Battery drain - F/W 26.18

Same. Sucking battery like never before. I'll blow 20% in 2 hrs without radar, just speed and cadence. 

It's forced obsolescence time. 

Do a device reset. Mine drains 3–5% per hour during navigation and recording.
Garmin has switched the file system, so that could be the culprit.

I was wary of doing a device reset mid-tour but with my wife and daughter (using my 810 I'd retired in favour of the EE2) using units that were working fine, I gave it a go. No improvement in battery life, but no more crashes.  

Try setting the background light to 0%. I'm using it like that, and there's no problem with display visibility during the day.

If it does not help, try Garmin support or warranty claim.

Do you have the first version of Explore 2? That version has only two holes on backside.

That's not the point, I shouldn't have to make allowances and change the way I use the device just because Garmin have released a bad firmware update. 

I have been in contact with Garmin Support and have sent them my Gamin folder from the device to review. 

I don't tent to be an early adopter and wait user reports and a few firmware updates before buying a new device, but my unit is indeed a two-hole first version. 

That is not an allowance. It's completely unreasonable to use an MIP display with a backlight during the day, but i get you.

It seems that the problem is related to the hardware revision, because my device drains the battery the same way as it did with the older firmware.

I have the backlight set at 60% and timeout set to 15 seconds, and have done since I had the device. The new battery drain I've noticed is independent of the backlight settings. 

Agree with you. The revision has led to significant battery drain on mine as well.