Should you’re desirous about investing in a Garmin watch, you could be questioning how lengthy a Garmin watch truly lasts? Right here’s all the pieces it’s worthwhile to know before you purchase one…
Garmin watches are available in all shapes, sizes, and codecs. You could have high-end Garmin watches and extra inexpensive choices. None of them are what you’d contemplate low cost, nevertheless, even on the decrease finish of Garmin’s product choice.
And in the event you’re planning on dropping wherever from $200 to $800 on a Garmin watch, you in all probability need to know the way lengthy the watch will final, how lengthy it is going to be supported, and the way lengthy earlier than issues begin displaying up, proper?
I’ve been utilizing Garmin watches for years. I exploit them for monitoring my operating. I obtained my first Garmin watch again in 2015 – a Forerunner 225 – and that watch continues to be working positive at the moment. Since then, I’ve added a number of extra to my assortment, including the excellent Fenix 6 and the entry-level Forerunner 55.
How Lengthy Do Garmin Watches Final?
Should you purchase a Garmin watch at the moment, the watch will stay useful for a minimum of 5 years or extra. I obtained my first watch again in 2015 and it nonetheless works positive at the moment. Sure, it has a number of dinks and scuffs however all the inner elements are 100% useful. Principally, a Garmin watch will final you years and years at a time – could also be near a decade.
In fact, the extra you employ your watch, and the extra harmful your exercise, the extra possible you might be to trigger injury to it. Should you’re operating trails, mountain biking, white water rafting, or one thing related, you do run the chance of smashing up the show which may result in inside water injury – however that’s type of a given.
All of Garmin’s watches are designed for use in all types of environments, together with water. You may put on a Garmin whereas browsing, canoeing, showering, and if you’re within the bathtub and/or pool. They’re designed to be powerful and hard-wearing, which they’re, however in the event you smash it right into a rock, the display screen can break. Should you can keep away from doing that, you received’t run into any issues.
How Lengthy Do Garmin Batteries Final?
The elements inside your Garmin watch are good for seven years simply – possibly extra. However ALL wearable gadgets, together with Garmin watches, run on inside batteries, and these do have a finite shelf life, identical to your telephone, pill, and wi-fi headphones.
Like telephones, your Garmin watch runs a chargeable battery, and that battery solely has a certain quantity of charging cycles earlier than it begins to dwindle and lose capability. Usually, that is round 500 cycles. Your Garmin will nonetheless work positive after 500 charging cycles, but it surely may begin shedding cost quicker after this quantity has been handed.
How lengthy does it final after 5000 cycles? It’s exhausting to say, each battery is exclusive – it may do one other 5000 cycles earlier than it turns into unusable or it may very well be 500. There’s no exhausting and quick rule right here. In my expertise, this isn’t one thing it’s worthwhile to fear about. My six-year-old Garmin, and take into accout I used it day-after-day for 90% of its life, nonetheless prices up and holds its cost positive.
Should you do need probably the most bang to your buck with respect to battery life, you’ll need to go together with one in every of Garmin’s costlier health watches. These use the absolute best elements and probably the most highly effective battery models. These models will run longer and last more than the corporate’s cheaper gadgets which run inferior battery tech.
Are Garmin Watch Batteries Replaceable?
Most of Garmin’s smartwatches and health watches don’t function user-replaceable batteries. This implies as soon as the battery reaches its finish of life, its final cycle, you have to to get a brand new health tracker. Once more, although, this might take wherever from 10 to fifteen years relying on how typically you employ the watch. Most informal customers won’t ever have to fret about this.
Nonetheless, there are specific Garmin watches that include replaceable batteries. The Garmin Forerunner 50, for example, runs on a user-replaceable battery – though it’s now discontinued.
If in case you have a Forerunner 50, nevertheless, you may swap out its battery for a recent one by your self, or, in the event you don’t fancy doing that, you may take it to a watch technician to do it for you. Both manner, the Forerunner 50’s battery is replaceable.
Garmin even gives recommendation on the way to take away and change the battery contained in the Garmin Forerunner 50. Right here’s the way you do it, based on Garmin:
- If desired, backup all exercise knowledge with Garmin Join
- Take away again cowl plate from watch
- Take away battery from the watch module
- Wait one minute to make sure all residual vitality has been discharged
- Insert a brand new CR2032 battery
- Guarantee all contacts and insulators are put again of their unique positions
- Change again cowl plate to look at
You Don’t Want To Fear About This Although…
As I’ve mentioned all through this publish, Garmin watches are constructed to final. They’ve unbelievable sports activities monitoring options, and so they’re sturdy as heck – even the cheaper models like the Garmin Forerunner 55 which I’m at the moment road-testing proper now.
With battery life, you’ll get per week or two from almost all of Garmin’s watches. Once more, this depends upon how a lot/typically you’re utilizing its GPS. I run 4 to 5 instances per week, round 10-12 hours in complete, and the entire watches I’ve utilized in my time tended to final round 7 – 10 days between prices.
Take a look at our best Garmin watches for runners information, it’s a reasonably detailed information to the highest 3 Garmin watches you should buy proper now. I’ve included simply three choices to maintain it easy and focussed: you might have an costly possibility, a mid-range possibility, and an inexpensive possibility. Principally, one for each type of consumer and finances.
We even have a devoted Garmin useful resource web page, the place you’ll discover all of our Garmin user guides, tips and tricks posts, and actionable advice on getting probably the most out of your Garmin watch.
Richard Goodwin has been working as a tech journalist for over 10 years. He’s the editor and proprietor of KnowYourMobile.