eTrex 30 battery life
Original post
I got some Energizer Ultimate Lithium batteries for my Garmin eTrex 30 GPS and I was very impressed that they lasted 43 hours and 40 minutes. The specs for the GPS claim only 25 hours.
I had all the power saving options that I knew about:
Glonass off
Waas/Egnos off
Backlight timeout 15 secs
Backlight brightness about mid range
Compass off
Barometer pressure trending - save when power on.
I was using the GPS quite extensively as we walked along the Matiri Range in cloud and rain with only pmcke's track to guide us, and just a normal amount of usage on the rest of the trip.
That sounds familiar to my own experience with both the eTrex 30 and (beforehand) the eTrex Vista HCx. I've never bothered with Lithium, but with most of the stuff except track recording switched to off or minimum, I'd reliably get 25+ hours continuous use on ~2550mAh NiMH rechargeables.
I mostly use them for recording tracks with very occasional referencing, and among the units that could be used as a regular hand-held they appeared to have by far the best battery life. Many people I've spoken to prefer to have a larger display, however.
Haha, glad my track was useful. I put Lithiums in my camera and GPS for longer trips. As well as being longer lasting, they are lighter as well and also, apparently, do not suffer in low temparatures like some batteries. The downside is that when they go flat, they go flat suddenly without warning. Incidentally, I still have a set of lithiums in a camera I put in for my my tramp at Easter. But maybe that is indicative of how little tramping I have done since then,
I've noticed that the Garmin devices, or at least the two I've owned, have a setting to specify which type of battery is installed. As in: Alkaline, NiMH, or Lithium.
pmcke, I've barely ever used lithium batteries, but do you find that the GPS still gives you little warning even when it's told that it has lithium batteries? Alternatively is it possible that the setting has been left on a different battery type, so the battery life indicator's been confused?
My Garmin 60CSX does not have a setting for Lithium batteries, in fact the manual warns you specifically not to use them as they can produce a higher voltage than other batteries in the early stages of their life.
However, I did read somewhere that people were using good branded Lithiums without any problem so tried them myself and have had no problems.... touch wood!
I used Energizer lithiums in my eTrex 30, but mostly because they're not affected by the temp as normal batteries which means the compass is more reliable. But the longer battery life is nice too.
As far as it not giving you much warning … I read in the user manual for my SteriPEN Adventurer the other day that some lithium batteries are designed to cease functioning below a certain voltage or something, a hard cut-off. So it was saying that it might not even be able to tell you when the battery is low. That's with the stubby batteries though; can't remember the type.
Just grabbed Generic 3.7v 320mah Lipo Battery for my Garmin eTrex. It runs cool on it. Delivered long lasting solid performance. Check out the site: http://www.mrpositive.co.nz/ to get best fit as per user and experts reviews.
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| Forum | Gear talk |
|---|---|
| Started by | iangeorge |
| On | 3 December 2012 |
| Replies | 6 |
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