Is Garmin’s solar charging worth paying extra for?

With vibrant, bright screens, multi-satellite GPS settings and a myriad of sensors, fitness watches and smartwatches are convenient, but that advanced technology comes at a cost. All those tracking features and flashy displays will drain your battery much faster than lower-tech devices. Garmin wearables tend to be better than most other brands when it comes to battery life, but that might not be enough. If you’re traveling, taking on an ultra-long event, or simply don’t want to have to charge your watch or bike computer frequently, you need something that lasts longer.

Enter solar charging. Garmin offers solar versions of many of its products, promising even longer battery life. Of course, the solar charging feature comes at a cost compared to non-solar versions. Depending on the device, solar charging can cost an extra $100 over a non-solar version. That’s no small amount, so before you invest in the feature, it helps to understand how it works and whether it’s worth the extra cost.

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What is Garmin’s solar charging feature?

The right conditions are needed

First of all, it’s important to understand that the solar charging feature is not intended as the primary charging source for your device, but rather a supplemental feature that can help extend the life of your battery under the right conditions.

The key here is proper conditions: if your watch or bike computer face doesn’t get enough sunlight, it won’t be truly effective. Garmin specifies sunlight requirements for each device, but typically, their watches need to be exposed to 50,000 lux for three hours a day outdoors, and their bike computers need 75,000 lux during daytime rides. It’s also important that the watch lens is facing directly at the sun and not covered by a sleeve or anything else.

For example, the Forerunner 955 Solar promises 49 hours of battery life in solar-charged GPS mode, and 42 hours without solar charging. But even more impressive, the Instinct 2 Solar and 2X Solar potentially offer unlimited battery life in smartwatch mode. To get these impressive boosts, however, each watch needs to be exposed to 50,000 lux of light outdoors for three hours a day.

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The short answer is, it depends.

So, with the above information in mind, who is worth spending the extra money on a solar device and who shouldn’t? Whether it’s worth the extra money will depend on how and where you use your watch, as well as your preference for how often you want to charge it. Of course, your budget will also play a role.

Anyone who is often outdoors can benefit from solar charging. For example, ultramarathons, backpacking trips, and long distance bike trips are situations where solar charging can be useful. The extra power from the sun can make the difference between being able to record all your events or not. If you work outdoors, the solar charging feature means you won’t have to charge your watch as often.

But if you’re like me and spend most of your day at a desk, it’s impossible to come close to the solar charging requirements. When I reviewed the Instinct 2S Solar, I was only outside for an hour or two at the start and end of my day most days, so I barely got any boost from solar charging.

When deciding which option is best for you, you should also consider where you live. I live in the Sunshine State, where we average 230-250 sunny days per year, compared to Seattle, which typically only gets 152 sunny days per year. If you live in the dark Pacific Northwest, you won’t enjoy the benefits of solar charging as much as other areas.

The solar charging process is also more complicated for watches, as your wrist is rarely facing the watch face directly towards the sun for maximum benefit, whereas a bike computer sits flat and faces up towards the sun, so it can better benefit from solar charging.

If you live in a sunny place, are outdoors often, and need to preserve battery life as long as possible, Garmin’s solar-charging device may be worth buying. However, if you’re not outdoors for long periods of time, live in a cloudy area, or simply don’t care that much about battery life, save yourself the $100.

FAQ

Q: How does Garmin solar charging work?

Garmin first introduced Power Glass in its fēnix 6 series watches in 2019. The technology features a single, semi-transparent layer of solar cells between the glass and the display that collects solar energy. That energy is converted into electricity to charge the device’s battery. The solar panel spans the entire display and is transparent, so it doesn’t affect the visibility of your watch or bike computer screen.

Q: Which Garmin devices support solar charging?

Currently, the fēnix, Forerunner, Instinct, Edge, tactix, quatix, Endura and Descent series devices have solar options.