How long can the battery last if the GPS is on

[jojoe42]

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

Aww man, that's going to suck here. It's always overcast where I live

 

[luxnws]

Remember this is a first gen device, almost like a prototype. I'm pretty sure that MS knows there is a battery life issue and is trying to find solutions. Given that the average finishing time for female marathoners is over 4 hours, MS will have to up the battery life with gps on. No fitness band device maker will want to disappoint runners who complete a 26.2 mile event with a device that quits recording data at the 22 mile marker.

 

[zack251]

Why can't they use sensorcore instead of a gps chip?

 

[tbsteph]

FWIW, cloud cover (Or any other weather phenomenon) has virtually no impact on receiving the GPS signal.

 

[jojoe42]

FWIW, cloud cover (Or any other weather phenomenon) has virtually no impact on receiving the GPS signal.

Interesting. Must be an inconsistency with the bands then?

 

[ame phirinyane]

try fully charging the battery and kipping it in the fridge for an hour or two before setting out.it colud make it last longer cos the phone wont heat up for sumtym and drain battery faster.

 

[valadon]

if cloud cover has no impact then I have no idea what caused it. I just know that it had been holding up ok all week (still using a lot of battery but not a crazy amount) Then today it couldn't even last 20 mins, and it seems other people have had similar problems. I am pretty bummed, I really liked the band but 3 miles is my shortest run that I do and if the band can't handle even that consistently then it is sadly not going to work for what I need. I returned it today and the Microsoft store was very accommodating and gave me the full amount plus the $20 protection plan back. I revisit it in a few months and see if they have made any firmware updates that help with the GPS battery life.

 

[valadon]

try fully charging the battery and kipping it in the fridge for an hour or two before setting out.it colud make it last longer cos the phone wont heat up for sumtym and drain battery faster.

Sadly I run first thing in the morning, and don't really have time for a pre-run charge or fridge time! Also I really shouldn't have to put my band in the fridge! My GPS running watch gets about 10 hours on GPS so I am a bit disappointed that the Band gets so little.

 

[luxnws]

Sadly I run first thing in the morning, and don't really have time for a pre-run charge or fridge time! Also I really shouldn't have to put my band in the fridge! My GPS running watch gets about 10 hours on GPS so I am a bit disappointed that the Band gets so little.

My FR301 still can carry about 7-8 hours of charge and I bought it in 2006. Originally it held 13 hours of charge but as you probably know the old devices are really chunky (i.e. battery) and are limited in function compared to the newer devices now. I'm confident that MS will work out the kinks and optimize the Band to extend the battery life.

 

[LeiChat]

I'd love to be able to use this thing to map my ski runs

ditto (although I've upgraded to a snowboard )

 

[Hockeymac18]

I had read 4 hours for GPS...which sounded great since it'd be good for long runs (would work for a marathon for me), and work for short hikes. I guess I'll just have to keep running with my phone in it's running case. Was really hoping to ditch it and just use my band. Oh well.

 

[Hoekie]

At least a couple of hours. I have not measured the total time because in the winter I ride (recumbant bike) just a couple of hours or shorter because of the weather. ​One time it lasted shorter though and the reason I think is because the phone was very close to the phone (for navigation) and both were using GPS. I will try to get more exact numbers when I make more rides.

​But for now, a couple of hours will do just fine for me.

 

[teemulehtinen]

I went skiing and hiked up a bit too. I charged the battery full for about an hour before hitting the slopes while driving.

The screen was turned off when in GPS running mode. I had two approximately 15 and 30 minutes pauses that I made manually with the action button for coffee and a chat with one of the pisteurs.

The interesting observations:
- The battery lasted for 3h57 and 36 km
- The heart rate monitoring seems relatively credible based on the actual events on pistes, off piste and while hiking up
- The data was not lost but was found in the Microsoft Health app afterwards
- The band was paused while I took a local minibus from one side of the mountain to the other to avoid another hike. The GPS "shadowed" this bus trip accurately and it is visible on the map as greyed out.