As the title, id like to have my back-light illuminated all the time during an activity, but there is no way to have this happen automatically without first going into settings and setting it always on.
Proposed feature in settings: User can specify backlight always on during an activity. Bonus feature: User can set specific backlight % for each activity.
Rationale: The watchface is readily visible in daylight. In darkness it is almost invisible, which isn't much of a problem because a quick tap of the screen illuminates the dial.
But... for us clueless souls who do pre-dawn workouts, a dark/invisible screen that requires user intervention to be readable, that is a semi-serious inconvenience. In darkness, even 20% backlight would make the screen readily visible
Benefit: For users: Readily visible screen during activities performed at night. No need for user intervention that breaks exercise rythym or requires one-handed bike steering. For Garmin: vivoactive 3 becomes the sports watch of choice for fanatics who insist on exercising in the dark.
I guess if you dont mind the devices battery not lasting very long lol; the backlight uses quite a bit of power.
You're right, always-on backlight during an activity would use some battery power. Certainly way less power than GPS, which settings allow the user to turn off/on for specific activities.
It is the constant dilemma of portable devices: usability vs battery life. More of one implies less of the other.
But… the user is best able to make the tradeoff, which an always-on backlight setting (for specified activities) would allow.
I'm hoping that Garmin will empower the user to make the usability vs battery life tradeoff for backlighting, just as Garmin has already done with the battery-hog GPS feature.
You're right, always-on backlight during an activity would use some battery power. Certainly way less power than GPS, which settings allow the user to turn off/on for specific activities.
It is the constant dilemma of portable devices: usability vs battery life. More of one implies less of the other.
But… the user is best able to make the tradeoff, which an always-on backlight setting (for specified activities) would allow.
I'm hoping that Garmin will empower the user to make the usability vs battery life tradeoff for backlighting, just as Garmin has already done with the battery-hog GPS feature.
From my experience, Garmin isn't big on user preference. When the FR 235 first came out it was sampling your HR data every 15 minutes while sleeping, There was an issue with expected battery life, so Garmin increased battery life by sampling every 30 mins. Numerous users asked for a setting where they could return to the 15 min sampling for better readings with the knowledge that they would have to charge their 235's more often. That was two years ago and fell on deaf ears.
I think it would be a very useful feature. Actually I'm a bit suprised that va3 doesn't have it. Even my basic FR35 supports it and I haven't noticed dramatic battery life impact. It should be a user decision if they wish to consume power this way and charge the watch more often.
