Edge 130 battery life sucks

There are various threads on this.  Garmin doesn't care.  I wonder if the new Edge 130 "Plus" is any better for battery life?  I went out on one of my biggest rides of the year this past weekend, a Ride to Defeat ALS fundraiser.  Just before hour 10, I noticed my screen was blank.  It was done, and I still had nearly 2 hours to go.  Now my Strava post is so sad, with a big straight line from where it died to the parking lot where I plugged it back in at the end of a long day.

Garmin should have done this right, they should have put a bigger battery in, BUT...  They could also mitigate some of the damage.  They could satisfy a lot of us by offering a twist-on battery pack that in turn clips into the Garmin mount.  I know they have it for other models.  Yeah, it would need a short cord to work, but I could live with that.  I'd be willing to spend another $40 for an external battery for the real cold days and to use the back-light more during night rides.  

Garmin is disappointing, can't argue that.  They host these forums to glean what they can about customer sentiment to steer new model introductions, but don't step in with any solutions to problems with existing units.  The most we can hope for is perhaps this prompts some software upgrades that might not otherwise come.  Maybe someday my elevation graph will work while following a course...

Dopo upgrade 3.70 il mio 130 dura 12/13 ore con 3 sensori collegati e la luce attiva dopo il tramonto (quindi mai). In inverno non lo uso.

There is space in the case for a bigger battery, Garmin could have utilised that in the 130 plus AND offer an upgrade for the older 130. Missed opportunity.

Garmin indeed does not care. Battery lasts on my new Edge 130 for 2,5hrs max, with ANT+, and backlight ON. The official reply for GARMIN Greece was "use a power bank"!

What a joke! People buy the 130 because it is small. Also the usb port is at the back of the unit. How are people going to use the Garmin battery pack with this unit?

Former Member 

First of all, the battery is too small.
But do you ride at night?
The 130 display does not need backlight during the day.
Riding with backlight on is heavy on all devices, not only on the 130.

While it is true back-light affects all devices, its effect is more severe on the edge 130. I have tried various Edge and etrex models and left the back light on permanently. All of them lasted a night's ride without problem.  

True, my 1030 plus went from 78% to 74% after a 1h30 ride in 0C. Backlight is continuously on at 20% brightness which is sufficient to read during night rides.

My 2 years old 130 died after 1h20, so now becomes useless for me.

You could say Backlight = Backlight, whether the device is big or small.
However bigger devices have a bigger battery, so the impact of the backlight is smaller on bigger devices.

My Etrex has 2800mAh batteries, and has no problem with backlight.
The same Etrex lasted 28h(!) outside in the freezing cold (GPS+Glonass and ANT enabled - bcklight off)