Am I the only one that has a GPSr that DEVOURS batteries?

[beatrixkiddo]

I have a Garmin Etrex Legend H and it is only a couple of months old. I find that I am having to replace the batteries about once every week or two. It's not like I cache everyday or anything, maybe just 2-3 times a week, and I turn it off as soon as i'm done. What's the deal?

Edited July 1, 2010 by beatrixkiddo

[+Castle Mischief]

What kind of batteries are you using?

[+Chrysalides]

And how long do you use the GPSr for, total operating hours?

[knowschad]

I have a Garmin Etrex Legend H and it is only a couple of months old. I find that I am having to replace the batteries about once every week or two. It's not like I cache everyday or anything, maybe just 2-3 times a week, and I turn it off as soon as i'm done. What's the deal?

What sort of batteries are you using? NiMH rechargables are known to have a rather short shelf-life. I always charge mine up either the night before caching, or that morning. If you're not using rechargables, I would strongly recommend it.

[+BulldogBlitz]

I have a Garmin Etrex Legend H and it is only a couple of months old. I find that I am having to replace the batteries about once every week or two. It's not like I cache everyday or anything, maybe just 2-3 times a week, and I turn it off as soon as i'm done. What's the deal?

 

i have the same GPSr and mine doesn't use batteries at all, i didn't even need the set i bought when i got it.

[+Team Cotati]

Go here for the absolute best in rechargeable batteries:

 

http://www.thomasdistributing.com/shop/kod...gmvokf6ntrm0182

 

The low-discharge type is the way to go these days.

 

Try it, you'll like it.

[beatrixkiddo]

I guess i'm gonna have to try the rechargeable ones. Right now i'm using the energizer MAX batteries.

[+gpsblake]

Yea, the battery life of the B&W Etrex Legend H is about 1/2 of the life of batteries in the Etrex color series . Don't know why the color units have better battery life, technology I guess. The B&W display on the Etrex Legend H is the same technology they used in 2001.

 

Just curious, is your backlight always on when you using the unit? That will suck up battery life.

[+Castle Mischief]

I guess i'm gonna have to try the rechargeable ones. Right now i'm using the energizer MAX batteries.

 

Get yourself a charger and a four-pack of the cheap Ray-o-vac recharge-ables. I get about 6-8 hours off a fully charged pair in my Explorist 210- which I would guess probably eats batteries a a rate similar to your unit. Plop two in the unit and keep the other two handy if you need them.

 

You'll save sooooooooooo much money in the long run.

[+beejay&esskay]

 

Just curious, is your backlight always on when you using the unit? That will suck up battery life.

That would be my bet. I used to have the problem until I was much more careful about not pushing the button to turn on backlight.

[+Harry Dolphin]

Dunno. I use the cheap Kodak batteries 4/$.99. As good as the better brands. Change them once a month or so. Seems cheap enought to me.

[+AlohaBra and MaksMom]

I have a Garmin Etrex Legend H and it is only a couple of months old. I find that I am having to replace the batteries about once every week or two. It's not like I cache everyday or anything, maybe just 2-3 times a week, and I turn it off as soon as i'm done. What's the deal?

 

OK...I use a Garmin Vista HCx. I bought it because of low battery consumption. With Lithium batteries and switching it off once I have located the cache, they last like 2 months. I don't turn it back on until I get there using the Garmin Nuvi unit. I get like 2-3 caches per hour as a rate.

 

They cost like $10 for four.

Edited July 2, 2010 by alohabra

[BCProspectors]

OP: Are you using Duracells?

[+Fncnca]

Bought my Legend H back in early December '09. I am getting right around 20 hours of service from each set of batteries. Sometimes a bit more, at times a bit less.

I use the cheap Duracells. I have to change them about every 7 weeks.

I rarely use the backlight.

 

I have a theory about battery life. When I turn on the GPS or any other battery powered device, I leave it on until I am done with it. I think turning it on and off drains the charge more rapidly. Batteries are cheap enough that I am not going to try and prove this theory right or wrong.

 

Maybe I should send this idea to Mythbusters, get them to test it for me. LOL

[knowschad]

Actually, there are many threads in the GPS and Tech forum regarding batteries, battery types, battery brands, and rechargers. That's probably going to be where this thread ends up, once Keystone or MM see it.

 

I've been using Engerizer NiMN and recharger for years now, and LOVE them. You can get them anywhere, the charge lasts more than a day with my 60CSx, and they recharge in 15 minutes. The batteries seem to me to be good for about a year... the charger, of course, lasts forever.

[aniyn]

I've been using Engerizer NiMN and recharger for years now, and LOVE them. You can get them anywhere, the charge lasts more than a day with my 60CSx, and they recharge in 15 minutes. The batteries seem to me to be good for about a year... the charger, of course, lasts forever.

 

You should never use a quick charger like that. They ruin the batteries, greatly increasing the self-discharge rate and lowering the capacity of the batteries. An 8 hour charger is a much better choice in the long run.

[+mchaos]

Have you messed with setting like back light timer etc? My triton has settings that effect how long that batteries last. If you mess with them, for instance make the back light stay on longer, or constantly making the back light come on, then you will have less battery life. Set your back light to the lowest setting you can see the screen, and let it stay off as much as you can let it.

 

Letting the back light stay off when you don't need it, if you can see it in the day light with out it on, then you will save a lot of battery life.

 

Also obviously as it has already been said, the brand of battery does matter. Better batteries = longer run time.

 

The other thing that I do that helps a lot is that I have a cigarette lighter power cord that I hook up to my gps when I am in the care, that way I don't have to turn it off to save batteries, and check my position to the cache while on the way.

 

I have been meaning to invest in some nickle metal hydride or li-ion batteries for my unit.

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

Dunno. I use the cheap Kodak batteries 4/$.99. As good as the better brands. Change them once a month or so. Seems cheap enought to me.

I've had seven GPS receivers so far and none have gotten great battery life, mostly because I cache a lot at night and use the back-light frequently.

 

I did the rechargeable thing, investing about $100 in batteries and home and car chargers.

 

I didn't think the performance of the rechargeables was all that great, and durability diminished over many charges, and keeping track of batteries and which ones were charged was a real PITA, so I went back to el cheapo Dollar Store batteries... 4 AAs for a buck is about right.

 

I plug my GPS into car power whenever I am in the car and just use batteries when away from the car, so the el cheapo batteries will usually give me anywhere from 6 to 10 hours of on-battery use during a 12-hour cache run.

 

Because over time I lost batteries, they deteriorate, chargers break, etc. for me using el cheapo batteries is easier and less expensive.

[+DonB]

I guess i'm gonna have to try the rechargeable ones. Right now i'm using the energizer MAX batteries.

Make sure you go with the hybrid batteries. I use Sanyo Eneloops, but I have also had good luck with the Kodak hybrids.

Edited July 2, 2010 by DonB

[knowschad]

I've been using Engerizer NiMN and recharger for years now, and LOVE them. You can get them anywhere, the charge lasts more than a day with my 60CSx, and they recharge in 15 minutes. The batteries seem to me to be good for about a year... the charger, of course, lasts forever.

 

You should never use a quick charger like that. They ruin the batteries, greatly increasing the self-discharge rate and lowering the capacity of the batteries. An 8 hour charger is a much better choice in the long run.

Sorry, gotta disagree with you there, based on personal experience. My batteries last at least a year, and that's all that I'm asking for. I had an 8 hour charger before, and I didn't get any better life out of that. Moreover, if you realize at the last moment that you forget to charge them up, with an 8 hour charger, you're out of luck. Me... I just pour another cup of coffee.

[+briansnat]

Every week or two. There are some units where I find myself replacing batteries practically every hour or two (a slight exaggeration, but not too far off).

 

The eTrex line is known for long battery life so unless you have a defective unit your battery life is pretty good for a hand held GPS.

[+Team Cotati]

Every week or two. There are some units where I find myself replacing batteries practically every hour or two (a slight exaggeration, but not too far off).

 

The eTrex line is known for long battery life so unless you have a defective unit your battery life is pretty good for a hand held GPS.

 

That's one reason that lots of communities have no charge eWaste recycling centers.

[+Castle Mischief]

Dunno. I use the cheap Kodak batteries 4/$.99. As good as the better brands. Change them once a month or so. Seems cheap enought to me.

 

I'm paying about $7 for a four pack of Ray-o-vac standard rechargable batteries. I have four that I've had for at least a year- averaging out to around $.58 a month for the first year. I'm still using them, so they keep getting cheaper every day.

 

I quit using Energizer NiMH batteries as they kept lowering the mAh value and raising the price. I've never looked back. A couple of years ago the Energizers were great- when new. These days, the cheaper Ray-o-vacs last longer on a full charge than the Energizers at around their 1 year birthday.

[DannyCaffeine]

I guess i'm gonna have to try the rechargeable ones. Right now i'm using the energizer MAX batteries.

Energizer MAX suck. I did a test when I was younger. My CD player and game boy both ran much longer on normal batteries (About 6 or 7 hours for each) but did not last more than 4 hours when I had MAX batteries.

Edited July 3, 2010 by DannyCaffeine

[aniyn]

I've been using Engerizer NiMN and recharger for years now, and LOVE them. You can get them anywhere, the charge lasts more than a day with my 60CSx, and they recharge in 15 minutes. The batteries seem to me to be good for about a year... the charger, of course, lasts forever.

 

You should never use a quick charger like that. They ruin the batteries, greatly increasing the self-discharge rate and lowering the capacity of the batteries. An 8 hour charger is a much better choice in the long run.

Sorry, gotta disagree with you there, based on personal experience. My batteries last at least a year, and that's all that I'm asking for. I had an 8 hour charger before, and I didn't get any better life out of that. Moreover, if you realize at the last moment that you forget to charge them up, with an 8 hour charger, you're out of luck. Me... I just pour another cup of coffee.

Rechargables should last at a bare minimum for several hundred charge cycles. Lasting a year isn't very long at all, even if you used them enough to have to recharge them every day. I'm still using a 6 year old pair of sony rechargeables, and they still work well.

[+Gamaliel]

My eTrex sucked up batteries at a ridiculous rate. I hate to replace them every time I went caching, and a couple times I had to switch out batteries in the middle of the woods even though I'd started out with fresh ones. I was using cheap dollar store batteries but it wasn't much better with the good ones.

 

Now I use a 60csx with duracells and I can go a month or more without changing them.

[4wheelin_fool]

The color E-Trex has a long battery life compared to the black and white version, however the meter isnt accurate. It will appear that the battery is nearly dead with the backlight on, but if you turn off the light the battery charge will jump back up on the meter and last another hour or more.

 

I had a Garmin V which used 4 batteries, and very quickly, however it was good at being both a car GPS, and a handheld. The automobile routing on the color E-trex is only for humor purposes, I suppose.

[knowschad]

I've been using Engerizer NiMN and recharger for years now, and LOVE them. You can get them anywhere, the charge lasts more than a day with my 60CSx, and they recharge in 15 minutes. The batteries seem to me to be good for about a year... the charger, of course, lasts forever.

 

You should never use a quick charger like that. They ruin the batteries, greatly increasing the self-discharge rate and lowering the capacity of the batteries. An 8 hour charger is a much better choice in the long run.

Sorry, gotta disagree with you there, based on personal experience. My batteries last at least a year, and that's all that I'm asking for. I had an 8 hour charger before, and I didn't get any better life out of that. Moreover, if you realize at the last moment that you forget to charge them up, with an 8 hour charger, you're out of luck. Me... I just pour another cup of coffee.

Rechargables should last at a bare minimum for several hundred charge cycles. Lasting a year isn't very long at all, even if you used them enough to have to recharge them every day. I'm still using a 6 year old pair of sony rechargeables, and they still work well.

Fair enough. A year is long enough for me, though. Up until very recently, I cached at least two days a week, so that's roughly 100 charges. I'm satisfied with that. But the biggest point that I can make is the one about charging at the last minute if you forgot to charge ahead of time. Instead of 8 hours, I'm out the door in 15 minutes.

[+kunarion]

What's the deal?

Mine will drain batteries in a few hours if I've absent-mindedly left the backlight on (which somehow happens every time I use it). It's a Garmin Oregon 550T. I install two fully-charged batteries before leaving, and bring at least 4 recently-charged ones as spares, for a single day of caching, if I'm hiking more than a few yards from civilization. I usually don't need the spares. Edited July 3, 2010 by kunarion

[7rxc]

Of course, EVERYone knows to set the battery type setting to the correct one...? Right?

 

The same circuitry triggers the low battery indicator and eventually shuts the GPSr down.

 

A fully charged NiMh will register as mostly discharged when set to Alkaline setting... and will soon show low battery. I get a lot of NiMh batteries (and NiCd) from people who claim they don't work. Saves a lot of money that way.

 

Another point is that many chargers DO NOT do the critical early charge cycles well... the batteries never really have a chance to perform properly... I get some that self discharge easily, but when 'shaped' they seem to hold charge for a long time... but it took a while to realize that. Some one mentioned that there were lots of threads on rechargeables over in the tech forums... It's been covered there very well.

 

Doug 7rxc

[+AlohaBra and MaksMom]

Of course, EVERYone knows to set the battery type setting to the correct one...? Right?

 

The same circuitry triggers the low battery indicator and eventually shuts the GPSr down.

 

A fully charged NiMh will register as mostly discharged when set to Alkaline setting... and will soon show low battery. I get a lot of NiMh batteries (and NiCd) from people who claim they don't work. Saves a lot of money that way.

 

Another point is that many chargers DO NOT do the critical early charge cycles well... the batteries never really have a chance to perform properly... I get some that self discharge easily, but when 'shaped' they seem to hold charge for a long time... but it took a while to realize that. Some one mentioned that there were lots of threads on rechargeables over in the tech forums... It's been covered there very well.

 

Doug 7rxc

 

I have used rechargable, like in my cameras. But for the Garmin Vista HCx, I use EverReady Ultimate Lithiums for the convenience and reliability.

[+TJdamon]

I have a 60csx and when I leave it plugged into the computer to download caches even though it indicates its running on usb power it eats up my batteries, I just realized this because I was goin through batteries way faster than usual.