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Basttery life

Today my Varia gave me a low battery warning and then switched off completely after about 5 1/4 hours.

There was quite a lot of traffic activity – I suppose that this has an effect on battery life because apart from anything else, the lights are doing a lot more than if it was a quiet day. However, I was a bit disappointed as I had expected that the battery life would go to 7 hours or so.

Maybe my expectations are unreasonably high but anyway I'm just letting people know about the kind of battery life they might expect in real life because I'm not sure that this has been spoken about much on this forum.

By the way, I think that the Varia is great. It would be nice if one could introduce a power saving measure such as only having two flashing lights when there's no traffic round instead of four. This would reduce battery consumption. If the Varia doesn't detect traffic then I don't really understand why it needs four lights. It seems a bit unnecessary to me.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 9 years ago
    Has anyone tried using the Varia on an external battery supply?
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 9 years ago
    Has anyone tried using the Varia on an external battery supply?


    Yep. Doesn't work.

    OP, were you using the light on flashing or steady? I was out for seven hours on Thursday and the battery is still showing 60%.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 9 years ago
    Garmin claim "Up to 8hrs" in flashing mode.
    Where do you see the battery percentage?
  • When you first power it on the LEDS all light up then they light from left to right to show how full the battery currently is. With 8 LEDs it is reporting in steps of 12.5%.

    If the unit is paired with a head unit that supports a light network then you can add a "Light battery" status icon to a training page.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 9 years ago
    Thanks Alan, hopefully the 810 will get the Light Network update soon.
  • I've been very impressed with the battery on my unit.. I get the Garmin estimate of 8 hours pretty consistently.

    I have mine set to flash mode as an individual light on my 520.. Most of my rides are in medium to heavy city traffic which means that since I almost always have cars approaching from behind, the unit is generally in high flashing mode (full flashing bars) for the majority of my rides.

    I generally ride 30-40 miles a day and can go 3 rides without a charge, but that's pushing it. Now I charge it after every 2nd ride which for me is about every 5-6 hours of on time.

    I don't know why @Cagger30 is getting such bad battery life but yeah, I'd be bummed if I were only getting 5 1/4 hours from it..

    You might want to contact Garmin as it sounds like something may be defective on your unit..
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 9 years ago
    Garmin quote up to 5 hours constant, up to 8 hours flashing, maybe he has it on constant.
  • I'm not getting great battery life (from flashing) today I sent off with 50% left and it died after 47 minutes...:eek:
    Not sure how long I had it on for before that but I doubt it was that long
  • battery status is not reliable

    I'm not getting great battery life (from flashing) today I sent off with 50% left and it died after 47 minutes...:eek:
    Not sure how long I had it on for before that but I doubt it was that long


    Same here. I went for a ride today and 4 LEDs were indicating 50% (1 led = 12,5%) after about 35 minutes radar went off with empty battery. Its absolutely not reliable and it seems that real battery status can be estimated only from time of use and not from led indicators. I wonder if the most users share same experience?
  • Same here. I went for a ride today and 4 LEDs were indicating 50% (1 led = 12,5%) after about 35 minutes radar went off with empty battery. Its absolutely not reliable and it seems that real battery status can be estimated only from time of use and not from led indicators. I wonder if the most users share same experience?


    Glad I'm not the only one. It sounds like a software / display bug then. When I worked out the usage time it came a bit closer to 8-10 hour mark so I think the led display isn't very accurate