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Battery Saver mode

SpikySimonW
over 2 years ago

Having upgraded from a 1030 to 1040 Solar, trying to understanding the changes to Battery Saver mode:

  1. The display no longer turns off after a timeout. Is this by design or a bug? Different to what the manual says https://www8.garmin.com/manuals/webhelp/GUID-0083D0A0-EA6E-41F0-8207-3F1498875E61/EN-US/GUID-3DE9F05B-B141-4A8F-A485-A3CF355DFB86.html
  2. The 1040 gives a battery remaining estimate which is useful. Using the Reduce Backlight toggle shows impressive reported battery gains - but no option for a backlight timeout (as opposed to just dimming). If I manually set a timeout the battery estimate does not change. Doesn't seem right?
  3. Similarly, enabling Battery Saver mode seems not give an option to disable the bluetooth phone connection. Previously with the 1030 I found disabling this gave major battery savings. Again, manually disabling bluetooth doesn't alter the battery estimate.
  4. Does the Hide Map toggle simply remove the map data page (seems to do so in a buggy way if you toggle this while already in a profile including a map)? I know leaving the map on the screen increases battery consumption (constant redraws) so was hoping this was something more intelligent that moved away from the map page after a warning/timeout.. not remove it entirely.
  • +1 over 2 years ago

    This support document gives the assumptions of various functions enabled and the resulting "expected" battery life, some of your assumptions are correct. Dc Rainmaker in his review mentions the difference in Battery Save mode from the 1030+ and yes the screen stays on

    https://support.garmin.com/en-US/?faq=nRJRtOCvG471bDthxtxZ86

    I reckon that with my typical settings I will see over 100 hrs, currently get 45 on my 530 and awaiting delivery of my new 1040 !!!!!

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to L.Rouge

    Thanks for the doc/link - great find - I've used similar with good success to understand the fenix 6.

    Have to confess I only scanned the DCR review and didn't find anything while searching for "Battery Saver" - will have to reread properly. Again, thanks for the heads up.

    I too use a 530, a Black Friday sale purchase as a backup to my primary 1030 for ultra races, but actually I now tend to use the 530 on nearly all of my road rides - it's a great little unit.. just goes to show there's definitely value in buying a Garmin towards the end of it's product life-cycle: most of the bugs ironed out and a better price.

  • +1 over 2 years ago in reply to SpikySimonW

    All I can say is I tried the settings a few times and saw it gave quite a bit of extra time - especially reducing the backlight.  Not sure Garmin could determine what effect the timeout has as if you keep touching the screen then the timeout never triggers so its “user dependent”. What does seem to be the case is that backlight has the biggest single effect on battery life.  

    I don’t see phone connection as ever having a big effect.  It uses BLE.  But I never had an issue with the 1030 either.

    Map - I’ve done a fair number of rides with full navigation and referring to the map about 10-20% of the time.  Seems to have little effect on battery life.  Navigation always was a drain before - this time doesn’t seem to make much difference I can see.

    What I would end with though is that the battery life with battery saver turned off is so good I stopped bothering with it.  It’s probably the difference for me of charging up every two weeks or after a month.  My weekly average is 12-13 hours of rides and I’ll probably charge it when it gets to around 50-60%.  I can see for someone doing ultra events that it might be a good option, especially if you have no other power source during the event.

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to SpikySimonW
    SpikySimonW said:
    Have to confess I only scanned the DCR review and didn't find anything while searching for "Battery Saver" - will have to reread properly. Again, thanks for the heads up.

    It might be in the associated DCR video

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to iheathcock

    Great info and real-world experience, thanks!