This discussion has been locked.
You can no longer post new replies to this discussion. If you have a question you can start a new discussion

Opinions on battery consumption on a always updated FR945

Dear users,

on my always updated 2-years FR945 I have the following data observed (after a "soft" reset):

1. Continuous "Trail run" activity of several hours with GPX-track uploaded; 100%-time display on map with turn-by-turn indications; ANT+ connection to a HRM-Pro ; no phone connection; mild external temperature (about 15° C): drainage observed -8.5%/hour -> battery estimate 12 hours.

2. Several one-hour "Walking" activities without GPX-track; display on distance&timer&pass field or just the time&date field; no connection to external sensors nor phone; mild external temperature (about 15° C): drainage observed from -6.0%/hour to -6.8%/hour -> battery estimate from 15 to 17 hours.

In all the previous cases GPS+GLONASS is set with data registration every second. The watch has active: Activity tracking, movement alert, Move IQ, heart rate reading on the wrist but has always deactivated the Pulse OX. Music is not used; brightness is not activated and watchfaces and other settings not mentioned are the factory ones.
How should I interpret the observed data? The battery estimate is less than half of that stated (up to 36 hours).
On the contrary, the watch worn without using it at all and without a mobile phone connection (e.g., sleeping) gave very limited drainage (around -0.2%/hour).
Customer care advised me to send the watch in for assistance but first I wanted a suggestion from the community.

Thank you!

  • I've not worried about how much the watch drained per hour to know... but, I do know I usually charge it about once a week, starting when it gets around 30% and remove it from charge when about 80%.   

    Those 36 hours mentioned by Garmin is for GPS only, not the multi-systems your using.

    This is what is in the manual...

    GPS and Other Satellite Systems
    Using GPS and another satellite system together offers increased performance in challenging environments and
    faster position acquisition than using GPS only. However, using multiple systems can reduce battery life more
    quickly than using GPS only.

    It sounds reasonable to me when you've added map use and multi-systems....

  • Your walking test sure seems like a fairly 'best case' or 'normal' use category.  obviously the life isn't close to 36 in that situation.  could turn off glonass and 'smart' data to reduce maybe some.

    One thing to keep in mind at this point this model of watch is nearly 4yrs old, your particular watch or battery itself could be "old" by battery standards at this point.  They lose capacity over the years of usage stress but also just on a shelf can loose life.  Quick search, batteries can lose 10-20% of their capacity in a year...(seems aggressive) so after 3-4yrs of use, or even just sitting on the shelf. Even if losing only 5-10% of capacity... that can start to reduce that "Best Case 36hr" (possibly significantly).  Especially considering the 36hr 'up to' could be in a test of 100watches... 1 , 3, 5, or 10(?) made it that long... not an average, its a metric they made to market.

    FYI: While missing watch during replacement, you could use Wahoo Fitness App to record (can export the .fit files easily to import into garmin) or can use Strava , etc.  Both allow connection of HR or Power sensors.

  • Dear NickMN,

    thank for your answer. I have done a couple of "walking" activities, of about 1 hour each, with only GPS and "Smart" data registration (not every 1 second). The discharge dropped only slightly, around -5.6%/hour, with an estimated battery life of 18 hours (half of the declared).

    Basically, I charged it to 97% on 17/Feb/2023 at 17:23 and now after 4.5 days (22/Feb/2023 at 08:27) it's at 22% having only done 7.5 hours of activity (the rest of the time kept on the wrist without even the bluetooth connection).

    At this point, I don't know whether to actually send it for assistance, as advised by customer service, or not...

  • Bonjour. 

    Je rejoint ce que vous dites. 

    Depuis la dernière mise à jour m'a montre l'autonomie à énormément chutée. 

    Elle y avait environ 22 heures d'autonomie.  Et maintenant 10 12 heures max