solar screen performance

You're expecting too much...

According to specs even in smartwatch mode you "just" get 33% longer battery life. So the fact that it actually increases shows it works (and as the battery percentages are only returned in whole percentages it might even went from 55.4 to 55.7 or so.

Anyway, no reason to think anything is wrong or will be improved.

the 1040 solar can charge up to 40min battery life per hour! i do not expect it to be the same cause the screen is a lot smaller. but this is not what i expected, the watch is great but the solar does not add much for me. 

That may be, but it simply is as it is... Checking the specs  regarding battery life as stated by garmin for the most low-power use:

Forerunner 955 solar: up to15 days smartwatch mode, 20 days with solar.So say an ability to extend battery life by 35-ish percent.

Edge 1040: up to 90 hours low mode, 180 hours with solar. That's 100%!

Can't say too much except it is what you could expect, too bad it's not what you hoped for but I'd say/estimate the watch does what it advertised it would do 

I honestly don't understand solar version of this watch. Is it able to run continuously if I would hike under the sun 10 hours per day using ultratrac?

support.garmin.com/.../

wow this is beyond useless.

It's just there to sell the watch 

in my experience, and IMHO, i think Garmin is delivering what they have specified. if one can harness in 150 k-lux hours a day, then it will boost smart watch endurance by 30+%.

for most people, that probably isn't going to be an earth shattering difference.

i bought the Solar for two reasons: 1. i thought the solar ring would "offset" the black bezel, 2. the small solar boost might be beneficial while backpacking and give me a little more cushion of battery life on my trips.

spending an extra $100 in the end wasn't necessary, yet i do think that i'm satisfied that both of my reasons, for my use case and preferences, panned out. initially, i found the solar ring's reflective nature distracting, but after a week, i grew accustomed to it, and now actually like the way the watch looks as the bezel is less intrusive and wide to my eyes.

for most of the time, i'm an indoor desk jockey and i run early in the morning, so solar is of minimal benefit. but i have noticed on vacation and on weekends when i'm out and about a lot in the California sun, Solar has the ability to add about 2%/day of battery endurance. where i typically experience 5-6%/day battery drain for my typical watch faces, i experienced 3-4%/day consumption on those significant solar days. for most people, i would guess, that's not a big enough difference to justify the cost. i'm hoping to keep this watch 4 years, so to me and my financial situation, i could justify the added cost. not necessary by any stretch of the imagination (i could just charge it more often) but i am happy with my purchase.

what i wish/hope Garmin will do is provide us a useful widget/glance that shows us a numerical measure of the solar insolation like the Fenix7/Epix2. right now, i can only guesstimate how much solar my watch received with the glance and Garmin connect info page. not very useful.

7413611, i think you would need to do the math, but i think it's doubtful one would take in enough sun to compensate for GPS consumption, even under ultratrac. if i read Garmin's specs (and trust them with a grain of salt), 10 hours ultratrac would burn about 12% of the battery. i don't think you could expect more than 3% charge a day from solar. this would drop it down to 9%/day which would give you 11 days @ 10 hours = 110 hours of ultra trac which is in line with Garmin's specs as well.

i think in a best case scenario, with a minimal watch face, BT, Wifi, Pulseox all off, solar _might_ come close to compensating for battery consumption if one was out in the sun (in a place with enough solar insolation) all day long. it would of course be more probable if OHR was disabled, but then it becomes basically a simple watch which i can't imagine most people would want to use it in that configuration.

Smaller black bezel, solar ring looks very cool, black buttons.Add a minimum solar efficiency and I'm happy.

Pretty simple, don't find it worth it? Don't buy it... They do have an alternative.

I'm with derek87, I like the looks and appreciate the extra battery life how little it may be. It's it worth the extra 100? Not really but I have no regrets at all buying it. (Regarding solar that is, software wise... Meh)

But it does what it advertisers to do and in some cases might make a difference. In my case, the less charging the better.