin and the replacement has, so far, been great.

0 1941506 over 3 years ago in reply to splattynz

I wish I would have found this info. before purchasing mine. I to am having battery issues, down to 10 hours between charges. And using it only as a watch ( no gps, no phone, no alarms no noting other then time). I am sure I am screwed, as most “ warranties” are useless anymore. I guess I will call and see if I can talk to someone tomorrow, as today is Sunday. Damit, should have just bought a “ cheap” watch, all my watches have lasted years and years, and didn’t have the hassle of recharging. Hope fully these posts save many the hassle.

0 6951074 over 3 years ago in reply to 1941506

Just saw your post. I was on here awhile back. I purchased my watch In may and then contacted Garmin around september/October of that same year. I got a replacement watch from them brand new and haven’t had any problems since. That was almost a year ago. Garmin support was really good about it and it was pretty quick. I did have to pay for shipping one way which annoyed me but in the end the watch works perfectly now and stays charged for days. I used garmin online support for the whole process and did not have to call.

0 1120413 over 3 years ago

Well hello. I have made an account just to complain about this issue. I guess I am the Caren of guys. Anyway I own my instinct for six months and the last three weeks this battery problem occurred. I had the four zero something software version of garmin, updated to the last one, twelve something, nothing helped. I have left the watch powered on with full battery and only lasted about three days. I will send it back but I bought a garmin not a forever smartwatch.

0 onlybirdman over 3 years ago

Update. I'm still on my 3rd Instinct. Owned since June 2019. Can still go for 20-21 days without using GPS with occasion light usage. Battery life does not appear to be degrading over time, same 20-21 days battery life since day one. So, life is good if you are lucky enough to buy one without the battery defect. My first two Instincts were definitely defective though.

0 1629389 over 3 years ago

Did anyone get help with this? My instinct lasted almost a year with amazing battery life, now charging battery every 2 or 3 days.

0 1169261 over 3 years ago

I have been struggling with my instinct too. Used it for a month and battery life dropped to 3 hours.

0 4042524 over 3 years ago in reply to 1629389

I had battery life issues on my original Instinct and the replacement unit they issued me. After complaining about the replacement, support offered me a brand new Instinct Tactical model. It's been 11 months now and no complaints. Not sure if they'll do this for everyone, but I didn't specifically ask for the Tactical (at the time I didn't even know such a model existed).