Garmin Fenix 3 battery drain - any other users having issues?

Forums › Health and fitness › Garmin Fenix 3 battery drain - any other users having issues?

Geektastic

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Topic # 191197 27-Jan-2016 13:22

My Fenix 3 has had reasonable battery performance since I got it 7 or 8 months ago - until recently.

Last night, for example, I went to bed and as I always do, turned off the Bluetooth in the watch (since my phone is also off overnight). I noted battery remaining of 55%. When I woke 8 hours later, the watch was off with a 100% flat battery.

It was charged to 100% at noon on 22nd January, so it had gone completely flat in just under a week.

I have used no GPS (a big power drain) and Bluetooth is off at night. WiFi never on. Only step counting, time, ABC functions. No sports other than step counting in that week.

This seems to be a very fast battery drain and it used to last around 14 days. I can surmise that recent firmware updates may have had unintended consequences but also wondered if anyone else had experienced similar?

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Reply # 1479853 27-Jan-2016 13:48

I found the latest update 6.50 is the culprit.

since updating I have encountered issues. First I cannot pair the watch to my phone via bluetooth outside of the garmin connect app, it will pair but then go right back to the 'searching for device' animation. This means that while I can force a sync from the connect app of my current data, I do not get text message or call alerts on my watch. Then second issue was immediate battery drain. After reading the forum I found that doing a full manual reset to factory defaults, then re-setting up my widgets etc got me back to the good battery life I had before (drops only a few % per day)

There are enough people going on about it on the forum that I am sure the next patch will fix these options.

If anyone out there has this watch and has not yet updated to 6.50 firmware I strongly recommend that you avoid doing so.

https://forums.garmin.com/forumdisplay.php?492-fenix-3

https://keybase.io/fizzychicken

Geektastic

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Reply # 1480285 27-Jan-2016 22:27

Yes - although there was a post in the forum today I saw where someone who had done the hard reset said it had temporarily fixed it but that the battery drain was back.

It's pretty poor for a device of that price point to have it doing this.

bazzer

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Reply # 1480302 28-Jan-2016 00:00

I really like the look of this watch, and was envious when you bought it. I think I'll stick to my Forerunner 305 and wait for the kinks to be ironed out before I upgrade.

The thing is that it's been out a year, so you wouldn't think there'd be issues like this with a firmware release. I guess it's a pretty major release though.

Geektastic

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Reply # 1480682 28-Jan-2016 14:33

It is tiresome - a company the size of Garmin really ought to have tested more thoroughly before release, I would say.

Geektastic

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Reply # 1487806 9-Feb-2016 00:00

I've sent it back to Garmin in Australia for warranty inspection. It was getting ridiculous. The day before I returned it, it lost 38% in a few hours.

Will report back.

BrentR

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Reply # 1488022 9-Feb-2016 13:05

My Suunto Ambit3 has been faultless. Good old Finnish engineering ;)

Geektastic

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Reply # 1488067 9-Feb-2016 13:58

Yes, the Garmin is Chinese engineering - or at least assembly.

Quite like the look of the new Suunto Kailash.

nairda

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Reply # 1490326 11-Feb-2016 13:09

Garmin has just released the v6.80 firmware which purports to fix the battery drain issue when using analog faces.

https://www8.garmin.com/support/download_details.jsp?id=7623

Geektastic

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Reply # 1494474 17-Feb-2016 22:57

So..shipped the unit as per the written instructions received from Garmin. The NZP tracking showed it signed for on 11 Feb.

I rang Monday.

"Oh it takes a few days to be associated with the case. Call us back on Wednesday."

I rang today

"Are you sure you sent it?"

"Yes. It was signed for by X on 11 Feb at 0652."

"Well it takes a few days to be associated with the case."

"You told me that on Monday. You have my $800 watch. Where is it please and what is happening?"

"Can I put you on hold?"

"Yes"

(Hum Greensleeves now for 5 minutes to get the full experience)

"Hello? Do you have the tracking number?"

"Yes. It is 1234567"

"Thanks. Just going to put you on hold."

(Hum Greensleeves again here)

"Hello? It seems you were given incorrect information about where to send the watch. It should have been sent to us in NZ not in Australia. Sorry about that. We have asked them to send it to us."

Never mind, she'll be right....

Geektastic

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Reply # 1502223 1-Mar-2016 16:04

Sooooooo

Last week I rang (again) and was told that they had tested just about everything and decided it was fine and were sending it back.

Did you test the Bluetooth, I asked?

No.

Well, that was what was causing the biggest issue I think. Perhaps you should.

OK. We will.

Monday I rang again.

Ah - we found out we had already sent it, so had to get it back from the courier.

OK, when will it be done? You've had it almost 4 weeks now.

We'll try and get a technician to look at it tomorrow. I promise I will let you know what is happening by Wednesday.

Today....email from CSR at Garmin. A technician has looked at your unit and....decided to replace it.

Halleluja. So clearly something was amiss somewhere.

Geektastic

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Reply # 1507642 7-Mar-2016 17:28

Yay for Garmin quality customer service!

On Monday they sent me a new Fenix. I got a link to track it.

Wondered where it was today, a week later, so used the link.

Somewhat stunned to find that it had spent last week travelling in a circle to arrive back at Garmin in Sydney.

Rings Garmin....asks wtf is going on....put on hold for 10 minutes.

Ah. We sent it to Wellington New South Wales.....we couldn't find your postcode in our system....yes, it does say New Zealand in your address details on screen....sorry about that.....

Here's Kermit, Miss Piggy and their new Muppet friend, Garmin!

bazzer

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Reply # 1507820 7-Mar-2016 23:11

Wow, you've been really unlucky. I've found Garmin CS to be great in the past. I only dealt with them via email.

Geektastic

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Reply # 1508326 8-Mar-2016 17:29

Unlucky enough to be buying Suunto next time...!

Sideface

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Reply # 1508340 8-Mar-2016 17:43

Geektastic: <snip> Ah. We sent it to Wellington New South Wales.....we couldn't find your postcode in our system....yes, it does say New Zealand in your address details on screen....sorry about that.....

I lived in NSW for 30 years and have never heard of the "other" (Oz) Wellington.
I now live in the "real" (NZ) Wellington.

According to Wiki: "Wellington is a town in inland New South Wales, Australia located at the junction of the Macquarie and Bell Rivers. ... At the 2011 census, Wellington had a population of 4,540."

Very educational.

Good luck

Sideface

Geektastic

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Reply # 1514229 16-Mar-2016 09:50

Finally the replacement unit arrived!

Obviously physically identical to the original - a complete new unit in retail packaging.

However, the problem (whatever it was) with the battery seems to be pleasantly absent on this unit. After a week of use battery life shows 58% remaining, with no sudden random drops.

Much better!

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