Battery life is the biggest challenge of using Smartwatches. It feel so good when you own a smartwatch that’s got an excellent battery life – a battery that’s durable and last days, weeks after a single charge. However, the battery Charging time is a serious concern, I especially, sometimes scream loud when charging takes over 3 hours. The question is, how long does it take to charge a smartwatch up to 100%? If you’re wondering the same, this article is for you. We will explore factors affecting smartwatch battery Charging, so just keep reading.
Even Smartwatches with the best battery, and made with premium material, can turn out to have slow charging issues. Prolong charging is a big concern for most wearers. Newer models of smartwatches often charge so quickly while old models take longer. How long it takes for a smartwatch to charge depends on a lot of factors, we have to explore in the next section.
Read More: How to extend apple watch battery life
First, Lets go check it out!
Factors that affect how long to charge a smartwatch
What really determines how long to charge a smartwatch? These factors are keys to helping us understand how long does it take for a smartwatch to charge to 100%.
Here are factors that affect how long to charge a smartwatch!
1. Battery temperature
A smartwatch charger and battery, that are exposed to high temperature affects the battery charging. Heat can slow down the charging speed, and ruin the battery life.
The best way to charge is to place your charger and smartwatch in a well-ventilated place or near a fan. Disconnect any charger from your smartwatch, immediately you notice it is hot, or heating up.
2. Charger performance(noise)
A loud noise making charger is dissipate enough energy via sound. A noisy charger is evidence of poor internal charging circuit and that is pretty dangerous for your smartwatch battery.
Technically, the alternating to direct current conversion that occurs in most chargers plugged into wall-mounted outlets, often produce noise from when one element gets heated up.
This energy wastage circuits have poor performance and deliver wrong voltage and current values to your batteries. Disconnect any smartwatch charger that makes noise when charging.
3. Charging current and voltage
The amount of current the battery receives depends on how much current comes out from the charger. It is undeniable that a high current like 2A would charge your smartwatch device faster than 1A current, if they have same battery capacity.
What I means is simply that a chargers with higher output current charges the battery faster than a small amount of current. When shopping for the best charger for a smartwatch, choose one that is rated with higher current value (5V, 2A). The charging voltage should never go over 5volts.
4. Charging cable
How long does it take to charge a smartwatch if the cable is bad? The USB cable is the most popular type of chargers for smartwatches. They have been there since invention of smartwatches but sometimes, the cable just charge slowly if damaged or have faulty connections inside. Wireless smartwatch chargers are the more current options, which is a bit faster, only if you make perfect alignment of the magnets with your watch.
5. charger’s Original adaptor
If you use only the recommended adaptor from the manufacturer, you would be certain your watch would charge for the time stated by the manufacturer. Some third party chargers don’t respect specifications for your smartwatch and even if they do, that may not be compatible with your smartwatch. Forcing a third party charger on your smartwatch may prolong the charging time, and can damage your smartwatch battery beyond repair.
6. Smartwatch’s battery capacity
The battery capacity is the measure of how much energy can your smartwatch battery store. Smartwatch brands deliver their wearable products with different battery ratings. A battery capacity is given in milliamper-hours (mAh).
I recommend you should always ask the battery capacity from your smartwatch manufacturer or you check the smartwatch specification if you see the battery size. Larger batteries take longer to store much charge while small batteries get fully charged so quickly.
For example: a 200mAH battery would get fully charged within a shorter time, than a large battery smartwatch with 450mAH battery capacity.
When next someone tells you his smartwatch battery charges to 100% in 1 hour 30 minutes, ask that is the smartwatch battery capacity. If it comes over 250mAH, that is pretty a significant battery size, which can keep your device running for several hours, days or weeks without recharger.
7. Battery type and lifespan
Lithium ion(Li-ion) batteries are the newest standards for most wearable devices like GPS trackers, smartwatches and smartphones. They are rechargeable and they hold the energy for long. As the battery lifespan gets shorter and shorter, they will eventually lose ability to hold or store charge.
Compared to other kinds of batteries, Li-ion batteries have been proven to minimize the effect of aging on ability to keep charge for long. The best thing is, keep your watch and battery in good condition and their lifespan won’t be reduced and charging time prolonged.
8. Smartwatch model and quality
Charging time also varies depending on the smartwatch model and quality. Low-quality smartwatches have pretty, long charging time, and if you aren’t careful enough, you’ll lose your patience. Manufacturers of branded , premium and high-end watches also invest in fast charging capability, and that is why their wearables take just few hours to be fully charged.
If you are tight on budget, check these very affordable smartwatches under $50 with premium quality, including good battery life. If you want to try the luxurious smartwatches, go to Apple and Samsung or try out these super quality Swiss made smartwatches.
9. Is the watch powered off or on?
A smartwatch that is powered on might still have many apps running in the background. It is no doubt that your smartwatch, like phone will take pretty a longer time to charge if you don’t turn it off while charging. It is simple, if you want fast charging time, just shut down your smartwatch and power it on when the battery has full charge.
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How long does it take to charge a smartwatch?
Smartwatch charging time is smartwatch-dependent – the apps, the battery capacity, the battery life, the charging current. Every smartwatch has its own internal charging circuit, with maximum current rating and the battery capacity. Most smartwatches in the market today get full charge for an average of 2 hours.
1. Honor Magic watch 2 charging time : 2-3 hours
Hoch long is the smart watch charging time for honor magic watch? Honor Magic watch 2 has a super large battery, about 455mAH. This high-capacity battery smartwatch charges fully in about 2 to 3 hours and the battery can supply the watch without recharge for over 2 weeks. It can last more than 14 days depending on how you use the GPS navigation features.
2. Apple watch charging time: under 2.5 hours
How much time do you have to charge smart watches from Apple? A premium smartwatch like Apple Series 7 like other apple watches, has 18 hours battery life. The Apple watch 7 has a battery capacity of around 309mAh which can reach full charge in 2-2.5 hours. You can charge it using both USB and wireless chargers.
According to some user experience, apple watches charge too fast initially, and can take less than an hour to store 80% of the full charge. And yeah, apple watches still require every day or frequent charging than most high-end watches, due to its many power-sucking or power-hungry health and fitness apps.
3. Samsung galaxy watch charging time : 2 hours
How long does it take to charge a smartwatch from Samsung to get full? Samsung galaxy watch 4 is another smartwatch with a charging rate of 2 hours, with a battery life of approximately 2 days(40 hours).
With a battery capacity of close to 360mAh, a charging time of just 30 minutes is enough to empower the battery support up to 10 hours continuous operation. As with apple, the watch’s running time depends on the features you are using. GPS and music playing will drain the battery faster.
4. Large capacity Garmin watches charging time : 3-4 hours
How long to charge a smartwatch from Garmin brand? Garmin smartwatches takes between 3 and 4 hours to charge their batteries. The solar models like Garmin Instinct Solar, Tactix and Fenix 6 pro can chargers faster, if you also plug in the USB cord.
Why I like Garmin watches like Garmin Fenix 6 pro, despite their long charging time, is their really big battery sizes. If their batteries aren’t large, they won’t be able to handle those power-hungry advanced activity tracking function in the outdoor.
Read : best garmin hunting watches
5. Fitbit smartwatch charging time : 2 hours
How long does it take for a Fitbit smartwatch to charge to 100%/ If you use exactly the standard Fibit’s USB cable chargers of your Fitbit smartwatch, 2 hours is maximum time it will take to store full charge. Offer just a 15 minute charging time for your Fitbit smart watches, and it will run for a whole day.
Read More : Why is my Fitbit not charging or turn on?
6. Fossil smartwatch charging time : 3-4 hours
How long does it take to charge a fossil smartwatch to be full? A fully exhausted fossil smartwatch battery can be charge to 100 percent in 3-4 hours. According to customers review, Fossil Gen 5 smartwatch can charge to about 80% within the first 60 minutes. If you try out the newest release Fossil Gen 6, you can get the same 80% charge in just 30 minutes of charging. This pretty fast, than expected.
7. Tag Heuer Connected smartwatch Charging time : 1hr 30m
How long does the TAG Heuer Connected take to charge? In 1hr 30minutes, Tag Heuer Connected smartwatch – one of the premium smartwatches from Switzerland, can charge to 100%.
Tips how to charge a smartwatch without extending the charging time
- Avoid cheap third party smartwatch chargers. They may not have correct output current and can produce heating effect and noise
- Always Power off your smartwatch when charging and disconnect immediately it is full.
- Charge your device in a highly ventilated room, not in a hot environment
- Do not operate your smartwatch when the battery charge has run down to less than 5%.
- Occasionally, or frequently allow your battery to discharge down to below 10-15 % before your recharge, so as to let it calibrate itself
- Never let your smartwatch discharge completely before you think of charging it
- Store your Li-ion smartwatch battery when it is 50-90 percent charged. Avoid storing it with completed drained battery, else it may never hold any charge.
Related: how to fix the Apple watch overheating while charging
How do we charge smart watches without charger?
If your smartwatch does not have original charger, you can use its USB cable and connect it to computer, power bank or a DC power outlet. You can also use wireless chargers, thermoelectric chargers, as well as solar. Here is a complete guide how to charge smartwatch without charger.
Table Summary: How long does a smartwatch take to charge?
| Smartwatch | charging time |
| Amazfit | 1.5 – 2hours |
| Honor Magic watch | 2 – 3 hours |
| Amazfit T-rex pro | 1 – 2 hours |
| Garmin Instinct Solar | 2 – 3 hours |
| garmin Fenix 6 Solar | 1.5 – 2.5 hours |
| Fossil Gen 5 | 2 – 3 hours (80% in 60mins) |
| Fossil Gen 6 | 2 – 3 hours (80% in 30 mins) |
| Fitbit watches | 1 – 2 hours |
| Other garmin Watches | 3 – 4 hours |
| Samsung Galaxy watches | 3 – 4 hours |
| Apple watch | under 2.5 hours |
| Tag Heuer Connected | 1hr 30mins |
Gearon is a 6 foot active young man, with 5.5″ wrist he feels looks small. The struggle to grow big wrist with exercises and to pick gorgeous watches for his skinny wrists, have earned him an unbeatable passion for wrist watches, especially smartwatches. As an entrepreneur and a handy project manager, he knows exactly what product quality is, in the eye of a customer and what value they expect for their money. He combined all these talents, and created this blog to share his knowledge to everyone and the fashion community.
