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Solar battery specs seem very realistic.

derek87
over 2 years ago

so, if you've followed many of these threads, i've been of the notion that except when i'm backpacking or on vacation spending a lot of time outdoors, the Solar feature of my 955 has very little effect on battery endurance. my primary reason for choosing to spend the extra $100 on the solar model was in my own sense of style and wanting to minimize the wide bezel, the solar "band" gave a cleaner look.

fast forward to this past week. after a year of ownership and finally getting out of a very rainy winter/spring in CA, i am surprised that with 15.15 and 15.17 (betas), i'm seeing that my 955 Solar battery endurance for daily use has been significantly enhanced, much in line with specs provided by Garmin. and i got this performance even without any conscious effort.

here are the details:

- nearly 5 hour of All Satellite GPS activities : 16% (using Garmin specs)

- 6.8 days since last charge : 51% battery level, or 33% for smart watch use  --> 4.85%/day smart watch use or 20+ days extrapolated, just as Garmin suggested.

's awesome battery glance is showing me just at about 14 days of battery endurance projected which to me is pretty incredible. i am usually charging every 7-9 days because it both fits my routine and i don't like to run my battery below 20%

this current charge cycle is both surprising and explainable. first, since i purchased the watch nearly a year ago, i almost always run right around sunrise both due to cooler weather and work scheduling. but this past week, i've been running more mid-morning where i can get some decent solar charging during my typically 1 hour run durations. these runs are a mix of open sky and under tree cover, but it clearly is making a difference. that coupled with no longer wearing long sleeves when i'm out for short durations during the day or for activities over the weekend (1-2 hours), i find myself amazed that i'm only halfway down in battery after a full typical week. (i'm usually in the 30% range for a typical week). finally, i did switch my favorite watch face Big Easy to only show seconds on Gesture which also helps with these numbers, but i know i know from past experience that i've never gotten a 5% burn rate with that setting before (it was closer to 6.5%) so in short, Solar helps. and it is noteworthy i even used up some extra battery i'm sure in there updating the firmware twice (see other thread on 15.17) over wifi and bluetooth.

is the solar feature necessary for my typical use? no. i can easily charge every 7-9 days vs maybe 10-12 with this current level of charging, but it's nice to see that Garmin specs are realistic and i managed to achieve them this week without trying anything in particular. 

... also some relevant settings info: Big Easy Watch facing (1hz on gesture) showing: date, time, body battery, stress, solar intensity, battery, steps, HR, and notification counter; notifications synced to watch (can view via widget/glance)  but only alerts my screen for phone calls; wifi off in general except when i want to update system software; BT always on; pulse ox off. also, 20% backlight on Gesture for after sunset.

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  • 0 over 2 years ago

    Thank you very much for your post, as always :-)

    I also went with the Solar version because the battery and autonomy is the most important thing for me and, since spring has arrived, I can't be happier for having seen how it is really a very solid feature.

    Normally, when I enjoyed 2-3 hours of sunshine I saw how the consumption dropped noticeably. A 1% drop would happen at 10-12 hours instead of the usual 6-7. At the end I was momentarily doubling the data... But it is that recently I have come to see recharges of the remaining battery. I've seen it increase twice now and, little by little, I'm seeing the benefit of solar power.

    Given this, I'm very glad I paid a premium for the feature.

    Maybe when the batteries can last 40-50 days without solar charging I won't think so much of it, but today I want to continue on this path.

    Moreover, years from now when I upgrade my watch, I hope Garmin will have options like the Suunto Vertical, which greatly improves the solar collection parameters and can give almost unlimited battery life in watchface mode, and over 85 hours in satellite modes.

  • 0 over 2 years ago

    Thanks a lot Derek87, those were the words I was waiting for, I'm still on 945 waiting for the stability of the 955 firmware which I will prefer to 965 for its low power MIP and always in sight. Given your considerations, I will definitely buy the solar version, I hate always having some device in charge, telephone, watch, headphones, heart rate monitor, PC, I can't take it anymore.

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to Luca

    , as always YMMV... it really depends on how much sunlight you see daily. if you are outdoors a lot, it really a significant boost. as noted, there are times when i have actually seen the battery percentage go up.

    yet, the fact remains: when if i spend my day cooped up in my office or wearing long sleeved shirts, the solar doesn't do me anything. yet, i can now appreciate that under reasonable conditions (spending a few hours in the sun in California at least, Garmin isn't exaggerating their specs. 20 days of smart watch use seems pretty legitimate with a watch face that isn't overly power hungry. Tiku, if you search the other threads,  is the battery endurance champ who uses a very low powered watch face and sees i think 3 weeks between charges even with a significant number of GPS activities.