Garmin battery life

wicky9

Howdy folks. Have a Mizen to Malin planned in a couple of weeks. Aiming to complete in 2 days so means 10 hours plus in the saddle each day. I struggle to see my Garmin 520 lasting that long. Has anyone ever managed to get that long out of one? Currently hooked up to HR and Cadence and that will be required for the spin. Does turning off the GLONASS buy you much more juice? Anyone got any solutions other than to bring a power bank and charge it over lunch or whatever? Also....on a similar note, anyone heard of any cheap and cheerful live trackers that I could use? I currently use the one through Strava but will surely have to turn that off as it will burn out the battery on both the phone and the Garmin. Thanks in advance!!

godtabh

Just get an external battery pack and with the right cable you'll be grand.

Chumpski

I got 7 hours out of an 820 recently, and it had about 20% of life left. Might last.

The tax man

Turn GLONASS off if you want more time out of the 520. It sucks the life out of mine. With just GPS on I got over 10 hours out of mine during La Marmotte. It beeped "low battery" once around 9 1/2 hours. Kept going for another 40 mins without dying.

crosstownk

godtabh wrote: »

Just get an external battery pack and with the right cable you'll be grand.

Less than €10 in Penny's according to my daughter. When the Garmin gets low just connect it to the power pack and stick the lot in your pocket for an hour as you cycle to get sufficient charge back in to the Garmin.

wicky9

Thanks all. Seems as if external battery pack will be the way to go. I forgot too add that I may be using the Garmin to guide us for part of the route so that will eat into battery and also mean I won't be able to charge it in the back pocket. I'll bring some elastic and tape the battery pack to the handlebars. Sure what's the worst that can happen ......

Gerry

Switch off Bluetooth and put the screen brightness to 0, it might last.

mamax

Switch off bluetooth and get an external battery pack, connect it up and tape it to the handlebar, that got me sorted a few times with my 510

ED E

wicky9 wrote: »

Thanks all. Seems as if external battery pack will be the way to go. I forgot too add that I may be using the Garmin to guide us for part of the route so that will eat into battery and also mean I won't be able to charge it in the back pocket. I'll bring some elastic and tape the battery pack to the handlebars. Sure what's the worst that can happen ......

Maybe a stupid question but can you charge it while mounted? I was under the impression the locking ring would obstruct the micro USB.

EDIT: They seem to charge at the full 450-500mA of USB so if you're stopping for lunch that should get you a good chunk of charge. Do a test but 30% in an hour should be easy.

Takca

Another alternative if you don't want to go the charging route would be to switch Garmin devices half way (if you can borrow one) and join the files afterwards with this

http://gotoes.org/strava/Combine_GPX_TCX_FIT_Files.php

crosstownk

ED E wrote: »

Maybe a stupid question but can you charge it while mounted? I was under the impression the locking ring would obstruct the micro USB.

EDIT: They seem to charge at the full 450-500mA of USB so if you're stopping for lunch that should get you a good chunk of charge. Do a test but 30% in an hour should be easy.

If you're using a Garmin out front mount then it's possible to connect the power source - it is with my 520 anyway.

If not, just remove the Garmin, connect the power source and stuff it all in your pocket for 30 mins. Although charging while stopped for lunch as you suggest is a better idea especially as the OP will be using it for navigation.

ximo

In my experience, 10 hours sounds like a rather low duration for a 5XX unit. I easily get around 15hours on my 510. I know, it's not the same, but my unit is older and your battery should be in better condition than mine. I ride with speed, HR, cadence, power and bluetooth to the phone for live tracking, no glonass.
Watch the screens that you have configured. Some of them can easily drain your battery with calculations.
For me, using the unit to follow the course drains the battery at double the normal rate. So if the battery is a concern, better try to learn the roads in advance and check with the phone in case of doubt.
About glonass, you really don't need it. GPS is more than enough once on the road.
The backlight might consume some battery but it's minimal.

Wishbone Ash

crosstownk wrote: »

Less than €10 in Penny's according to my daughter. When the Garmin gets low just connect it to the power pack and stick the lot in your pocket for an hour as you cycle to get sufficient charge back in to the Garmin.

Just bear in mind that you need a non-data cable or the Garmin will reset as it will assume you're uploading the ride and when you go again, it will begin a 'new' activity..

OP - how old is the 520? The battery life deteriorates over time.

Unknown Soldier

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Just bear in mind that you need a non-data cable or the Garmin will reset as it will assume you're uploading the ride and when you go again, it will begin a 'new' activity..

OP - how old is the 520? The battery life deteriorates over time.

I think all garmin edges post edge 1000, ala 520 etc don't have that issue.

The 500 suffered from what you have said WA, not sure about the 510/810, they were pre Edge1000.

OP, as suggested, charge it from a power bank when on a break. Charging it "on the go" will wreck your head due to the vibration making it go on/off charge, what with the beeping a lot.

These are great. Very fast charge and made from cheap-assed plastic, very light. Every gram counts and all that.

Wishbone Ash

Unknown Soldier wrote: »

...not sure about the 510/810...

The 810 resets when charged with a normal cable as I discovered on a recent ride.

crosstownk

Unknown Soldier wrote:

I think all garmin edges post edge 1000, ala 520 etc don't have that issue.

Yep. Using the OE cable, the 520 recognises if it is connected to a 'mass storage' device or a charging device.

For example, if I connect to an external power source like an iPhone charger, the 520 powers up like it is on the bike. However, if I use the same cable and connect it to my computer, it switches to data transfer mode.