Bounce Lte battery drain

Ok will try this tonight.

Is it worth contacting support: maybe. They probably will exchange the watch for you, but I'll be surprised if the watch is defective. 

If you do contact support you should see if you can get them to check the name of the LTE network connection the watch is using. I wonder if it's not the same as your phone... I had a mobile plan (for my phone) that had patchy coverage and when I switched plans my phone's battery life improved dramatically. I'm wondering if that's what happens with Bounce battery life.

Again, just a hypothesis! My experience with Garmin support is they are very quick to exchange devices when the hardware isn't the problem. 

Here's something else to try that worked for me after a reset.  Turn Airplane mode ON, wait a minute, then turn Airplane Mode OFF.  Go into Garmin Jr and have the watch test the Wifi. For some reason, this completely fixed my battery issues.

I've tried this trick. It didn't work. I also tried the latest update (7.40). It didn't change anything. I tried not activating Wi-Fi after a reset, but the watch still loses 10% of its charge per hour when LTE is activated. The only thing that works is to cancel the LTE subscription. In that case, the watch has a good battery life. The charge level indicated does not vary in 2 hours.

So the problem is clearly linked to LTE. At the very least, there's a bug in the management of Wi-Fi and LTE when the watch has Wi-Fi at its disposal. In this case, LTE should not be used as frequently as when Wi-Fi is available, which should considerably improve the watch's battery life (at least at home).

The documentation indicates that the watch uses LTE-M (see www.garmin.com/.../ for France). From what I understand from my researches, this is not the same LTE as that used by our smartphones. A little more research revealed that on the aerial serving my child's school, 2 out of 4 suppliers provide LTE-M and that only one has been doing so for long enough (5 years) for serious tests to have been carried out (the other has only been deploying LTE-M for a few months). It therefore seems possible to me that the problem is linked to a configuration fault either in the watch's modem, or in the service provided by the LTE-M supplier chosen by Garmin.

Another point to note: the coverage map (discover.garmin.com/.../) doesn't mention that the LTE on the Bounce works outside the USA and Mexico, even though the map mentions that the 945 LTE, the On Deck and the GLD 60 work in Europe and Australia. I don't know what to think about it, as the sales documentation mentions that the LTE on the Bounce works in Europe and Australia (www.garmin.com/.../ which links to the coverage map mentioned earlier).

In any case, even if my child loves his watch, I'm giving up. 10 hours' autonomy is clearly not enough and I've spent enough time on this problem. I hope that Garmin will find a solution. The product is very attractive, but unusable at the moment.

Yes, this is the only way i have been able to charge and get reliable 10-11 hr battery life for school days - it is not enough though if after school activities into dinner time :(

Exactly the same issue in Canada. we have to charge it every evening or it is no good by morning.  This is with quite light use and rare use of GPS.

Same thing here in Spain. New Bounce (it only has four days) and 10% battery drain per hour, it doesn't matter if my kid is at home with WiFi or at School with LTE... We couldn't get more than 8-10 hours per charge.

Here is the follow up from my previous message.

I tried to contact the support center. I didn’t think it would be such a challenge. Impossible to contact someone by phone. I tried the chat and it took me several tries before getting someone. The conversation I had was totally WTF. The guy stated it was expected for such a watch and didn’t propose me to change it until I explicitly asked him to do so. Here is the conversation (for the sake of transparency) : 

Rhyan (support) : The battery problem you are experiencing is related to LTE technology. We invite you to click on this link to optimize your device's battery: https://support.garmin.com/fr-FR/?faq=Nk4Ndtsarf4INVYvDxz4B6

Me: I have already followed all these recommendations, and it hasn't improved the battery life. Everything has been configured as requested.

Rhyan: We have no other steps to suggest. The device does not have sufficient battery life, unlike a Fenix, Epix, or Instinct.

Me: I understand, but a watch that discharges from 100% to 10% overnight when not in use and with the recommendations followed seems to indicate a defect in one of the watch's components. It could be a faulty battery that justifies a replacement of the watch.

Rhyan: We understand, but the watch is only designed for sending and receiving messages. The battery is not sufficient for this model.

Me: I don't understand your message. I'm telling you that the battery is draining while the watch is not being used.

Rhyan: We are saying that the device is only designed for sending and receiving messages; the battery is not sufficient for this model even if it is draining.

Me: I understand, but I am trying to explain to you that the discharge of my son's watch is ABNORMAL. Without performing any activity, without sending or receiving any messages, the watch discharges excessively quickly, going from 100% to 10% in just one night, while your website indicates a battery life of 2 days under normal use.

Me: Is this the behavior that is normally expected?

Rhyan: We have understood, Mr. Sanchez. We do not find this normal, but there is no other solution for this model despite an update or a reset.

Me: If you do not find this normal, why don't you proceed with the replacement of the watch? Updates and resets have not provided a solution. If other watches of the same model do not encounter this issue, it seems to me that a replacement of the watch is a solution.

Rhyan: Very well. We will do that.

I’m very disappointed by the way Garmin is managing the situation. I was expecting Garmin to better consider its customers. This post is now reaching +4800 views in the forum and there is still no official reply from Garmin teams. What are they waiting for ?

I’ll wait for the new watch and let you know if the battery issue is fixed.

ping Garmin-Zac 

Adding Garmin-Inder & Garmin-Sara

I agree.

To Garmin: I regretfully returned the watch. The Bounce is a very attractive product, both for children and parents. It has its faults (it's too big, the ergonomics can be improved, the fact that you have to use the app to communicate is restrictive). They're annoying, but you can live with them. On the other hand, the Bounce is the only product I know of that satisfies both parents and children. At school, the child's friends wanted one. The parents I showed it to, many of whom are against smartphones, loved the concept. But as it stands, it's unusable. It's not possible for it to run out of power just when you need it. The child is safe in the school. All the watch has to do is tell the time. But when it's time to leave school, it needs to keep going until everyone is back at home. This can be several hours later. Ideally, the watch should have a battery life of a week, but for the moment that's just a fantasy.

In the meantime, I've brought out the Weenect again. It monitors the child's schoolbag rather than the child him/herself, the ergonomic design of the device is terrible (the application is fine), the child can forget about it, BUT it has a battery life of over a week and it works perfectly. The child is not happy about the setback.

Garmin, get back to work and create a finished product, please!