Battery capacity S9 vs Fenix 6: wrist HR

Stefan Kersting

Yes it’s the solar but he claims the solar charging is not so much. He uses gps when training hiking etc but does not train indoors at all

freeheeler

@Stefan-Kersting
asking my question coming from another direction: is the battery life of S9B not enough for you?

pacos

@Stefan-Kersting It’s all about battery capacity equipping the watches…
The Fenix 6X specifications report 60hrs of gps at full capacity and 21 days of smartwatch mode… S9B is at 25hrs of gps and 7 days of smartwatch mode.
There might be differences in technologies between the hardware of gps and FC sensors, but Fenix lasting 2/3 times more means have a battery with more than double capacity. And maybe Fenix 6X advantages that’s newer, and technology in batteries is ramping up years after years.

freeheeler

@pacos
S9B has around 320mAh and 6X 420mAh… hence it’s not about the battery itself. The solar charging is hard to include as it is totally individual how much light/sun it’s catching.
I think it is solely software related.
My 2 pennies: my S9B lasts much longer than I do, even on an extended skitouring weekend.

sartoric

@Stefan-Kersting, @TELE-HO

Yes it’s the solar but he claims the solar charging is not so much.

The solar charging is hard to include as it is totally individual how much light/sun it’s catching.

Sure, but consider it as a quick charge you do from time to time …

That said, I do agree on battery capacity, and the real need of it.

Mff73

@Stefan-Kersting said in Battery capacity S9 vs Fenix 6: wrist HR:

He claims that it takes several weeks before he has to charge the watch.

maybe the whole hypothesis should be verified
When it is too good to be true, maybe it is not true or biaised somewhere.

pacos

@Mff73 I owned a Fenix 6X until a couple of weeks ago which I got rid of due to firmware instability and unreliability of ascent measures (totally wrong, see my other posts). But I have to say that in terms of battery it’s outstanding and you forget it, I probably recharged it every 12-15 days or so… Using 24h Wrist FC, night only pulse OX measure, and 6-8 hours a week of running.
On other hand specs report 21days smartwatch mode and up to 60 hrs of best gps mode. As in previous posts it has a bigger battery than S9B, although not as bigger as I thought really, thus they may an optimized HW and SW with less battery drain, especially in “smartwatch” mode.

Bulkan

The technology is note the same… the sensor of the Garmin is elevate an own of Garmin, the Suunto’s is a Valencell and the screen has different pixels 280x280 vs 320x320 if I recall well.

sky-runner

@pacos said in Battery capacity S9 vs Fenix 6: wrist HR:

I owned a Fenix 6X until a couple of weeks ago which I got rid of due to firmware instability and unreliability of ascent measures (totally wrong, see my other posts).

Interesting… I find Fenix 6X to be more accurate in terms of measuring ascent than Suunto 9. It has some other issues that bother me, but measuring ascent is definitely something that I am quite happy with.

sky-runner

@Stefan-Kersting said in Battery capacity S9 vs Fenix 6: wrist HR:

He claims that it takes several weeks before he has to charge the watch.

Several weeks is definitely an overstatement, but 2 weeks while having optical HR 24/7 and running 6-8 hours per week with GPS+Glonass is typical. Without GPS activities but with 24/7 HR F6X is supposed to last 3 weeks, although I’ve never had a chance to verify that.

pacos

@sky-runner all my elevation profiles were like this… I had hundreds of quote ascent in flat run.
They replaced twice my Fenix but no way, always the same issue. Probably when I started sweating, but never had a feedback from them, just replaced and for 3 times the same.

pacos

@sky-runner I agree, 2 weeks with all active 24h and some run also

sky-runner

@pacos I’ve never had an issue like that. Do you wear your watch on the right hand? Perhaps sweat goes into the Baro sensor hole.

freeheeler

@sky-runner
fenix has a great design to avoid sealed baro holes, other than S9B to be honest… but overall I am much more convinced of Suunto than Garmin.

pacos

@sky-runner, yes I think this was the problem. I wear on the left hand with baro holes in the direction of the run, thus with sweat force and push to enter… if I wear on the right I didn’t have the problem. But I couldn’t accept to use an 800 euro swatch on right which I am not used to. I call for a design flaw but again they never replied and just replaced at every claim… it’s also not affecting everyone for any reason, as it happens for most of their bugs, random on a random group of people. I gave it up.

freeheeler

@pacos
that’s garmin… no customer care whatsoever… sorry to say that. My experience with Suunto is soooo much better in many ways…
that’s why I can easily live with the lower battery life of 31hrs with chest belt in best GPS mode

pacos

@TELE-HO

pacos

@TELE-HO and who knows if next Suunto 9 generation is bringing more battery/less drain for 24h fitness measures and UTMB without pain, the pulse OX, and cartographic maps… in Suunto quality. I’m not asking too much, don’t you?

Stefan Kersting

@TELE-HO could be som more capacity would like to activate the daily HR daytime too, but that just burns the battery. so I just track the sleep.

Stefan Kersting

@TELE-HO litle sunlight north of the arctic circle at the moment my S9B lasts longer than med too, but I would like to charge less often than 2-3 times a week