Tern TX idle battery life report

[deeno]

I'm not sure if this is useful for others, but just in case, I have a Tern TX that has been sitting on the shelf since end of June (so +4months). I put it away with 80% battery after the last dive trip. It is stored in a temperate room. The battery is now 54%. I've turned it on to check the battery 2 or 3 times, but otherwise left it undisturbed.

Assuming the lower half of the battery is as good as the top half, it could sit on the shelf for a full year without charging, which I think is pretty great.

Also I stored an i330r next to it. It has drained from 100% -> 30% in the same time period, so still very reasonable, but just not as good.

PS: Yes I need to dive more

 

[denizdives]

Why do you own a Tern TX if you don’t dive much? I‘m asking because im interested in the Tern TX as well, but i‘m not sure because of battery lifetime and if this DC suits my needs.

 

[Jai Bar]

Why do you own a Tern TX if you don’t dive much? I‘m asking because im interested in the Tern TX as well, but i‘m not sure because of battery lifetime and if this DC suits my needs.

Mine consumes about 30% battery in about 5.5 hours diving, so you can expect about ~17 hours before need to recharge.

In storage, luckily I have not had the chance to see battery level drop after four months , but after 35 days it went from 100% to 92%- these things don't discharge linearly so doubt whether it can last a year, and I hope not needing to test that...

 

[GreggS]

Why do you own a Tern TX if you don’t dive much? I‘m asking because im interested in the Tern TX as well, but i‘m not sure because of battery lifetime and if this DC suits my needs.

I can answer that for ya. He was fortunate enough to win it at the Invasion in Bonaire this year.

 

[deeno]

A little late to reply here, but @denizdives , what about the battery life are you worried about?

Yeah I would not have bought one for myself, but after owning one, now I would.
1. being a vacation diver, I like rechargeable vs replace and pray for the battery to reduce the amount of mission critical untested gear that is taken to dive trips. I also would have had concerns over the battery if I was thinking about buying it, but after using it for a while I don't now. It lasts a long long time, even if the battery life degrades to 1/3 or even 1/2 capacity over time that's just fine if it lasts 2 full days of diving.

2. my old comp (Oceanic veo 4.0) could barely keep a full day of diving without uploading (2sec sample rate was only 4 hours of storage). I sadly had a few dives roll off the end because of this

3. viz is reasonable in direct sunlight/bright conditions. This was a real concern of mine with a color screen.

4. Never need to press a button again to see it at night or in dim conditions. This is nice when carrying a camera which often takes 2 hands and I've started to try and take mental note of what depth I see things that are interesting.

5. It used to be really awkward to see my old pressure gauge while carrying a camera at night. Basically I had to point my whole camera rig at my right chest D-ring where my SPG is clipped. I'm sure I shined a few dive buddies in the face because of this and it really was awkward to the point where I wouldn't check my air as much as I would otherwise.

6. I like the AI more than I thought I would.

7. There are more things I like, but would fall into the fluff category for me (ie not reasons enough to upgrade).