How long can the battery last if the GPS is on

[zack251]

Hi,

I want to know how long can the battery last if the GPS is turned on. This is very important for long distance running (10K, 20K marathon etc). Hopefully more than 4 hours.

 

[Joe920]

Definitely an important number that I still haven't seen. Anyone here going for a long hike today?

 

[garyhartaz]

I had 2/3 battery full and 1 hour into our hike it said I needed to charge. LAME!

 

[Senrir]

That sounds terrible compared to fitbit surge.

 

[Joe920]

IF 2/3 full gives you 1hr then my vast math skills project 1.5 hrs for a full battery. That would be kind of bad. Maybe they'll add an 'economy mode' later that samples GPS less frequently for activities with slow movement such as hikes.

Looking forward to reports from more hikers or long-distance runners. Anyone?

 

[Daniel Rubino]

Eh, I wanted to go on a hike today up in NH, but the weather has been so crappy these last few days. Not sure when I can give it a go, getting cold in these parts.

GPS is going to be weird. So many factors, including weather, can affect the quality of the signal, which in turn affects how 'hard' the device tries to pin your location. This is why aGPS and Advanced Forward Link Trilateration (AFLT) was invented for phones, although not sure how the Band is doing it.

Microsoft themselves state "GPS uses a lot of battery power", so I don't doubt it.

 

[valadon]

I had 40% battery and went on a 45 min run with GPS on and had 20% left over at the end. I am surprised that you went from 66% to 0% in an hour, mine seems to be doing much better than that.

 

[Joe920]

I had 40% battery and went on a 45 min run with GPS on and had 20% left over at the end. I am surprised that you went from 66% to 0% in an hour, mine seems to be doing much better than that.

Great, that puts us at 3h45min. Between our two data points that 2h38min on average. But maybe it's a bit early for averages? More data points please!

 

[Joe920]

GPS is going to be weird. So many factors, including weather, can affect the quality of the signal, which in turn affects how 'hard' the device tries to pin your location. This is why aGPS and Advanced Forward Link Trilateration (AFLT) was invented for phones, although not sure how the Band is doing it.

When using only the band it only has GPS and bluetooth, so it doesn't have any additional way to get position data. I'm curious if things improve when it's synced with a GPS + cell + wifi enabled phone in your pocket. Would it be smart enough to pull GPS data from the phone and save battery that way? I'm guessing no, but who knows.

 

[Daniel Rubino]

When using only the band it only has GPS and bluetooth, so it doesn't have any additional way to get position data. I'm curious if things improve when it's synced with a GPS + cell + wifi enabled phone in your pocket. Would it be smart enough to pull GPS data from the phone and save battery that way? I'm guessing no, but who knows.

Yeah, wondering that myself. Right now, the beauty is you do not need to carry your phone with you when on a GPS-run, which is awesome. Downside is the battery life.

Maybe they could do the 'phone as GPS' thing, but then the question is, do you make that yet-another-option and would that be too confusing for people? I also wonder what the ratio is between people who want to take their phone on a run vs people who don't.

 

[jojoe42]

When using only the band it only has GPS and bluetooth, so it doesn't have any additional way to get position data. I'm curious if things improve when it's synced with a GPS + cell + wifi enabled phone in your pocket. Would it be smart enough to pull GPS data from the phone and save battery that way? I'm guessing no, but who knows.

Also, you could always try turning Bluetooth off before the run...personally I'd love to be able to use this thing to map my ski runs

 

[Joe920]

I also wonder what the ratio is between people who want to take their phone on a run vs people who don't.

I'm thinking this will be highly device dependent. Damn this 1520 is huge!

 

[teemulehtinen]

As JoJoe, I am also interested in the band as a ski and touring day tracker instead of having to rely on the phone GPS. That would require 6-8h capability. That way I could also trace my HR accurately throughout the high altitude activities. Will it last?

 

[jojoe42]

As JoJoe, I am also interested in the band as a ski and touring day tracker instead of having to rely on the phone GPS. That would require 6-8h capability. That way I could also trace my HR accurately throughout the high altitude activities. Will it last?

Well you could always carry a small portable battery to charge it up on lunch breaks given it charges so quickly (80% in half an hour) and upon doing some research you can pause the run mode when you're taking breaks (or in our case, going up the chairlift). Does anyone know if this 'pause' mode suspends GPS and thus saves a bit of battery?

 

[garyhartaz]

I had 40% battery and went on a 45 min run with GPS on and had 20% left over at the end. I am surprised that you went from 66% to 0% in an hour, mine seems to be doing much better than that.

What were the condition you had the Band in? Bluetooth on? Screen (Clock) active?

 

[garyhartaz]

Well you could always carry a small portable battery to charge it up on lunch breaks given it charges so quickly (80% in half an hour) and upon doing some research you can pause the run mode when you're taking breaks (or in our case, going up the chairlift). Does anyone know if this 'pause' mode suspends GPS and thus saves a bit of battery?

I don't think pause turns GPS on because when I restarted after pause, it didn't have to look for a GPS signal.

 

[valadon]

Someone had mentioned in another thread that when they went on a run on a cloudy day the GPS had trouble syncing and the battery died quickly. Well I had a similar problem today. I got up for my morning run, it was very cloudy but the band still seemed to get a GPS lock quickly ~20 seconds. I was at 40% when I started the run and 18 mins later it said I needed to plug in the band, and then it died shortly after. I have gone 45 mins before on 40% battery life and had 20% left over so it seems the harder the GPS has to work the more quickly the battery goes....and it goes quickly!

Sadly I think I am going to have to bite the bullet and return the band....I really really wanted to like it, but running is my main activity and a 3 mile is pretty much the shortest run I do and if it can't track it then it really isn't going to work for me. Sadly there isn't anything else out (yet) that does what the Band does, I will just have to go back to my fitbit, pebble, tomtom combo

 

[d702]

I ran an hour today starting with 100%. Ended with 80%. Back to fully charged after a half hour sitting at my desk.

 

[bugelrex]

clear blue sky? no tall buildings?

 

[valadon]

I ran an hour today starting with 100%. Ended with 80%. Back to fully charged after a half hour sitting at my desk.

That has been my experience before today. But today I went through 40% battery in 18 mins, only difference was a cloudy sky.