Garmin power pack

Equipment
1

Hi folks

I’m looking for small power pack that I can use to boost the power in a garmin edge 830 for a trip over 11 hours.

Any suggestions.

Cheers

2

There’s tons of them (usb battery packs/ portable power packs) and like all technology they are improving (getting smaller, more powerful, cheaper, etc) all the time. For the 312 I ended up getting one which was as thin as a few credit cards. I think an anker one.

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3

I would recommend sticking with at least a somewhat known brand if you want the claimed capacity to be anything close to being truthful. Any GPS headunit battery is small enough that pretty much any USB power bank should be able to fully charge it at least once or twice.

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4

For comparison, the Garmin CHARGE (where you get to pay $$$ for the name and a bike mount) is 3100mah.

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5

The 830 is rated to last 20 hours. It should comfortably do an 11 hour trip.

In terms of settings to maximize battery life:

  • make sure it is set to GPS only (not GPS+GLONASS/Gallileo)
  • turn auto brightness off (at least for daylight hours)
  • do not leave it permanently on the map screen (constantly re-rendering the map as you move along is processor and battery intensive). Just leave it on regular datafields, and scroll to the map screen when you need to do a navigation check
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6

luckily I am using Lazyne MegaXL. Last me 50 hrs per charge.

7

You must do long distance rides differently than me. :slight_smile:

I’m pretty much in the “zone”, the whole ride and if I didn’t have my map screen up at all times shouting directions, I’d miss every single turn.

To the original poster, any tiny battery pack will work. Do test the battery and cable before the event and verify that it charges your computer though. (I’ve learned this lesson the hard way, um, more than once, eyes averted in shame.)

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8

I use the turn-by-turn directions, which pops up automatically with a map and turn guidance about 30 seconds before the turn. I also use the Distance to Next datafield, which gives the distance to the next turn - if it’s 5km, I can relax, if it shows 500m, I know to be on my toes expecting a turn.

But everyone has their own way of navigating, and being confident that your method works takes some of the stress out of it, and just allows you to enjoy the ride.

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9

I use that sometimes but the problem I find, in the Stevenage cycle subways in particular, it pops up when there’s too many options and I end up turning too early :joy: