Garmin Fenix 6X Pro Solar after 14 months

Back in August 2019 I plunked down $1000 and picked up a Garmin Fenix 6X Pro Solar (which means I’ve had it for a little over 14 months at this point).

So when I did my original review, I said I was going to keep track of battery usage over the next year to see how it stood up and to see if the solar charging makes a difference.

For the past year, every time I swam, ran or got on the bike, I would log the activity type, the time spent and the weather and snapshot the solar intensity screen.

Fenix 6X Pro Solar Solar Intensity Screen

And here’s what I found.

From January through March, I ran an average of six hours each week – this is active running.

And then #pandemic, I couldn’t motivate to run and decided to get back on the bike. And while I use the Edge 1030 on the bike, I wanted to make sure that I was still tracking battery life on the Fenix so I started using both.

So starting in April and going all the way to last week (second in November), I’ve spent (according to Strava) 152h 32m riding. While comes out to an average of 7:52 minutes a week on the bike.

I tell you this not to brag or be judged, but to let you know how much time I spend using satellite and connected sensors. (See, when I ride I used the speed and cadence sensors as well as the varia radar system including the headlight.) So I’m using a fair amount of battery to keep these all connected and while also sending me alerts for various metrics.

So what’s that all translated to?

Check out the below to find out what this all means.