External battery/portable charger options for Garmin

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colster
Posts: 98
Joined: Wed Aug 08, 2012 11:02 pm
Location: West Yorkshire, UK

by colster

Have owned a Garmin Edge 1000 for about 3 years now, and the battery life aint what it once was. The device now cannot last rides of over 4 hours if navigation is running. Generally it's not an issue riding in my home area as I know where I am so don't require navigation, but with a holiday looming it's an issue that needs addressing.

Do any folks have any recommendations for portable chargers, solar chargers or external battery packs? Of course the Garmin external battery kit seems the obvious choice, but it looks a bit bulky - am looking for the lightest and least obtrusive option that will alllow me to do 8-10 hour rides without the fear of being stranded.

by Weenie


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fromtrektocolnago
Posts: 1145
Joined: Sat Dec 07, 2013 10:15 pm

by fromtrektocolnago

or just trade down to a garmin 810 which doesn't have the battery issues
Colnago C-59 (Dura Ace)
Firefly(Ultegra)
Colnago C-64 disc(ultegra) with Bora 35 wheels

colster
Posts: 98
Joined: Wed Aug 08, 2012 11:02 pm
Location: West Yorkshire, UK

by colster

^Is an option I have considered, but it's kinda like chucking your smartphone away and carrying around a 90's brick instead. It just seems a massive shame to throw away all those features and settle for a more basic interface just to extend battery life.

Specifically regarding Garmin's, I do prefer the larger screen of the Edge 1000, but I guess that is a luxury compared to the basic function of the device actually staying on to the end of my ride!

fromtrektocolnago
Posts: 1145
Joined: Sat Dec 07, 2013 10:15 pm

by fromtrektocolnago

My friend has a 1000. He charges it mid-ride, while on the bike. The process is sub-optimal at best.
Colnago C-59 (Dura Ace)
Firefly(Ultegra)
Colnago C-64 disc(ultegra) with Bora 35 wheels

sungod
Posts: 1702
Joined: Fri Dec 24, 2010 9:37 pm

by sungod

colster wrote:Have owned a Garmin Edge 1000 for about 3 years now, and the battery life aint what it once was. The device now cannot last rides of over 4 hours if navigation is running. Generally it's not an issue riding in my home area as I know where I am so don't require navigation, but with a holiday looming it's an issue that needs addressing.

Do any folks have any recommendations for portable chargers, solar chargers or external battery packs? Of course the Garmin external battery kit seems the obvious choice, but it looks a bit bulky - am looking for the lightest and least obtrusive option that will alllow me to do 8-10 hour rides without the fear of being stranded.


paper map (buy or print from google) plus route notes and learn the basics of estimating way is north, it's all i use even on first time routes 100km+, if you're not used to it this may seem odd at first, but people did much longer rides without gps (or even decent maps) for a long long time, it's going short distances in towns with lots of little twisty roads that can be tricky!

you can turn off gps on the garmin and keep it in reserve in case you get lost at some point

otherwise get a usb battery pack on amazon/wherever, should be easy to secure it with tape under the stem, the garmin one appears to be 2200mAh, you can get far higher capacity than that in a basic device (won't be waterproof though)

JackRussellRacing
Posts: 243
Joined: Thu Nov 03, 2016 4:32 pm
Location: USA

by JackRussellRacing

I had a Garmin 1000 too.... charging mid-ride from a little lipstick USB battery worked, but sucked. I switched to an Element BOLT which is (so far) really nice. It held fine on a 12 hour, 200-mile ride earlier in the month.

(To charge the Garmin mid-ride, I used a 90-degree USB connection with a tiny little Anker USB lipstick battery that was in a top-tube storage bag. Not a great solution, but it worked. The Garmin 1000 *does* function when plugged in, so it was charging while riding)

There is a place out in Arizona that can install a new battery in your Garmin 1000 if you're so inclined. It's not cheap, but it will breathe new life into the unit.

My Garmin units are now relegated to the trainer bikes.

BikeAnon
Posts: 399
Joined: Sun Mar 02, 2014 6:36 pm
Location: NY USA

by BikeAnon

Use any charger you want. make sure you have a charge-only cable, and not a data cable.

Squint
Posts: 240
Joined: Mon Oct 10, 2005 9:23 pm

by Squint

I have a Thrunite C2 and am happy enough with it that I'm thinking of buying another:

https://www.amazon.com/ThruNite-C2-Small-Sized-Fast-Charging-Flashlights/dp/B01MPWHSCM

The battery is easily replaceable.

I've even used it to charge my Di2.

evan326
Posts: 480
Joined: Wed Sep 14, 2016 8:51 pm
Location: RVA,USA

by evan326

You use that to charge while you're riding? I've been thinking of something like that to charge my camera.

DutchMountains
Posts: 103
Joined: Sat Aug 20, 2016 9:16 pm

by DutchMountains

Just curious, what do you folks hate about charging mid-ride? Haven't had any problems charging my 820 from a 10Ah while riding (pretty much inevitable for 300+km rides).

evan326
Posts: 480
Joined: Wed Sep 14, 2016 8:51 pm
Location: RVA,USA

by evan326

DutchMountains wrote:Just curious, what do you folks hate about charging mid-ride? Haven't had any problems charging my 820 from a 10Ah while riding (pretty much inevitable for 300+km rides).

Could you share your setup?

JackRussellRacing
Posts: 243
Joined: Thu Nov 03, 2016 4:32 pm
Location: USA

by JackRussellRacing

DutchMountains wrote:Just curious, what do you folks hate about charging mid-ride? Haven't had any problems charging my 820 from a 10Ah while riding (pretty much inevitable for 300+km rides).



1) Having to carry an extra battery
2) Knowing that the device's backlighting and turn-by-turn are significantly affecting overall battery life
3) When plugged in, the USB connection is no longer sealed from the elements (rain, dust, sweat, etc) because the rubber grommet is open.
4) See #1.

fromtrektocolnago
Posts: 1145
Joined: Sat Dec 07, 2013 10:15 pm

by fromtrektocolnago

It's just pathetic of Garmin to release a product that virtually guarantees it will need recharging mid-ride. Deal breaker for me and why I won't be upgrading past 810
Colnago C-59 (Dura Ace)
Firefly(Ultegra)
Colnago C-64 disc(ultegra) with Bora 35 wheels

DutchMountains
Posts: 103
Joined: Sat Aug 20, 2016 9:16 pm

by DutchMountains

evan326 wrote:Could you share your setup?

Anker Powercore 10Ah USB battery, Alpkit fuel pod top tube bike bag and a "regular" micro-USB cable. Also using this to charge Di2 mid-ride when it is acting up (got a feeling that new Ant+/BT transmitter still has power draw issues).

So far I haven't had any problems on the Garmin end in the rain (on the 820 the plug is at the rear, pointing down, this may help), but that fuel pod is not fully weather proof; I now have the battery pack in a ziploc bag (not completely waterproof either because of where the USB cable comes out, but so far good enough).

The Etrex models are rather popular with ultra-distance cyclists as they take regular AA batteries. However, I don't think the Etrex models support power meters :( (the cheaper ones may not even support HR/speed/cadence, but the 30 and 35 at least do).

Then there's the Lezyne SuperGPS that has a claimed runtime of up to 24h.

But in my experience most cyclists rarely ride longer than 3 hours, so those pathetic GPS's are good enough for the majority. We are just on the tail of the curve ;-)

by Weenie


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User avatar
TonyM
Posts: 3376
Joined: Thu Jan 22, 2015 4:11 pm

by TonyM

DutchMountains wrote:Just curious, what do you folks hate about charging mid-ride? Haven't had any problems charging my 820 from a 10Ah while riding (pretty much inevitable for 300+km rides).


After how many hours is your Edge 820 battery at 10% or near 0% ?? Do you use the navigation/ course?
(I have also a 820 Edge and after 7.5 hours it has still between 40% and 58% depending if I use the navigation/ course or not; I have many features disabled like buddy/segments/group track etc..but still have bluetooth GPS/GLONASS etc...)

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