850 Battery Life - OUCH!

But the 1050 has almost 2x the batter life of 840....12 hours means charging every day for me

The 1050 has a much bigger battery than the 850. So, no surprise it runs longer than the 850

The 1050 has shorter battery life than the 1040.

The 850 has shorter battery life than the 840.

For the same reasons: a brighter screen and a faster CPU (I believe).

Agreed but where is the bottom limit... I guess I won't record some of my multi-day back country adventures with 850.

12hours with "Stays ON" . if you turn it off, the battery life will be 20hs+ for sure. (if i remember good the 840 has 16hs with same settings apprx, or at least 6% / hour battery drop)

Garmin still sells the 1040 for people who want better battery life. 

Garmin still sells the 840 for people who want (somewhat) better battery life and a smaller size than the 1040.

You can also use an external battery. 

I disagree. I've never had any visibility issues with Edge 810, 820, 830, 840 at all. And I absolutely care about battery life. No upgrading from my 840 if I can vote with my wallet

Disagree with what?

No one said you shouldn’t care about battery life. No one said you had a problem with any of those screens.

The 840 (like the 1040) is there for people who don’t have a problem with its screen and want better battery life.

The 850 isn’t for you, it appears. And it’s likely Garmin knows that. 

But the problem is it won't be there for too long. And it will only receive minor updates (and who know for how long).

I simply disagree with your conjecture that "more people might prefer" the screen to the battery. It's not like the 840 screen is awful. The 850 battery life is pretty awful however

It doesn’t seem Garmin discontinued the 1040. They might not discontinue the 840 or they might. In a couple of years, they might improve the battery situation. 

No one said the 840 screen was “awful”.

It’s not “conjecture”. Well, it’s not more conjectural than people saying Garmin made a “horrible mistake”.

Garmin likely didn’t change the screen on the 1050 and 850 because they thought most people would like screen less (while paying more too!). Garmin likely has enough experience with the 1050 to have an idea of how well the 850/550 will sell. Garmin certainly knows you won’t please everybody.

Seems more people prefer the Amoled screens in the watches. Though, it appears a significant number still like the extra battery life the MIP screen provides. Garmin provides both but fewer MIP options.