4 ms·

It's actually incredibly easy to replace a watch battery on most watches (certainly Timex), you just need a tool to pull the back off ($10ish on Amazon right no

It's actually incredibly easy to replace a watch battery on most watches (certainly Timex), you just need a tool to pull the back off ($10ish on Amazon right now) and a battery that fits, which you can pick up at any Wal-Mart for $4-$5.

ghaff 7y ago
By the time I need to replace a battery on my $30 Timex, the band is usually going and the watch face is all scratched up.
- LeifCarrotson 7y ago
  I wore Timex Ironman watches for about 10 years and had the same problems. I discovered that (1) the bands are easily replaced, and a band that isn't deteriorating makes the watch much more comfortable, and (2) all but the absolute deepest scratches in the acrylic watch face are easy to buff out to a like-new shine with a cotton buffing wheel on a Dremel and some graduated polishing media. This would have been more valuable to know when I was a high schooler being rather rough on my gear and going through a watch every year or two, but I figure it's worth sharing. This was valuable to learn because I since replaced the Timex with a Garmin Forerunner 220 (now 5 years old) that's much more expensive. The rechargeable battery now only lasts for about 2 hours of GPS activity or 5 days of non-GPS use, about half what it did when I bought it originally, so I'm considering an upgrade again.
  - robocat 7y ago
    https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=garmin+forerunner+220+battery+replacement https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=garmin+forerunn... Worth trying to fix perhaps? Likely not a “good” use of your time, but fixing stuff is strangely satisfying. You seem skilled, but if you are just learning, then try to fix stuff that you would otherwise throw out and that doesn’t need expensive parts. It does “waste” time, but many people get a lot out of it.
    - LeifCarrotson 7y ago
      I suppose I should be honest with myself and admit it's as much about the excuse of getting the Fenix as it is lack of utility in the Forerunner. I am confident I could replace the battery, less so that I could do so non-destructively and make it waterproof when I reinstall everything - it's not designed to be particularly repairable, you can see they had to cut the plastic to get into the strap in that video. It would be fun to try to write new firmware for the watch and add some of the Fenix features to the Forerunner.

ghaff 7y ago

By the time I need to replace a battery on my $30 Timex, the band is usually going and the watch face is all scratched up.

LeifCarrotson 7y ago
I wore Timex Ironman watches for about 10 years and had the same problems. I discovered that (1) the bands are easily replaced, and a band that isn't deteriorating makes the watch much more comfortable, and (2) all but the absolute deepest scratches in the acrylic watch face are easy to buff out to a like-new shine with a cotton buffing wheel on a Dremel and some graduated polishing media. This would have been more valuable to know when I was a high schooler being rather rough on my gear and going through a watch every year or two, but I figure it's worth sharing. This was valuable to learn because I since replaced the Timex with a Garmin Forerunner 220 (now 5 years old) that's much more expensive. The rechargeable battery now only lasts for about 2 hours of GPS activity or 5 days of non-GPS use, about half what it did when I bought it originally, so I'm considering an upgrade again.
- robocat 7y ago
  https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=garmin+forerunner+220+battery+replacement https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=garmin+forerunn... Worth trying to fix perhaps? Likely not a “good” use of your time, but fixing stuff is strangely satisfying. You seem skilled, but if you are just learning, then try to fix stuff that you would otherwise throw out and that doesn’t need expensive parts. It does “waste” time, but many people get a lot out of it.
  - LeifCarrotson 7y ago
    I suppose I should be honest with myself and admit it's as much about the excuse of getting the Fenix as it is lack of utility in the Forerunner. I am confident I could replace the battery, less so that I could do so non-destructively and make it waterproof when I reinstall everything - it's not designed to be particularly repairable, you can see they had to cut the plastic to get into the strap in that video. It would be fun to try to write new firmware for the watch and add some of the Fenix features to the Forerunner.