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Battery life much lower than expected on Forerunner 970 during trail run

Normar
16 days ago

Hi,
I recently tested my Forerunner 970 during a longer session and noticed that the battery drained much faster than Garmin’s reported specifications.

  • Starting level: about 66% battery

  • After 4h 30min: about 19% battery

  • Estimated total runtime: around 9.5 hours on a full charge

Setup during the activity:

  • Followed a preloaded course

  • Power mode: Extended

  • Heart rate alerts enabled

  • Eating reminders enabled

This is far below Garmin’s stated GPS-mode battery life (20+ hours). I’m wondering if others have experienced similar numbers, and whether this is caused by my settings, usage pattern, or possibly a fault with the device.

Any advice or tips on how to optimize battery life would be much appreciated.

  • 0 15 days ago

    Hello,

    That seems reasonable actually if you have certain settings to make it drain faster. I am not sure what your GPS setting is to but when doing long runs we highly recommend Ultra Trac. Here is our main article: Why Is the Battery of My Garmin Watch Draining Faster than Expected? - hopefully that helps. 

  • 0 15 days ago

    Thanks for the reply. I’m still a bit confused, though.

    During my run I was:

    • Following a preloaded course

    • Using Extended power mode

    • Had HR alerts and eating reminders enabled

    • GPS was not set to Multi-Band/All Systems, just the default for Extended

    Based on Garmin’s published specs, I would have expected 20+ hours in GPS mode while navigating. My tests so far show closer to 9–12 hours, depending on conditions. That is less than half of the advertised runtime.

    I understand that certain settings can reduce battery life, but from what I can tell, I wasn’t using the most power-hungry features (no music, no map panning/zooming, no always-on backlight, no LTE/LiveTrack).

    Also, while I know UltraTrac is an option, it isn’t satisfactory for my use case — the decreased accuracy makes it unsuitable for trail running and navigation in technical terrain.

    Could you clarify:

    1. Should I realistically expect 20+ hours of GPS navigation (following a course with alerts) on the Forerunner 970, or is the published spec only achievable with UltraTrac or very minimal settings?

    2. Are there specific settings in Extended mode that could explain why my unit drained so much faster than the specs suggest?

    I just want to make sure whether my experience points to a device issue, or if Garmin’s stated battery life assumes a much more restricted configuration than I realized.

    Thanks in advance for clarifying.

  • 0 15 days ago

    I'm sorry Hannah, but recommending UltraTrac for a 4:30 run is ludicrous and unacceptable. OP, don't use this unless you seriously need to conserve battery.

    OP, your battery usage doesn't sound right - as in, something is either wrong with the device/firmware etc, or your settings are tuned to use as much battery as possible, which doesn't at all sound like the case. For reference (though I'm on beta 15.05), yesterday I used 14% battery on a 3hr run with all systems+multiband enabled.

  • 0 15 days ago in reply to gerstlauer

    Thanks for the input, @gerstlauer — that’s very helpful.

    @Garmin-Hannah, I’d like to follow up directly on this. The reason I’m asking is that I plan to run an ultramarathon where I’ll be out for close to 20 hours, and I bought the Forerunner 970 expecting it to handle that in GPS mode with navigation enabled (based on Garmin’s published specs).

    In my own testing I’m only seeing 9–12 hours total runtime. That’s less than half of the advertised 20–26h, and much lower than what other users here are reporting (for example, ~14% battery for a 3h run with all-systems+multiband, which lines up with Garmin’s spec).

    I’m not using music, always-on maps, or other extreme drains. UltraTrac is not a real option for me because the accuracy isn’t acceptable on technical trail terrain.

    So my question is simple:
     Point right Are my results within Garmin’s expected range for the 970, or does this indicate that my unit might be faulty and should be serviced/replaced?

    I’d appreciate a clear answer from Garmin on this point, as it’s crucial for my use case.

  • 0 15 days ago

    I agree Normar your battery decline seems faster than what I would expect.

    I've been noticing weird battery behavior on my 970 in the last 48 hours. Last night I went to sleep around midnight with 100% charge, by 9AM i had 79% charge. My watch was in sleep mode for most of the night (no display on, also no oxygen monitoring on, no touch on).

  • 0 14 days ago

    Maybe it drained faster because you were using map screen. It's more processor demanding to draw maps. Also the AMOLED screen will use much more battery to show a full map screen instead of a regular screen with black background and only numbers for datafields. It will also be affected by screen brightness setting and ambient light (screen adjusts to ambient light) and if you were constantly using gesture or touch to keep screen ar full brightness. 

    AMOLED is a big battery eater if not used carefully. They should keep MIP option for forerunner line too.

  • +1 13 days ago

    All, for any additional battery concerns, please contact your local Garmin Support office for them to report it. 

  • 0 13 days ago in reply to Garmin-Hannah

    I think the latest beta has solved my battery drain issue. I only lost a few % points over night, whereas previously I would sometimes lose >20% in just 10 hours of sleep mode.