battery time

Seems like the one factor that affects battery life the most is backlight level.

From the home screen, hit the icon that shows 3 horizontal lines, in the right hand corner.

Then go to battery saver. Turn the brightness all the way on, see the battery remaining estimate, then turn brightness entirely off, and see the battery remaining estimate.

My battery is at 66% and I just did this now. Backlight fully on: 6 hours. Backlight off: 40 hours.

There is this Garmin doc, but it's non-quantitative and not specific to the 1040.  https://support.garmin.com/en-US/?faq=VNJ19LsTJT0D7fNNZ4SIk9

I have my backlit set at 50% and I am getting about half of the advertised time. I also have the same issue as others, it does not charge at all unless it is turned on and there is activity. Doesn't seem that the solar aspect is very beneficial at all.

I have never seen the need to have the backlight on during the daytime, with Edge 705, 800, 1000, 1030, 1030+, or 1040.  Reading the unit could be a little tough at dawn or dusk, but it's fine the rest of the daylight hours.

That said, I do not ride in the dark, so I don't know what the right setting is for those conditions.  I've only seen the display change to night mode in the winter, when it gets dark early, and that only for a couple of minutes.

I have obtained over 50 hours multiple times on the 1040, with backlight set to Auto.  The first time I was using the most sensitive GPS setting. I think the battery lasted 55 hours, and was down to 5%.  The second time I was using the medium GPS setting, and got an extra hour or two.  The third time, I was using the least sensitive GPS setting, but I started using Navigation during that charge cycle, and I don't have a figure for "just riding".

I have carried my Edge 1030 Plus in my pocket while riding with the Edge 1040.  I keep the 1030 Plus on battery save mode, and I got 78 hours from that unit.

When you do an ultra ride, are you navigating?  Are there parts of your route where there are very few turns for a couple of hours at a time?  If so, you could use Battery Save Mode, which blanks the screen until there is a turn coming up, or until you stop.

A final possibility is using the horribly overpriced External Battery Pack.  You get a slightly modified out front mount that lets you connect the battery under your Edge, and doubles the battery life.  I have measured battery life at over 100 hours with my old 1030.  1030 Plus and 1040 units would do even better, I'm sure.

Try Auto brightness.

It turns the backlight off, when there is sufficient sunlight for the transflective screen and regulates the backlight accordingly when it's getting darker.

This is the opposite of a smartphone where you can see nothing without strong backlight when it's bright around.

Hi everyone,

I recently acquired a Garmin Edge 1040 (non-solar) and I have some questions regarding its battery life. According to the specifications, it estimates 35 hours of battery life under demanding use. However, after performing the initial setup, pairing it with my phone, and updating the firmware (which took around 30 minutes), the battery dropped from 90% to 81%. I understand that the firmware transfer from the phone to the Edge consumes a significant amount of battery.

Without making any changes to the initial configuration, the device is now indicating that I should expect 13 hours of battery life with 80% charge remaining. Is this normal? I have the brightness set to auto and the GPS set to auto as well, with all other settings unchanged. However, when I set the brightness to the minimum level, it increases the estimated battery life to 26 hours.

I would like to know if this battery performance is within the expected range for the Garmin Edge 1040, and if there are any other configurations or settings that you guys could suggest to further improve the battery life.

Thank you for your help!

It's almost entirely dependent on screen brightness, in my experience.

I have mine pretty much always set to max, unless I am in direct sunlight. As a result, I think I'm almost empty at around 6 hours.

I use this data field. it estimates time left on battery in current config and environment. It also writes to the .fit file and shows battery level and comsumption graphs in garmin connect for the ride

apps.garmin.com/.../84104c99-6ad2-4bcb-8537-8bfb6d141089

I connect my Edge (numerous models over 10+ years) to my PC to do updates, which has the advantage of charging the battery while the update is progressing.

In my experience, battery life is a non-issue ever since the introduction of the Edge 1030, unless display brightness is set to high levels.

I never paid attention to the estimated battery life on the Edge 1040 until the past few days, when this thread mentioned it.  Right now, my battery is shown at 66%, and the estimated battery life at 9 hours.  I know from experience that my Edge 1040 using my settings will consume battery charge at about 2% per hour of riding, so I should get another 30 hours before needing to recharge.

My I ask what settings you use?