Garmin Edge Battery Life

[DaveK]

You won’t be able to expect more battery life from an 800 if you’re following a course. In fact, probably less. This track ended at just over 10 hours of on time because my battery died – http://www.strava.com/activities/137558154

Most of the Total 200 idiots I know (and I mean that in the nicest way) use the Garmin backup battery.

[Brent]

I say upgrade. I’ll even buy your 500 for Kim.

I got the 510 after I lost my 500, and I’ve been happy with the battery life so far, even when connected to my phone over Bluetooth for live tracking.

[hozn]

Yeah, I get the claimed 15 hours on my Garmin 510, even with Bluetooth. (I don’t use the LiveTrack feature very often; the one time I did my phone died after 8 hours, so haven’t really tested the limits there.)

The battery life is a great reason to upgrade, though I think the satellite sync/lock speed and BT sync with phone are even better reasons. I love just plugging in the Garmin once a week (to charge).

[jabberwocky]

Will the 500 take external batteries while running? The 800 will, but not sure about the 500. They charge off USB so external batteries are easy to find.

My experience is that the 800 would last 13 hours or so when new (which was the longest ride I ever did with it, and it was about dead when I got home). All Li-ion batteries lose capacity as they age, so it wouldn’t surprise me if it didn’t last as long today.

[Brent]

The 500 won’t let you plug in an external USB battery while it’s going (unless the firmware has changed since I had it). The 510 will let you continue using it off an external battery.

[consularrider]

There are a couple of BikeForum.net threads on external battery. One claimed it did work, another that it did not. I’m not sure I want to plunk down $90 with Garmin for theres, but the AA version from Gomadic is tempting at $20.

[jabberwocky]

You should be able to check it by just plugging it into any USB charger while its on.

And Amazon is littered with USB external batteries. You shouldn’t need to spend a bunch.

[vvill]

I haven’t been able to get the 500 to use an external battery and run at the same time. I have a Monoprice external USB battery.

My original 500 from 2012(?) doesn’t work as well as it should (GPS track deviates regularly, freezes up occasionally), so I bought a used one for $100. I have run both on some rides – for long ones I just turn the backup one on after about 6-8 hours so at worst you’ll have two overlapping rides (you can then trim on Strava, or merge the files some other way.) I think a spare Edge 200 would be fine for just the GPS tracking part if you don’t care about ANT+. I want to upgrade to a 510 though…

I don’t use the course feature on the 500 anymore. I’ve used it maybe for 10 rides, and had it crash enough of those times that I stopped bothering with it.

What jabberwocky said about batteries though – 4 years of recharging and near daily use has probably taken quite a toll on your Garmin’s battery.

[Tim Kelley]

Make sure to turn off the screen backlight to save on battery too. In full sun it’s hard to tell if it’s on, and it drains your battery just as much as running the nav…

[americancyclo]

@Tim Kelley 87245 wrote:

Make sure to turn off the screen backlight to save on battery too. In full sun it’s hard to tell if it’s on, and it drains your battery just as much as running the nav…

Tim, didn’t you have a tip about loading up the map, but not starting the nav to save battery?

[Tim Kelley]

@americancyclo 87250 wrote:

Tim, didn’t you have a tip about loading up the map, but not starting the nav to save battery?

When you select the course, you have the option of turning on turn by turn style “turn guidance.” I think that I’ve found that keeping that off and just following the little red line on the map saves battery. Anyone else had similar results?

Also, I use this: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002FU6KF2/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[PotomacCyclist]

I think all rechargeable batteries eventually lose their capacities after many charge, drain and recharge cycles. I don’t have an Edge but I’ve noticed that my Garmin 305 battery doesn’t last as long as it used to. Even if I charge it fully the night before, I’ve received Low Battery warnings after just 2 or 3 hrs. on the following day.

If I haven’t used it in a while, the battery seems to drain quickly, even when off. Then when I use it again (without recharging), the battery charge runs out in less than an hour.

I’ve had the 305 since 2009. Definitely overdue for an upgrade of some sort. (I also use the 305 for running. Because it’s still kind of heavy and awkward for running, I might get a thin and light running Garmin and a separate bike Garmin in the future, when it fits in the budget.)

[ronwalf]

You can replace the battery in the Edge 500 with a little handiwork:

• General disassembly instructions
• Battery instructions
• Random battery link

I’ve never done it, but it looks easier than most cellphone repair jobs.

[Phatboing]

@Tim Kelley 87251 wrote:

When you select the course, you have the option of turning on turn by turn style “turn guidance.” I think that I’ve found that keeping that off and just following the little red line on the map saves battery. Anyone else had similar results?

This is kinda what I was doing during the NoVA Epic, but I took the idiot route of turning on navigation, yelling at the Garmin for being dumb, and then ignoring the navigation cues and just following the damn line. Except the little red line on the Edge Touring is purple. Bug or feature?

[consularrider]

Just a short update on my situation. I decided to just get a new Edge 500 as the cheapest option (got a good deal), since I don’t use a smartphone, several features on the 510 weren’t worth an extra $150. I also noted that the 500 claims an 18 hour battery life compared with 15 hours for the 510, 800, or 810.

On Saturday’s Total 200, I did not use the course routing function and the gps was on for just over 15 hours. When I plugged it in to recharge it still showed at least 25% battery life left.

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