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What battery life% will your Garmin 310xt still work at?
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Today was the 2nd time in 2 months that my 6 month old Garmin 310xt shut down on me suddenly during a workout. I had heard from other people that when the 'low battery' warning shows up on the Garmin 310xt, that it shuts off pretty quickly, so that part isn't surprising. What I find quite frustrating is that I would think the watch really does have more than enough battery life to stay on... 2 little bars are still left on the battery icon when I turn the watch back on right away (it stays on for another 30 secs - 2 mins before shutting down again) and when I plug it in to recharge, the watch's charging indicator starts off at 32%! When this happened last month, the charging also started at some % greater than 30.

I'm fairly certain that I've used it in the past successfully to a battery life % below 20- was that a fluke? Anyone else have their Garmin shut down at a relatively high battery life %? Ironically I gave up on my 205 finally after more than 5 yrs of use (and a 'fixing' 1/2 way thru by Garmin) because it wasn't dependably getting a charge anymore. But it wasn't worth paying them $90 for another possible 'fixing', and the 310 got such great battery-length reviews so I figured it was worth the investment. I really wanted the super long battery life b/c I sometimes go 2-3 days w/o electricity (or not having space to carry a special battery charged charger for the Garmin) where I would like to record multiple long workouts.

Thanks for any thoughts on the matter!
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Re: What battery life% will your Garmin 310xt still work at? [chocolatefreak] [ In reply to ]
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Constantly draining the battery makes it hold less of a charge. Just like a laptop computer. Chances are, you killed it over time.

Either charge it every day, or send it in for a new battery.

Your username is awesome.
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Re: What battery life% will your Garmin 310xt still work at? [chocolatefreak] [ In reply to ]
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I have had the same problem. It lasts for a very long time (likely the advertised battery life) however when it dies it does say over 25% usually when I plug it in to charge. I have just always assumed it was a software calibration issue since it lasts a very long time. If I get down to one bar it has to be charged very soon.
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Re: What battery life% will your Garmin 310xt still work at? [nickwhite] [ In reply to ]
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Oh for some reason I assumed the opposite- that I should try to use it for say 10hrs worth of workouts before charging it again. doh. Guess I'll contact Garmin and see how long it will take to change the battery- just not sure what 2wks+ period I could survive without it :P Damn them for getting me so addicted!
Thanks!
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Re: What battery life% will your Garmin 310xt still work at? [chocolatefreak] [ In reply to ]
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It must be really device specific. Mine drains way down before it cuts off. I can't tell you the exact number that pops up when I start recharging it after it drains to the point of shutting off but we are talking <5% for sure, maybe 0.


Re: does it drain while off or only last one ride--Granted I don't ride/run as long as everyone else on ST, but mine lasts multiple rides/runs. Many, many hours of battery life. You guys have dud 310s. Garmin customer service is FANTASTIC. Call and tell them, you'll likely get new watches.
Last edited by: phil combs: Nov 17, 11 14:43
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Re: What battery life% will your Garmin 310xt still work at? [chocolatefreak] [ In reply to ]
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Not to hijack, but I'll charge it 100%, then do a 90-minute bike, then turn it off. Should still have heaps of battery left, but the next day, it's nearly drained. Is there a reason the battery is discharging that much even when it's off?

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Re: What battery life% will your Garmin 310xt still work at? [chocolatefreak] [ In reply to ]
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Its a well documented glitch in ver. 3.7 firmware. They know about it but are not in any big hurry to fix it. They will of course start with suggesting a hard reset following a full drain down. If you are not running firmware version 3.9 I would suggest saving all you data onto your computer and then uploading the 3.9 firmware, that fixed a lot of the really bad issues in 3.7

I was gettting a full stop at about 42% battery life with firmware 3.7 and now get about 16.5 hours with ver 3.9

Good Luck.


Dave Stark
dreamcatcher@astound.net
USAC & USAT level 2 certified coach
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Re: What battery life% will your Garmin 310xt still work at? [chocolatefreak] [ In reply to ]
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For the data monkeys. Interesting stuff.
http://batteryuniversity.com/...hium_based_batteries
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Re: What battery life% will your Garmin 310xt still work at? [karma] [ In reply to ]
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My watch currently says 'software version 3.90 / GPS: 2.10 ' so I guess that means that I already have the updated firmware unfortunately. I'm not sure at which point during my ownership that I updated the software (maybe only 1-2 months ago)- I think I might have even skipped the 3.7 update when it came out because I saw all the complaints about it. I only updated to 3.9 because I read something about it improving the auto-pause mode and I'd been so annoyed that even with autopause set to 1.5mph, the watch still started/paused constantly even when I stood next to my bike. Sometimes I tried really hard to keep my hand perfectly still, just to see how many times the autopause would engage- the answer is at least every few seconds....

I do admit that I don't actually keep track of how long I use the watch before recharging it- I had been waiting until there's only 1 bar left in the battery icon, or before I go out for a 5+ hr workout on the wknd. So that means I really have no idea how many workouts I've done since I last charged it, but after this full charge, that will be the next test- if it lasts for 16 hrs worth of workouts (as I know it did over a wknd this summer) then I'll be very happy with it, and will just remember to charge it after every workout from then on. To know it's likely just a software glitch would be nice, so that I don't have to go through the hassle of sending it in to be looked at. I know that their customer service is great, but I bought it in the US and currently live in Canada, so it would be a bit of a hassle to figure out who would take care of it etc...

Thanks to everyone for the information!
Wendy
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Re: What battery life% will your Garmin 310xt still work at? [808TriFool] [ In reply to ]
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That's some good info 808TriFool - after one more test of my watch's battery life, I'll definitely keep it charged after every use. But seeing the charts about loss due to cold temperatures is a little disheartening before the start of my long winter! I'll be using the watch for long days out xc skiing in temps likely <20F (just hoping not too many hrs <0F!) for the next 4+ months... Although a tiny part of me would be happy to 'need' to upgrade to the 910 in 2 yrs rather than 5 yrs ;)
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Re: What battery life% will your Garmin 310xt still work at? [chocolatefreak] [ In reply to ]
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I didn't click through to the link, but from my own experience with/ research on batteries, establishing charge percentage isn't a pedestrian task. Sometimes the scale on the watch doesn't seem to map well to the actual state of charge in the battery, and there doesn't seem to be any way to adjust/recalibrate it. I'd recommend giving up on that watch and mailing it to me. I'll take good care of it.

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Re: What battery life% will your Garmin 310xt still work at? [ZackC.] [ In reply to ]
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lol. Wait, are you calling us pedestrians?
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