Garmin battery power

bbrap
bbrap Posts: 610
edited November 2015 in Road general
I have a Garmin Edge Touring, When riding for approx 1 hour it uses 10% of the available battery power. 2 hours seems to use 24%, i.e. the usage is not linear. Does anyone know what affects the power usage (I normally have the map screen on even when I know where I'm going). Do any of the settings affect the battery usage much (recalc etc etc). Trying to decide if I need to take extra power for a planned 250 mile ride next spring (over 2 days not in one go :D ).
Rose Xeon CDX 3100, Ultegra Di2 disc (nice weather)
Ribble Gran Fondo, Campagnolo Centaur (winter bike)
Van Raam 'O' Pair
Land Rover (really nasty weather :lol: )

Comments

  • I have a Garmin Edge Touring, When riding for approx 1 hour it uses 10% of the available battery power. 2 hours seems to use 24%, i.e. the usage is not linear. Does anyone know what affects the power usage (I normally have the map screen on even when I know where I'm going). Do any of the settings affect the battery usage much (recalc etc etc). Trying to decide if I need to take extra power for a planned 250 mile ride next spring (over 2 days not in one go :D ).

    not sure about the touring, does it have wifi and bluetooth? if so, turn them off.

    screen brightness? i have mine (750, 800 now 1000) turned off when riding.

    does it have gps and glosnass? maybe turn glosnass off.
    --
    Burls Ti Tourer for Tarmac, Saracen aluminium full suss for trails
  • bbrap
    bbrap Posts: 610
    No WiFi or Bluetooth. Can't drop screen brightness (just backlight timeout,currently set to 1 minute). Volume is off. Definitely has GPS for the routing (that will have to stay on or I'll get lost, I got it for the navigation rather than as a cycle computer, I have a separate HRM). Does not seem to have Glosnass, just GPS on or off. So looking at the system it seems very limited on what can be adjusted (off route recalc is set to "off"). I might just leave it on and see how long things last (but then it will auto pause unless it keeps moving, Might strap it to the cat or something :) ). I think I'll need a backup battery.
    Rose Xeon CDX 3100, Ultegra Di2 disc (nice weather)
    Ribble Gran Fondo, Campagnolo Centaur (winter bike)
    Van Raam 'O' Pair
    Land Rover (really nasty weather :lol: )
  • tomisitt
    tomisitt Posts: 257
    AFAIK, displaying the map screen all the time uses battery power quicker because it's constantly "redrawing" the map. Only displaying the map screen when you actually need it should make the battery last longer.
  • No WiFi or Bluetooth. Can't drop screen brightness (just backlight timeout,currently set to 1 minute). Volume is off. Definitely has GPS for the routing (that will have to stay on or I'll get lost, I got it for the navigation rather than as a cycle computer, I have a separate HRM). Does not seem to have Glosnass, just GPS on or off. So looking at the system it seems very limited on what can be adjusted (off route recalc is set to "off"). I might just leave it on and see how long things last (but then it will auto pause unless it keeps moving, Might strap it to the cat or something :) ). I think I'll need a backup battery.

    i don't quite understand the 'can't drop brightness'. is that because it is down to the lowest setting already or you can't see it if it goes lower?

    i've got my screen timeout set to 15 seconds for when i have the brightness up for any reason.

    when we go touring, the garmins usually last two days (7-8 hours a day) before needing a recharge. that's with map display on at all times.

    can you turn auto pause off?
    --
    Burls Ti Tourer for Tarmac, Saracen aluminium full suss for trails
  • bbrap
    bbrap Posts: 610

    i don't quite understand the 'can't drop brightness'. is that because it is down to the lowest setting already or you can't see it if it goes lower?

    i've got my screen timeout set to 15 seconds for when i have the brightness up for any reason.

    when we go touring, the garmins usually last two days (7-8 hours a day) before needing a recharge. that's with map display on at all times.

    can you turn auto pause off?

    Because as far as I can see there is no option to change screen brightness on the Touring. Good idea on auto pause.

    Ignore that - just found the brightness via a downloaded manual.
    Rose Xeon CDX 3100, Ultegra Di2 disc (nice weather)
    Ribble Gran Fondo, Campagnolo Centaur (winter bike)
    Van Raam 'O' Pair
    Land Rover (really nasty weather :lol: )
  • Because as far as I can see there is no option to change screen brightness on the Touring. Good idea on auto pause.

    Ignore that - just found the brightness via a downloaded manual.


    how far up was the brightness set?
    --
    Burls Ti Tourer for Tarmac, Saracen aluminium full suss for trails
  • It's not the map or GPS which uses a lot of power, following a route (where it is recalculating) uses more power, I'd suggest dropping the screen illumination time down as well? I've got the standard 1000 and on audaxes following a route it can give 7 or 8 hours, I carry a small USB backup battery on longer rides which I carry in a tri bag behind the headset with a short USB cable to plug into the Garmin should the need arise.
  • bbrap
    bbrap Posts: 610


    how far up was the brightness set?

    Not very far, less than half i would say.
    Rose Xeon CDX 3100, Ultegra Di2 disc (nice weather)
    Ribble Gran Fondo, Campagnolo Centaur (winter bike)
    Van Raam 'O' Pair
    Land Rover (really nasty weather :lol: )
  • feisty
    feisty Posts: 161
    I have a touring. You can change the brightness. Hold the power button in for a second and simply navigate to brightness and turn it down
  • bbrap
    bbrap Posts: 610
    I have a touring. You can change the brightness. Hold the power button in for a second and simply navigate to brightness and turn it down

    Yep, thanks I did find it in the end. I've come to the conclusion that I'll have to take some extra power as it will not last for 250 miles without some outside help whatever power saving I try.

    Thanks all for your suggestions.
    Rose Xeon CDX 3100, Ultegra Di2 disc (nice weather)
    Ribble Gran Fondo, Campagnolo Centaur (winter bike)
    Van Raam 'O' Pair
    Land Rover (really nasty weather :lol: )
  • marcusjb
    marcusjb Posts: 2,412
    I have a touring. You can change the brightness. Hold the power button in for a second and simply navigate to brightness and turn it down

    Yep, thanks I did find it in the end. I've come to the conclusion that I'll have to take some extra power as it will not last for 250 miles without some outside help whatever power saving I try.

    Thanks all for your suggestions.

    You'll never get 400km out of a garmin (unless you are very quick) (or using an Etrex). You can be lucky to get a 200 out of them often!

    If you are stopping somewhere overnight, carry a charger. Apple ones are about the lightest on the market.

    If you can not plug the garmin in somewhere, then a battery pack like the Anker E1 (less than £15 these days) is good for several charges of a Garmin and doesn't weigh an awful lot. I use them on longer rides and have no issues with them.
  • rolf_f
    rolf_f Posts: 16,015
    AFAIK, displaying the map screen all the time uses battery power quicker because it's constantly "redrawing" the map. Only displaying the map screen when you actually need it should make the battery last longer.
    've spent 3 months touring with a Garmin 810 using a hub dynamo to keep it charged. When I was alternately running it down in the morning and recharging in the afternoon I found that showing the map made no difference at all to the recharge time (I was getting about 2% a mile). This was with the backlight turned off. If I turned the backlight on to full, the dynamo could maintain the charge most of the time but not increase it.

    So my conclusion is that the map makes no real difference. The backlight on the other hand makes a huge difference. Which doesn't appear to help the OP but probably is another indication (if there needs to be one) of how grossly misnamed the Garmin 'Touring' actually is!
    Faster than a tent.......