We've mentioned on the blog several times how much we like our Garmin GPS Running watches. In fact, the love for Garmins had trickled down to our mom, dad, and Scott too.
Our parents also have the Forerunner 10 and Scott has the Garmin Fenix with all the bells and whistles (because he is of course convinced that he will be lost in the woods by himself somewhere....lol)
I had already told the story about how Scott offered to upgrade my Garmin for me during my first marathon training cycle and I told him "Nah, don't bother. I'm only doing one marathon anyway". Of course, I ran a second marathon and still didn't think it was necessary to upgrade even though my battery died at 4 hours and I still wasn't done running .
I expressed on the blog last week my concern of the short battery life of the Garmin Forerunner 10 and Kristy from Runaway Bridal Planner offered some great advice. She told us this trick that could extend the battery life from around 4 hours to almost 10 hours.
Here is what she said
"So after you start it. If you turn it back to the regular clock screen, (instead of leaving it on the screen that shows you your splits/laps/mile time (that screen drains your battery).)
You can flip it back every now and then if you need a quick look at where you are at. But if you leave it mostly on the main clock screen it saves the battery especially if you are planning to use it for more than 4 hours.
I've had mine for years, it took me a few years to discover that trick. But even now, years past the battery will still last about 10 hours as long as I don't leave it on the screen that is draining the battery. Try it sometime, it works like a charm for me that way:)
I am so glad Kristy shared this tip with us and I will definitely be trying it out. The Garmin Forerunner 10 does everything that I need it to do and I really felt guilty upgrading it just because of the battery life. Now perhaps I won't have too.
Do you have any running watch tips?