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235 battery life - post your experience!

Former Member
Former Member over 9 years ago
The claimed battery life of the 235 is up to 11 days with 24/7 HR on and some GPS each day. Is that what you're finding?

Post here your experience! Are you happy, and does it match expectations?

In particular, following comment by dcrainmaker in the comments section of his recent TomTom Spark review worries me:

As for the FR235, it does do HR 24×7, as well as more advanced sleep metrics. However, Garmin’s battery claims of 11 days are super-optimistic. I’m getting about 2.25-2.5 days per full charge, assuming 1hr of GPS workout time per day. So, about 25% of claimed battery life.


Of course there's a world of difference between having to recharge every week and a half and every 2-3 days!
  • 0 over 8 years ago
    Mine last 3 days. Use 24/7 from runnig to daily use.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 8 years ago
    New user of FR235

    Bought my 235 a week ago. Charged it on Sunday night, had 2 runs of about 1:15 each and 24/7 HR and activity tracking.
    It's Friday morning and there's still some charge left.

    Question to folks who have been using this for a while...

    Does the watch automatically shut off GPS when not in Run mode ?
    Should I be doing this manually to prolong battery life ?
    How about Bluetooth ?

    Just curious to find out how folks have figured out is the best way to operate with this watch?

    CupertinoRaider
  • 0 over 8 years ago
    ANSWERS:
    1.) Yes
    2.) Not Necessary, due to answer 1
    3.) You manually connect Bluetooth ON/OFF ... always ON if you leave on ... don't think the battery draw is very much (GPS is the big battery sucker)

    I can do 4-5 30 minute GPS runs during the week and still have 15-25% at the end of the 4-5 days. That's with activity tracking, Bluetooth, notifications all turned on 24/7. That is similar to you and in my opinion fantastic battery life for what it does!

    Max
  • 0 over 7 years ago
    I bought my FR235 almost two years ago. Now, I charge it in the morning, do a 1 hour run, leave with activity tracking and Bluetooth ON, and no notifications; the next morning it is 10-15% charge.
    Any tips to get it last longer (without disabling activity tracking or not going out for a run), or is it just a problem with the battery?
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 7 years ago
    Mine has been pretty bad. I’ve had it about 24 months and I get about 18 hours on a charge. Actually I was getting less than a full day at about 12 months into owning it. I really use only use it for workouts because taking it to work is impractical - I have to keep a charger at my desk and if I run out for a meeting I usually end up leaving it charging. If I used it overnight for sleep monitoring, even starting with a full charge the night before, I won’t make it to lunch before it dies. So it spends half the time on the charger when I try to use it, so I can only use it for about a week at a time before I just relegate it solely to workouts.

    I don’t have a lot of installed apps and I don’t put it in GPS mode except during runs
  • 0 over 7 years ago
    I'll share my experience with Garmin support in case someone is facing the same issue and wants to know what to expect.
    I contacted Garmin Iberia (Spain & Portugal) asking for support. They told me to reset my phone and make sure the latest software is already installed using Garmin express.
    I did so and didn't notice any improvement. Battery would completely discharge in less than a day with activity tracking and HR, far from the 9 days they claim. And recording an half and hour activity with HR would take battery from 50% to 14%. Meaning it would take approx 4 hours to go from 100% to 0% battery by a rule of three.
    They asked me to send it for inspection.
    They returned it back, telling it was ok. Their test was basically record a GPS activity until the battery ran out. I saw the activity and it was 8 hours long, but it had no HR. So they say it is fine if a device they announce that can record 11 of GPS activity and HR, only does 8 hours without HR at all.

    So here I am, with a watch that I have to keep charging all day long so it is ready to be used whenever I fancy running, limited to 4 hours runs as well. Let's wait until I can't even record my usual 1 to 2 hour runs and buy a new device. Not Garmin of course, they've lost a loyal customer since my first Forerunner 305 ten years ago, followed by another 305, a 910xt, an edge 520 and many accessories as well.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 7 years ago
    I replaced my HR+ with a 235 and initially found that the battery was draining fast, say 50% per day. I found that the defaut setting for "HR broadcast" was the culprit. Switch HR broadcast to OFF and battery life lasts as advertised. I easily go more than a week now on a single charge with 4 to 6 hours of running per week, no issues.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 7 years ago
    I got my 235 almost a month ago, and I am quite happy about all the functionalities, but I have serious concerns about battery life, which is getting worse with each cycle it seems. Here is what I've tested during last two cycles:

    Firmware 7.70, latest official version.

    5/10 charged to 100%
    usual usage, HR on, Activity and sleep tracking on, BT turned on only for sync, one ~5k run.
    5/12 down to 8%

    left it to go to zero over night and charged again on 5/13, took it of the charged around 2 PM.

    5/13 charged to 100%
    same usage, except I tried to turn off the HR, and didn't record any run.
    5/14 1 PM battery is on 41%!

    https://drive.google.com/open?id=1S1...idwvsYxkZKGyPf
    https://drive.google.com/open?id=13F...hCSD79I064bAd5

    40-50% par day is ridiculous, as from what I've seen I should get something over 10% per day when not recording any run.

    I am quite desperate at this point, it's been some time, some charging cycles are behind me. Also I tried hard-reset after I got some firmware updates, but there is not change, or it maybe got worse. I already wrote to Garmin support, and I am starting to think about returning this piece! Any tips?
  • 0 over 7 years ago
    Just to give people an idea of what it should be like:

    I received a new in box replacement 235 about 4 weeks ago. Due to injury I have not run for 2 weeks but in that 2 weeks 30/04 - 14/05 the watch went from 100% to 25% with BT and activity tracking. In the weeks before that I was getting around 5% a day with BT and activity tracking on and around 8-10% per hour running with GPS and HR.