S!G wrote:

Ok, thank you. So maybe, it's my wired imagination. While the original screen protector has had many scratches until now, I'm going to look for a better one.

The only battery problem I've had was dirty contact points in the battery compartment, a little bit of mud I hadn't cleaned was driving me nuts!

I would recommend the Zag protector. It's the best on the market.
They don't make one for the x10 yet, but I used the one they have for the exploristXL and cut it to fit.

I used my 710 for 2 weeks with no screen protector, then put a Zag protector on it. I was doing battery tests for a week before & at least two weeks after installing the protector and noticed no change in battery performance after installing the protector.

My understanding is that this is a resistive touchscreen.
In a resistive touchscreen pressure has to be applied to the top layer of plastic to make it come in contact with the bottom layer of glass, the processor in the unit reads the resistance and figures out where the screen was pressed.
A screen protector applies no pressure to the screen.

If the Lowerance TS-GPS uses a capacitive touchscreen then it's possible that a protector could cause a minor and constant discharge of the capacitive screen.
The iPhone uses a capacitive screen, that's why it won't work while wearing gloves, but a resistive touchscreen will work with gloves on.

And even if the screen protector does drain the batteries a little, I would rather change batteries than change screens or have to live with scratches on the screen! 😉

ps;
I have had some experience with touchscreens, 3 years ago the railroad I worked on installed touchscreen controls for a safety device.
The device kept failing, after several days of testing I found that partial grounds on our trains caused by weather were messing up the capacitive touchscreen. The manufacturer changed the screens to resistive screens and that solved our problem.

The screen protector is just a piece of plastic on the screen, it can't affect battery usage in any way.
What affects battery life is temperature and usage.
Check the contact points for the batteries in your unit, if they are a little dirty or not making a good connection to the battery it will affect battery life.
Also make sure the battery is clean, the end points can be slightly corroded with a battery that is several months old.

I don't like the run time with rechargeable batteries, I prefer either lithium or alkaline, I carry fewer spares in my pack that way.
And yes, I've used Eneloop & several other brands and types of rechargeable batteries.

I strongly doubt your putting on the screen protector is what is decreasing the battery life. I would suggest that maybe colder temperatures or different usage habits might be the culprit. It may be your batteries as well depending on age or charge method.

Have you tried other batteries to compaire? I know they are expensive but I've gotten great times out of Energizer Ultimates. Even with the lithiums I've not been able to get the unit to work in very cold weather for very long.