the Best Garmin Charger Dock Station (Charging Puck & Cable)
This charging puck will work with just about any Garmin watch and has probably been the most useful thing I’ve ever purchased for a Garmin Watch.
Q: Why?
A: Because I often use Garmin Express on a PC and every single Garmin cable I’ve ever had just stops working after a while. All of them…I’ve had a few.
The cables still charge the watches but fail to make the data connection properly with the watch such that I can’t connect to Garmin Express or simply to let me access the watch via a drive letter on the PC. Even if I were to use a MAC I guess I’d have the same problem as the issue lies with how the cable and port snugly fit together…or not.
A few months ago, this little charging puck cost me £6.99 (($7.99, Eu7.99 – buy here) and it was money well spent as it works every single time. And it’s not just me, if you take a look at the Amazon ratings you will see that just about everyone is happy and by everyone I mean there are 1,584 ratings with over 1,000 scoring 5/5.
Compatibility
Compatibility is with just about any Garmin watch including Instinct/Instinct Tide/Instinct Tactical/Garmin fenix7s /Fenix 7/fenix 7x/ 7Pro, Venu 2 plus, Garmin Move Sport, Epix 2, Epix Pro, Vivoactive 3/4/4S (Compatible with GarminActive/GarminActiveS), Fenix 5/5S/5X/6/6S/6X, Forerunner 965/955/ 955 Solar/945/ 935/ 255/ 255S/ 255 Music/ 255S Music/ 245/ 245Music/ 45/ 45s, Approach S60/X10/X40, D2 Charlie/Delta, Quatix 5/5 Sapphire.
Charging
This should work on any USB port on your PC, wall adapter, USB wall socket, or USB car socket.
Garmin Charging Puck Alternatives
Here are some alternatives that are probably the same physical product but branded differently. I’ve also added a few options for more niche charging needs. Enjoy
- MOKO – this is the one I have £6.99 $7.99 Eu7.99
- AUSTUO – identical and fractionally cheaper at the time of writing
- KIMILAR – might be UK only. same price.
- BMICE – slightly different and few £/$ cheaper at time of writing,
- LOKEKE Brand, twice the price but has different charging cable options
- Ruxely Brand this is a different but useful product. It’s a 90-degree charging elbow/bend adapter
Garmin Charging & Charger – Frequently Asked Questions
Here is just about everything you ever wanted to ask about charging a Garmin.
Q: Can you leave Garmin charging overnight?
Q: Can you charge a Garmin watch on a charging pad?
A: No. Very few Garmin watches are QI/wireless charging compatible, the Garmin Vivomove Trend being the most noteworthy exception. Expect more QI-compatible Garmin watches after 2023
new Garmin Qi Charging – What we know so far – Apple Compatible?
Q: Can I charge Garmin from mains?
A: Yes, with an adapter.
Q: Can I charge my Garmin directly from a USB wall socket
A: Yes
Q: Can you overcharge a Garmin GPS?
A: No, you can’t overcharge a Garmin Watch. As mentioned earlier, fully charging a watch is not ideal
The History of Garmin Chargers
In distant years, Garmin used a variety of charging cables both to provide power and data links. These cables tended to vary from one model to the next thus the Garmin Forerunner 235 had a different cable to a Garmin Forerunner 920XT. I kinda quite liked the latter as it had a reliable USB charging puck.
In the end, a cable is cheaper for Garmin to produce, sell and standardise than a puck and that’s probably why Garmin took the route they did.
The 2023 charging cable/port standard from Garmin must have been used, seemingly unchanged, for over 5 years. Even though I think it’s unreliable and prone to trap dirt in the charging port I think it’s here to stay for most watches. The only exception is some of the less sporty watch models like Vivomove Trend which will increasingly use QI wireless charging.
Get One Here From Amazon
If the MOKO brand is out of stock here are a few other options.
- MOKO – this is the one I have £6.99 $7.99 Eu7.99
- AUSTUO – identical and fractionally cheaper at the time of writing
- KIMILAR – might be UK only. Same price.
- BMICE – slightly different and few £/$ cheaper at time of writing,
- LOKEKE Brand, twice the price but has different charging cable options
- Ruxely Brand this is a different but useful product. It’s a 90-degree charging elbow/bend adapter
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I agree! I have a handfull of these charging pucks laying around my house, my gymbag and my travel-tech-box.
They never fail like the orginal garmin chargers do. I bought mine at Alieexpress in two-pack bags but they can be bought on many websites.
Hi will it charge the Garmin S62 gps golf watch? Kind regards Ian
I’ll counter with an opposite opinion. I’ve been using these since seeing one on DCRainmaker’s site years ago and I seem to go through them like disposable tissues. They always stop working for me at some point. I love the form factor (hate the awkward way a normal cable charges) but I feel like I must be doing something wrong.
I don’t understand why Garmin designed their charging port this way, I always had zero issue with the previous clamp and/or magnetic chargers of the past. This one seems like it was designed to be problematic. Some of the Garmin Forum users like to chide others that it’s a cleanliness issue, but in my case at least that’s ridiculous. I would like to know if I am doing something wrong though.
My puck works fine so far.
but I 100% agree with the rest of what you say.
Curious, what “block” are you using to plug the puck into? I sometimes wonder if that’s the issue but experimenting with several different blocks hasn’t made any difference on my end.
Also, 2nd question, I saw where you mentioned not letting Garmins charge above 80% – that’s a new one for me, I’m assuming you just charge the devices in drips/drabs every so often? That’s the opposite of me, I have always plugged them in overnight, but that sounds like a very bad choice apparently.
that’s a general Lithium thing.
apple has some mechanisms for that. all tech should really as that means itll last longer and you wont have to replace it so often. oh. wait a minute…..
I’ve been using these for years without issue as well. Does the latest (v5) Elevate sensor fit in the indented area or is it too big?
should be good