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The Tech Help Thread

Discussion in 'Technical Board' started by rei, Oct 19, 2009.

  1. Revengeofthenerds

    Revengeofthenerds
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    I remember reading somewhere on their website that the battery would last roughly a month if it was just in smartwatch mode, with 3 hours of direct sunlight solar charging per day.

    so yes, emergency “top up” charging basically. What this means for me in practice, is that I can use a watch face that utilizes a lot of battery power (comparatively), and with roughly an hour each day in direct sunlight during routine exercise I am able to go well over a week without even thinking about charging.

    What I end up usually doing, is taking it off my wrist after exercise to top up on the charger while I shower just because that is convenient. But I can and have gone well over a week both due to curiosity as well as travel. One less cord to worry about. That piece of mind is worth the extra $100 to me.
     
  2. AFHokie

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    The Sapphire glass is worth it.

    The solar isn't going to keep the watch fully charged, but it will help extend battery life, especially if you're wearing a short sleeve shirt outside on a sunny day. That said, I usually only put it on the charger while I'm in the shower and I've never had it close to running out of power.
     
  3. Binary

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    I know the solar boosts power, but you guys aren't comparing non-solar to solar watches, you're saying, "my solar watch has great battery life." Which is true! But so does the non-solar.

    Garmin says the solar watch has ~20% better battery life in most modes, assuming 3 hours per day in essentially direct, midday sunlight. That's a lot of direct sun every single day to get a relatively small boost, and is probably at odds with most of us who have jobs and shit that take up the middle of the day. I think the expedition mode is super cool because the low power combined with the solar boost lets you go forever on something like a hiking trip, but that's probably not a common use and has its own limitations.

    The sapphire is probably the feature that most people will benefit from rather than the solar boost. I'm not saying, "don't buy the solar edition," just, "the solar feature is probably less useful than it looks like on the spec sheet."

    One other thing to consider is that DC Rainmaker liked the Epix model because it had more pixels in the screen for better resolution on maps. Worse battery life all around because of the AMOLED screen, but if 99.9% of your use case is throwing it on a charger once a day, the battery life probably isn't your biggest concern.

    We have a Fenix 6S after upgrading from the original Fenix that got used to hell and back. That's my partner's watch, I've been debating between the 7 Solar (for the sapphire screen) or the Epix for a while but haven't pulled the trigger yet because I keep using hers.
     
  4. GTE

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    I figured for $100, it might be worth it but I have no idea what 50,000 lux conditions is.

    "*Solar charging, assuming all-day wear with 3 hours per day outside in 50,000 lux conditions"
     
  5. AFHokie

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    Lux is a unit of illumination. One lux is the amount of illumination provided when one lumen is evenly distributed over an area of one square metre.
     
  6. Binary

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    It's essentially direct sun on a clear day.

    Again, not saying the feature is useless. Just that I think Garmin is selling a lot of $100 Solar upgrades to people who won't experience any benefit, because they spend their lives around chargers and (like most people) just plug in their devices on a regular basis when it's convenient, like taking a shower. Plus a lot of people can't/won't spend multiple hours in the sun every day.
     
  7. GTE

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    Sooo....is 50,000 a lot? Too bad they don't measure it btu's, then I'd know exactly how much that is haha
     
  8. Revengeofthenerds

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    I consider the solar charging to be a nice "if it works it works" thing. It's in the background doing what it does, and I in no way rely or count on it. For $100, it's completely worth it for me to have as a nice feature that'll passively help a bit here and there. That being said, the usefulness of the insane battery life in the garmin cannot be understated. At least coming from an apple watch. I fucking hated having to charge it every night. Now I can get my sleep stats -- which in turn give me more accurate daily and exercise info -- plus I don't have to worry about that battery anxiety or whatever the fuck they call it.
     
  9. Nettdata

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    I find with my Ultra, I get about 3 days of use out of it, and then it recharges usually completely while I have a shower. (I have a big 140W power supply that seems to do a great job at charging it quickly).

    The battery charging is not at all intrusive... get undressed for the shower, take off watch, attach charging magnet, have shower, get out, brush teeth/etc, put watch back on.
     
  10. Revengeofthenerds

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    Yeah the ultra is gonna be hard to compare to the other apple models. They really geared it toward a different crowd (smartly, imo). I honestly did consider it, but at that point I was so frustrated with my Apple Watch that I don’t think anything could have made me overcome that negative bias toward them.
     
  11. GTE

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    Ended up pulling the trigger on the fenix 7 Sapphire Solar.

    Now for TiB's biggest tech idiot to figure out how to use it.
     

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  12. wexton

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    Cant seem to upload pictures to here. I click on the "upload a file" button, select the file i went, website goes opaque the little window in the top right does it thing saying it is working then nothing. No warning that the file is to big, no anything. Any ideas?
     
  13. Nettdata

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    I think it's a client side issue... seems to be working for me.

    Check for proper size, file type, etc.

    IMG_2013.jpg
     
  14. wexton

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    Weird, i had to re download them and then shrink them again. It was weird i could view them on my comp just fine but they wouldn't upload.
     
  15. malisbad

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    That is the finest layer of...fine...dust I've seen on a PC that costs that much
     
  16. Nettdata

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    It’s my work laptop that sits open on my desk all day/week/month.

    That pic got me a brand new M1 Max replacement fully spec’d out.
     
  17. malisbad

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    Well, bully to you sir!
     
  18. GTE

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    Garmin question; The courses that I make on the Garmin Connect website will sync with my phone, but any courses that are already in the Connect database won't sync to my phone. Any pointers? Seems to be too broad of a question for Google
     
  19. Binary

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    I just picked up an Epix. If I open the Connect website, I have the option to select "Send to Device" - that launches Garmin Express as a desktop app and lets me sync it to my watch.

    I haven't tried an equivalent function from my phone yet (the Courses feature in the Connect app on the phone seems to be a little flaky). But it works fine from the computer.
     
  20. SouthernIdiot

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    Does anyone here have much knowledge in regards to Chromebooks? I have a question about updates if so.