UKC

I'm looking at used GPS watches. I want one initially to help track my walks but it would be nice if it had some features which would be useful when I head to the mountains.

The (last gen) Garmin Instinct looks ideal but looking around the 'net, it seems that after only a couple of years use, folk are having issues with the battery not holding charge.

It's putting me off getting one in case it's a dud, or in case it develops the problem soon after I get it.

Should I be concerned? Is this a widespread problem?

Thanks.

Ive had numerous Garmin watches. Current watch is a FR645 (non music) which I have had for about 30 months. No issue for me. I use it as my daily watch and also for my weekly running. No problems with battery life with this or other watches Ive had from Garmin.

My first ever GPS watch, the Suunto Ambit 1(original model) is still going strong too.

As above - I bought a second-hand Garmin 35 for £25.  I've had it a year and the battery seems fine.  I have occasionally used it while working, but I mainly put it on for running.  It does everything I need it to do and seems reliable / consistent in terms of tracking runs, pace, cadence, heart rate and so on.  I'd do the same again, as I can't see me being keen to pay the new cost of some of the more modern ones!

Sample size of one for a now very old model.  I’ve a Fenix 3 which is from circa 2015/6 iirc, still on original battery and no problems with battery.

I guess the capacity has dropped over the years, but it’s not noticeable to me for what I use it for. It’s my go to daily watch; I don’t however use gps much though so it’s not cycling the battery as much as daily use of gps would do.

That's reassuring, thanks both.

I know what you mean about the modern watches being a bit spendy, Derek. They're too rich for me (my current workhorse watch is a £15 Casio which I use in conjunction with a free GPS tracking app on my mobile phone).

I think batteries have improved, as my old Garmin 220 did die of battery failure after about 7 years.

I’ve had a Fenix 3 since 2016 and use the gps function regularly for running,cycling, swimming, walking, ski touring etc. I’ve not noticed that much battery degradation tbh, still many days between charges, mostly.

I've had a garmin instinct for over 2 years now and haven't noticed a troublesome decrease in battery capacity. Only need to charge it once a week or so for normal (non GPS) wear and a couple of 1hr runs or bike rides with GPS.

Battery life is about 12 hrs of continuous riding but you can charge it on the go from a small power bank in less than 30mins.

It seems like the newer models come with around double that battery life but also about double the price.

I’ve got a Garmin 920XT I’m just put up for sale for £45 battery used to do 20 hours on GPS now does about 14 hours. It will still do a week or more as a basic smart watch displaying notifications etc.

Its the black one with blue edging.

If you are interested send me a DM and I’ll send you pictures.

Thanks for the very kind offer but I went for it last night and a Garmin Instinct should soon be navigating its way over to me courtesy of the postal service.

Thanks all for the insight and advice. Much appreciated.

I've got a Garmin Fenix 3 HR

[Edit - I got it just as the Fenix 5 came out, so about 5 years old now]

The battery loses approx 10% per hour of GPS usage, so 10ish hours of GPS usage between charges.

It used to be a bit better, but an update appears to have nerfed its battery life while in normal use quite severely.

That sounds decent enough. The update issue isn't ideal, what a PITA. Are you able to roll-back to a previous version (presuming it's a firmware thing)?

Forgot to mention that it's a (2nd hand) solar version of the Instinct that I've gone for. I'm pretty sure the non-solar version would've been good enough but after weighing it up (2 years newer, improved battery life, found a good deal) I kicked the piggy bank a bit harder.

Never worked out how to roll it back, but to be honest I didn't look very hard.

The watch arrived yesterday and although I've only had a quick play, it seems easy enough to use and perfect for my needs. I really like that I can set custom power modes that are automatically activated when I begin an activity. It should mean that I can switch between a power efficient config (no HR monitoring, GPS etc) and full monitoring when I begin my activity without any faffing about. The Garmin Connect and Explore apps look very comprehensive too although I haven't done much with them yet.

Chuffed to bits and looking forward to seeing how it performs in practice.