Forerunner 945 battery issue

My battery life is fine too once I turned off pulse ox while sleeping.

If you have time to post here, you have time to call support

This, is not helpful. No, typing a comment on the official fourm where actual admins and employees are responding is not the same as sitting on hold waiting for a rep on the phone. 

Have you called in to them before? I have, you are honestly speaking to tier 1 support. They know nothing and offer obvious troubleshooting to "send it back to us." They have never been helpful, they aren't going to tell me or anyone anything about known issues or if this is something they know about.

So I'm here hoping someone catches this in-the-know and can tell us and the couple thousand repsones here there's a bug either in the software or a known issue with the hardware.

But, you apparently have a perfectly functioning watch, but seems to continue to comment exclusively on any post that involves any issue. You offer little advice, other than to reiterate your watch is just peachy. As I said, this is not helpful. 

2goBeyond said:

couple thousand repsones

Maybe a slight exaggeration!

Yes, I've called many times. They'll even call you back and you won't lose your place in line if they're busy.  If I'm not having a problem with my watch, I'll speak my mind.  You're not suggesting that you speak for all and your post are the only ones that matter?  If you believe whining on an open forum is more productive than calling support and then criticizing someone who's trying to assist you, then maybe you deserve the issues you're having.  Garmin-Blake has already posted about this issue. It's funny he said to reach out to support, but nothing and posting here for your solution. Like me, he's obviously not helpful at all. 

I take that back; I misread "Views" as "replies." Still adjusting to this forum format, it seems. 

And Phil, a counterpoint is just fine. We've had a few in the past, no? There's a difference with stating "I'm not getting the same issue" (which you did)  and alluding to "I'm not having the issue so by proxy your issue is not real." The second response happens here WAY too often, and it's ridiculous and unhelpful. I've been using Garmin devices for years, I'm not a dunce, I've Mcgyvered (wow no autocorrect on that one) every watch I've owned from Garmin in some way or another for years to make them work in an intended way up to when they actually patch fix it in an update; without coming here for info. Hell, I come back here afterward to tell people this worked. 

Here's an example: I figured out how to prioritize an external strap over the OHRM that won't turn off and turn over to the external when doing a tracked activity. It's a bug, it probably has something to do with the PulseOX, I don't the code details, but the OHRM doesn't shut off. I've turned the OHRM from auto to off and with PulseOX (both settings) set to off (while the chest strap is paired and connected, just not in the activity yet) and the green lights go off. If I then turn on the PulseOX (to test) OHRM switches to on and even if you then turn off the PulseOX settings, they stay on. If you enter the activity then; the OHRM is still running, even though you're wearing the external strap. Do I know what is getting my HR data in this case? No, the heart icon is just a heart icon; I don't know if that means the HR data is coming from the OHRM or is it coming from the strap and the OHRM is just superfluously running, killing battery needlessly. (Maybe an icon with a little strap around the heart to differentiate?) This leads to an overarching issue with trying to use an external strap in the activity while also having the OHRM to auto and also using PulseOX in their typical fashion (i.e., your getting RHR data and all-day PulseOX readings as well as sleep PulseOX). 

You have to turn off both the OHRM and PulseOX while still having the external paired and open to connect, power down the watch, power on the watch, and open the activity. Lights don't come on, and HR should now be coming from the External strap. After you've recorded and saved the activity, you can turn the OHRM and PulseOX back on to continue the standard all day tracking. 

What I am tired of is the consistent buggy release nature of these watches every time a new one comes out. DC Rainmaker even did a write up in regards to it just about a week ago. And calling Garmin is a waste I am reiterating. Customer support hands you canned messages and offers basic Troubleshooting or offers to replace it. They know next to nothing about current known issues, even if what you think is the issues isn't an issue.

I want an answer, not a "Just send it to us." And yes, I've already mailed the team, they don't always respond either. Posting here is just a proactive additional attempt to get answers. If people think I'm wasting my time, sure you can think that; chiming in at every chance you can (not you); that I'm wasting my time, well, I think you're wasting your own time.

Update, because it dawned on me that I failed to mention Garmin pay was NOT set up at all. Didn't even try to. 

2goBeyond said:

There's a difference with stating "I'm not getting the same issue" (which you did)  and alluding to "I'm not having the issue so by proxy your issue is not real." The second response happens here WAY too often, and it's ridiculous and unhelpful.

I'll chime in here since I'm pretty certain this comment has been directed towards me.  When did anyone say anything remotely close to they're not having an issue, therefore you're not?  You post you're having issues.  Others post they are not.  How is this not helpful to you?  You (and anyone else reading this thread) now know that this issue isn't affecting every 945.  Maybe you have a defective watch?  Maybe it's your settings?  I stated turning off pulse ox helped my battery life.  Do you believe there's no one out there who may not have thought about trying this?  There's no doubt many find this info helpful.

2goBeyond said:

I want an answer, not a "Just send it to us." And yes, I've already mailed the team, they don't always respond either. Posting here is just a proactive additional attempt to get answers. If people think I'm wasting my time, sure you can think that; chiming in at every chance you can (not you); that I'm wasting my time, well, I think you're wasting your own time.

Again I believe this was directed towards me.  I suggested you call support instead of emailing them for better results.  This has always been the case for me.  You just said they don't always respond to your emails.  A phone call prevents this because you'll get a case number to follow up on.  You've obviously had a bad experience over the phone.  It happens.  I've read numerous post where people have stated calling was definitely faster, and easier to explain their issue to a live person then taking a chance of support misunderstanding something they wrote in an email.  Again, how is this unhelpful?  I'm glad you hold no ill will towards Phil anymore and I couldn't care less if I'm your new target.  But to say I wasn't trying to assist you or others, or to say I somehow implied you weren't having issues because I wasn't having them is pure nonsense on your part.  

This is unbelievable. Can you try without phone connection?

I use my 935 without phone connection (benefit of wifi watch) - just setup manual wifi syncing with shortcut (long pressing button down) when I am in my home network- and I do that without routine, when I remember once in a week. I get over 2.5 weeks battery life on a 1y old watch.

wow - I need to get mine to last this long. My currently goes about 5 days with hardly any GPS activities. 

Done exactly as described, it seemed to work for about 3 hours. After that the excessive battery usage came back.

I'm coming from a FR935, which had great and reliable battery life. With that watch it was easy to get a single week with about 4 to 5 hour running with GPS and multiple sensors attached.

I disabled pulse ox and furthermore having exactly the same settings as my FR935. 

I must say, I'm not happy with this. It would be good if Garmin gives a statement about this.