Speaking to the Garmin Help desk about the poor battery life on my Garmin, I was told that during use there is only a trickle charge going in which would not sustain long use when disconnected. He advised me to leave the Garmin connected in my van but when not following a route, to turn it off when it would get a full charge. Alternatively, connect it to a computer without doing anything else involving the programme. I tried this and the battery does have a reasonable life after all: it works.