Max battery life when GPS is always on (i.e. 50+ hour ultrarunning race)?

[UltrarunnerJonL]

Hi everyone!

I'm new to the Fitbit community!

I've been waiting for a 24/7 activity tracker but have been restraining myself from Surge due to battery life with GPS. Looks like Blaze might be my first Fitbit! 🙂

I'm planning to join a race that lasts 46 hours (yes, two days nonstop) and having a mobile phone is a must during these sort of races and I'm always commuting and running with my phone anway.

So if I understood Blaze correctly, the battery life should be sufficient to last 5 days but I just wanted to check the battery life for Blaze if the GPS is always on during an ultrarunning, nonstop, multiday race?

I seriously doubt it'll still be 5 days. I might be wrong...

Can someone please help clarify?

Thank you!

[Rich_Laue]

I seriously doupt your phones battery will last this long, since it is your phones GPS being used.

[UltrarunnerJonL]

Here's my solution, I put my phone (Samsung S5) on flight mode but leave the GPS running.

My phone's GPS do not require mobile data to work when I've previously logged my runs. This drastically improves my phone's battery life. So it's been done before 😉

There are many other solutions anyway. I've got power banks, spare removable phone battery, phone swaps during checkpoints...

So my concern is still on Blaze 🙂

[UltrarunnerJonL]

I see we are using the same phones too. I leave it on flight mode but turn the GPS for tracking. Unless it's a Fitbit app restriction?

[SunsetRunner]

---

@UltrarunnerJonL wrote:

Here's my solution, I put my phone (Samsung S5) on flight mode but leave the GPS running.

My phone's GPS do not require mobile data to work when I've previously logged my runs. This drastically improves my phone's battery life. So it's been done before 😉

---

Flight Mode => Bluetooth OFF GPS ON ==> Blaze assisted GPS OFF

Flight Mode ==> Bluetooth ON GPS ON ==> Blaze assisted GPS ON => Smartphone Battery DOWN

Another idea   ?

[UltrarunnerJonL]

---

@SunsetRunner wrote:

---

@UltrarunnerJonL wrote:

Here's my solution, I put my phone (Samsung S5) on flight mode but leave the GPS running.

My phone's GPS do not require mobile data to work when I've previously logged my runs. This drastically improves my phone's battery life. So it's been done before 😉

---

Flight Mode => Bluetooth OFF GPS ON ==> Blaze assisted GPS OFF

Flight Mode ==> Bluetooth ON GPS ON ==> Blaze assisted GPS ON => Smartphone Battery DOWN

Another idea   ?

---

Not sure about your phone but mine allows me to use bluetooth and GPS even with flight mode on.

Based on my experience running outdoors, the main reason the phone battery drains quickly is mobile data, followed by network reception search. My flight mode allows me to specifically choose which to activate/deactivate.

I've not mentioned the ultra-power-saving mode that will last a good 24 hours with BT and GPS.

A power bank would be my simple solution - trust me, that's not that heavy considering the 2L of water, food, jackets, mandatory running kits in my backpack, etc...

So back to my initital question, if phone battery is not an issue (and it isn't for me), how long will Blaze last with GPS constantly on?

[Julia_G]

Hi, @UltrarunnerJonL , that's a very interesting question! I think you might have to wait for an answer until more people have their hands on the Blaze... at the moment I think only Fitbit employees and some members of the press are trying them out. If I had to guess I would say that the Blaze would probably last the distance, because the main drain would be the syncing back and forth between the Blaze and your phone. I don't see why that would be different from having all day sync turned on. That does reduce the length of time a battery will last, but probably not to below two days. It will also depend on how often you check your stats on the Blaze while you are running, of course.

Good luck on your amazing run!

[UltrarunnerJonL]

Thanks @Julia_G!

My guess calculation is, if the average sleep time is 8 hours, that leaves Blaze with (24hrs a day - 8 hours sleep) approximately 16 hours of GPS tracking a day.

If Fitbit claims that it will last 5 days, maybe the continuous GPS battery life would be somewhere in the region of 5 x 16 hours = 80 hours.

@fitbit are you able to clarify how was the 5-day battery life calculated? What was the average 5-day usage based on?

[EmersonFitbit]

@UltrarunnerJonL It sounds like you're preparing to embark on an insane journey- best of luck!

The 5 days is the amount of time Blaze should last with normal usage (moderate use of Quick View, a few GPS activities, exercise mode usage, etc.). I've gotten this question a few times, but I'm not sure how long it'd last. Let me poke the right people again 

[UltrarunnerJonL]

---

@EmersonFitbit wrote:

@UltrarunnerJonL It sounds like you're preparing to embark on an insane journey- best of luck!

The 5 days is the amount of time Blaze should last with normal usage (moderate use of Quick View, a few GPS activities, exercise mode usage, etc.). I've gotten this question a few times, but I'm not sure how long it'd last. Let me poke the right people again 

---

Thanks @EmersonFitbit It's just something I do occasionally on weekends but only with my phone previously (without heartrate). I could have bought a bluetooth HR strap but I'm glad Fitbit came up with something that can cater to my needs and monitor my heartrate 24/7.

Only thing I need to clarify is Fitbit's definition of "normal usage" or "a few GPS activities" as this might be the deal breaker for me. 5 days is just too vague!

Please can you give me a detailed breakdown? i.e. how many total hours of maximum usage with GPS.

Thanks!

[bbarrera]

---

@SunsetRunner wrote:

---

@UltrarunnerJonL wrote:

Here's my solution, I put my phone (Samsung S5) on flight mode but leave the GPS running.

My phone's GPS do not require mobile data to work when I've previously logged my runs. This drastically improves my phone's battery life. So it's been done before 😉

---

Flight Mode => Bluetooth OFF GPS ON ==> Blaze assisted GPS OFF

Flight Mode ==> Bluetooth ON GPS ON ==> Blaze assisted GPS ON => Smartphone Battery DOWN

Another idea   ?

---

I think you have an iPhone. Its simple, turn on Airplane Mode and then turn on Bluetooth. You could also turn on Low Power mode.

This article has very good information about conserving phone battery life, its written about iPhone but applies to other phones:

http://www.adventurealan.com/iphone-gps-map-backpacking/

You can really stretch out battery life on most modern smartphones.

[SunsetRunner]

---

@EmersonFitbit wrote:

@UltrarunnerJonL It sounds like you're preparing to embark on an insane journey- best of luck!

The 5 days is the amount of time Blaze should last with normal usage (moderate use of Quick View, a few GPS activities, exercise mode usage, etc.). I've gotten this question a few times, but I'm not sure how long it'd last. Let me poke the right people again 

---

Did you found out @EmersonFitbit ?

[Synne]

Surge has the option of GPS - if you turn it on it decreases battery life. If you track without GPS IT lasts about five days. Apart from this and colour it has the same functionality