The Beacon Message Board

My Garmin Edge 800 is years old and although not good for saving routes or navigation records rides reliably and still has good battery life. Also maps on micro SD cards.

A new Garmin Explorer bought in lockdown is much better on routes, downloaded and saved etc but battery life is now abysmal. It goes into battery saving mode on a 60 mile ride. Has anyone else had trouble with battery life, can batteries be replaced? My Iphone is so much better and has a new battery but doesn't present a dashboard in the same way or as far as I know link to the HR monitor.

I'll get in touch with their "support" when I get time but I'd be interested to know if this is common problem

I was looking into this for an old 500 recently and you can buy complete kits including a replacement battery and all the tools you need to fit it. There are videos on YouTube explaining the process - might be more complicated for an 800 but it looked relatively simple for a 500 (I haven't tried yet because I subsequently came to realise it might I have been the unit getting confused about the charge level rather than a battery problem).

I replaced the battery in my Edge 500, I just bought the battery from ebay rather than buying the kit which wasn't available in the immediate aftermath of Brexit. It was a bit fiddly but I managed and I'm no brain surgeon. It just required a tiny torx key which I have from when my daughters fiddled with mobile phones. I think I used a magnifying glass and a tiny but if hot glue too.

I have replaced the battery on an 810 using an ebay battery and kit.Fairly easy despite my failing eyesight.Took about 10 minutes.There was no replacement waterproofing seal in the kit but I just pressed front and rear together on the remnants of the original. So far all is good 4 months on

Many thanks Steve and Ron. There's no screws visible on the Explore and it's gone bad very quickly. I'll see what Garmin say before I try opening it up.

Sorry, I misunderstood your original post, Dave, and thought the Explore was a variant of an 800. It seems there have been several Explore models - one based on the 820 and one on the 1000. If it's a newer model and you only bought it recently, I'd hope that Garmin would replace the battery for you if that's what's needed.

Dave, apologies if this is stating the obvious to an experienced old hand... but have you double-checked that none of the settings are resulting in extreme battery drain? For example, if the backlight is permanently on, that can drain the battery very quickly, and on a sunny day I don't think that I'd notice it was even on. I think that searching for satellites also drains the battery, so if the GPS is malfunctioning, the battery might go flat quickly.

I've had three Garmins over the years and, although battery life on the fancier new one isn't quite as good as on the simpler older ones, I've never had one that would run for at least eight hours. I used my old 500 on one fifteen-hour ride and multiple twelve-hour rides without recharging. So, if there's nothing causing excessive battery drain, it sounds to me as if your new one is faulty.

Thanks George, I'm looking for the receipt at the moment but I'll check settings etc. I went back to my old Edge 800 today and it was fine until Tardebigge so it can cope with most of my rides!!

Dave, i've replaced the battery on my 800 twice, if you need your doing just ask.