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Features that Affect Battery Life on Outdoor Handheld
If an outdoor handheld is needing more frequent charging or battery change, it could be due to amount of usage or system settings that have been changed.
Features and Conditions That Impact Battery Life
Temperature
All devices that use batteries are subject to reduced battery run times in cold conditions. Conditions below freezing will significantly reduce the battery capacity and charging can only occur above freezing.
Backlight Brightness
Screen brightness can be one of the biggest contributor to battery drain. How bright the backlight is set and how often it comes on can drain battery more quickly or less quickly. Having backlight set at 100% will drain a lot of battery while the backlight is on.
Backlight Timeout
Sets the length of time before the backlight turns off. A shorter Backlight Timeout can conserve battery.
Battery Save Mode
Saves the battery power and prolongs the battery life by turning off the screen when the backlight times out.
Map Drawing Speed
Adjusts the speed at which the map is drawn. A faster map drawing speed decreases the battery life.
View of the Sky
If the handheld is powered on indoors, the battery may drain faster as it will have to try a lot harder to find a GPS signal.
GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite Systems)
If the handheld supports the use of multiple satellite systems (Multi-GNSS), such as GPS+GLONASS or GPS+Galileo, this can reduce the overall battery life when compared to using just GPS. GPS+GLONASS or GPS+Galileo does offer increased performance in challenging environments and faster position acquisition.
For handhelds that also support multi-band technology for improved location accuracy, this can further reduce the overall battery life.
Wi-Fi
Some handhelds support Wi-Fi to download updates and/or upload activity data. When it is always active, it is continually searching for, and maintaining connections.
Bluetooth/Connected Features
Some handhelds support Bluetooth to connect with Garmin smartphone apps. The drain created by Bluetooth is dependent on enabled Connected Features and how often it syncs with the phone. If your Garmin handheld supports Bluetooth, a list of compatible Connected Features can be found in the owner's manual.
The settings described above can be adjusted in the Setup or Settings options of your handheld. For guidance on how to adjust theses settings, refer to your owner's manual.