Battery Life With Garmin Legend?

[+own6volvos]

What is your average battery life in noraml GPS mode (not powersave) running either alkaline, NiCD, or NiMH batteries?

 

Doing a few tests the past few days I could get about 6 hours on my old 800 mAh NiCD Radio Shack batteries, (this was leaving it on and using the backlight occasionally), then using my 2250 mAh NiMH batteries I averaged 15 hours in normal mode.

 

I found this really interesting as garmin says the unit only lasts 18 hours on alky batteries when in power save mode and w/o using the backlight any.

[Overland1]

I get approx. 12 hours on the Vista (almost the same power consumption as the other eTrex units) when using the 2000 mAh Energizer NiMH batteries. Looks like yours is doing OK.

[+quills]

i get about the same results you did. i used mine monday on a cache that took 6 hours and the battery bar was almost gone when i started. i had it on the whole time and the indicator never moved.

[+lobo252]

I don't really pay attention to the battery life, but i would estimate i get around 10 hours with my Garmin Legend with Alky batteries. I know it is less than Garmin advertises.

[+dkcjkasharp]

I never really paid much attention as to how long exactily different batteries lasted in different mode settings.but just playing with mine, it about broke me within the first few months using regular alkiline batteries. Now I use RAYOVAC I-C3 batteries which are a 15 minute rechargeble NiMH . 2000mAh. The package came with 4 batteries, a charger base, 110v power cord for the house, and a 12v lighter cord for the truck. I have used it for sumtime now and works great. I paid only 30-35 dollars for it at Sams Club. The batteries last longer than the alkilines ever did.

 

 

P.S. I have never had any kind of good luck with Raido Shack regular or rechargeble batteries.

 

GOOD LUCK!!!!!

[+Solar Max]

I, too, get about 10 hours out of 2100 mAh NiMH's. I know that is less than advertised, but I think it's reasonable.

[+tirediron]

Using Wal-Mart house brand alkalines, getting between 10 - 12 hours.

[+Paul_Aris]

Anybody use the Rayovac rechargeable Alkalines?

[+own6volvos]

rechargable alky are never going to be as good as NiCD or NiMH. the capacity of the cell can't hold as much as a good NiMH battery, and it won't last as long in its lifetime. A place I get all my stuff from these days is www.batteryspace.com. Really good prices on battery and charger combos.

 

Radioshack batteries are really good for quality on there older stuff. I have 4 aaa nimh RS batteries... a few nicd AA's... and a few D nicd's. Though I wouldn't buy them anymore... the only issue I seem to see is they charge the same for 2000 mah D cells as other places charge for 7000 mah.

[team_tar]

With NiMH 1800 mAh I have something around 15 hours, NO battery save, no anomalous temperature (you may lose some hours if using it on sub-freezing temperatures), with GPS always on and backlight off.

This is reasonable since old Joe/Jack gps "encyclopedia" says (see here) 120 mA of current drain for a Legend (1800/120=15) , and at this current level (c/15) you should be able, to what I know, to drain the nominal capacity from a NiMH...

But in fact it varies, sometimes I have FAR less (say 10 h) and my record is 18 h... no idea at all why, never investigated it.

 

Ciao

 

Acaro of team TAR

[+bob393]

About 10hr with 1800 NiMH on my Vista. But I change them before I go out anyway. The power of the rechargeable.

[+GOT GPS?]

One neat idea of mine, is to run down the batteries in the GPS while in the woods, then do it again out in the open with no obstructions. Might the fact that a GPS may have to work hard at times to get a good signal make a difference???

I could be wrong, but there are so many factors in how fast batteries are depleted. There may be problems from one GPS of the same model to another of the same model GPS, on how fast they deplete the batteries.

 

If you make sure that the battery terminals are cleaned and put enough pressure against the batteries, then you may get a longer life out of them. I had a camcorder that when the battery starts to cut out on it i press the battery hard against the camcorder and then it comes back to life showing more of a full battery in the viewfinder.

Edited March 30, 2004 by GOT GPS?

[+Sparky-Watts]

I average 25 hours with Ray-O-Vac disposables in my Legend without WAAS, power-save, and backlight......