Battery life 1 day with constant GPS

[pf2303]

Argos are claiming that the battery life on the Ionic is only 1 day if you use GPS. Surely this can't be right. Is it.

I certainly won't be buying it. 

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject

[shipo]

How did they qualify the statement?  If the Ionic is able to go a full 24 hours running the GPS receiver, then that is pretty darn good.

[pf2303]

Argos questions and answers claim it will last up to  a day of use which even with GPS I think that is very poor for this price. 

[launton]

"Fitbit Ionic has a battery life of 4+ days with a GPS battery life up to 10 hours."

GPS on 10 hours

GPS off 4+ days depending on other factors and activations (wifi etc) 

[pf2303]

Still very disappointing when the Surge, with GPS lasts a lot longer for half the price. Shame because it's a nice watch but not for me with a pathetic battery life. 

[launton]

I think their reasoning is; if you're a runner you probably wouldn't want to track 10 hours solid GPS running.  It won't affect me as I'm wanting it for the swimming, I agree it's a bit poor but what can you do until we get super capacitors 🙂  

[SunsetRunner · Accepted solution]

Using GPS will always hammer battery life. The Apple Watch can only last 5 hours with GPS enabled. So, at 10hrs the Ionic is doing very well.

[SunsetRunner]

Good comparison, @SunsetRunner! Thanks. 

[pf2303]

Yes but the Surge can last a lot longer. Why go backwards and try and sell a watch with limited battery power for double the price when a previous model costing half the price has a better battery life.

I will not be buying this if I have to carry a charger with me. 

[shipo]

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@pf2303 wrote:

Yes but the Surge can last a lot longer. Why go backwards and try and sell a watch with limited battery power for double the price when a previous model costing half the price has a better battery life.

I will not be buying this if I have to carry a charger with me. 

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No, the Surge cannot last anywhere near that long.  I am a runner and have used literally hundreds of hours of GPS tracking; the Surge, when brand new was good for no more than seven to eight hours of GPS usage before the battery was fully flat.  Typically I am able to go two full days which include a 10-mile GPS tracked run with each run which lasting roughly 90 minutes; by the end of the second day the Surge typically has less than 10% power remaining.

[runwithnewmedia]

@pf2303 The 10 hour life is for when you are using GPS in an active mode (e.g. tracking a run). You should still get 4 days of battery life if you have location on for other apps/etc.

[datalore]

GPS communicates with satellites in space to triangulate your position. There is no watch in existence at this price point that could go a day with GPS enabled there are simply limits to Physics and battery technology. Ten full hours of GPS enabled is outstanding.  A battery life of 4+ days under normal use is outstanding for a watch with these features. It remains to be see if those claims bear fruit, but if they do fitbit wins the battery war among smartwatches. The Garmin Forerunner 935 claims 24 hours of GPS enabled use on a charge. I'm tempted to buy one to test that theory. I'll bet you could get 18 to 20 hours possibly, but I'll believe 24 straight hours as soon as I see it. The Garmin also retails for $500.

[bbarrera]

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@datalore wrote:

There is no watch in existence at this time that could go a day with GPS enabled  

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Wrong.

up to 50 hour battery life (and one with 75 hour), there are 3 watches in this product comparison table that have 2 day battery life with GPS on:

https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2017/03/garmin-forerunner-935-depth-review.html

[SunsetRunner]

I have to believe you are confusing things as GPS is only needed for recording outdoor activities.  Unless you are running a massive ultra , there aren't many situations where the Ionic won't meet your needs.  I know people who have gone on multi-day hikes or climbed mountains and they just charged their device at night.

Just for comparison:

Forerunner 235 is 11 hours for GPS only and 9 hours for GPS/GLONASS.  Ionic is 10 hours for GPS/GLONASS.  Forerunner costs more than Ionic.

Fenix 5X is 20 hours for GPS/GLONASS, but starts at $599.

Polar M600 gets 8 hours GPS/GLONASS.  Similar costs to Ionic.

Suunto Traverse alpha gets 10 hours GPS/GLONASS.  Costs about $90 more than Ionic

Maybe there are cheaper GPS devices with longer battery life out there.  I'm not aware of one that compares to the Ionic's feature set.

[SunsetRunner]

Ultratrac (which allows for 50/75 hours) actually turns off GPS and uses estimates (I believe with a gyro and accelerometer) while it's off to save battery.  In other words, it's basically guessing.  You'd only use it if you really need to use it if you were doing a crazy multi-day activity.

Those devices do offer 24 hours, but cost ~twice as much as an Ionic.  I think they are solid products though.

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@bbarrera wrote:

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@datalore wrote:

There is no watch in existence at this time that could go a day with GPS enabled  

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Wrong.

up to 50 hour battery life (and one with 75 hour), there are 3 watches in this product comparison table that have 2 day battery life with GPS on:

https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2017/03/garmin-forerunner-935-depth-review.html

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[datalore]

Meant to type at this price point was eating lunch and have corrected that. I'd still like to give the Garmin claims a go. I think at the Ionic price point with the features it's a good buy. Garmin makes the best sport watch and I would argue that Apple makes the best pure smartwatch, but the fitbit model of doing both really well with outstanding software occupies a good middle ground. 

[bbarrera]

Sadly Fitbit's app stopped being useful when I started cycling for fitness, about the time I returned my Force under recall in Sept 2015. Prior to that the app was motivational, at a time when I started walking to lose weight. Also used it to count calories for a month or so until I had a feel for proper portion sizes. App is nice if you understand what it is good at, but for me it lacks the basics such as answering the simple question 'how much did I cycle this week or month or year?' and the same goes for most other activities (exceptions being walking/running, although even then the summary graphs don't distinguish between the two very different activities).

It has become pretty clear that I fall outside Fitbit's target market, LOL, despite breathless marketing messages like "Find everything you need to stay inspired, track your progress and reach your goals." and "Learn how fit you are." I keep hoping Fitbit app/dashboard will someday embrace multi-sport. As it stands right now, the app is too focused on steps and now sleep and 24x7 HR.

Ionic looks like a nice device for the Fitbit faithful. Sincerely wish that Fitbit would deliver on its 2+ year old promise of multi-sport!

[datalore]

You sound like the perfect customer for a garmin watch. I hear what you're saying and there are horses for courses I guess. It sounds like you happen to be a serious endurance athlete, so garmin is probably the way to go for you. 

[bbarrera]

Serious endurance athlete? Nope, I just like to ride my bike to enjoy nature, clear my head, and let me eat pretty much anything I want without consequences 🙂 I'm a little competitive and ride in a group at least once a week, so yeah I work on getting faster too.

I do have a Garmin bike computer because it supports (Garmin) rear radar for safety/awareness. Apple Watch on wrist for productivity. Really wanted to see the Ionic support replying to messages, Pebble had it after all, if Ionic had that feature I would have pre-ordered from REI. 

Garmin watch? Only if I was lucky enough to ski more, or was training for a triathlon, but nice side stepping Fitbit app failing to answer basic questions. Clearly the Fitbit app has an attractive top-level dashboard, and useful particularly if you walk/run for activity. But as I point out it is inconsistent and offers very limited ability to drill-down and monitor basic performance trends if you are preparing for a big event like a 5k/10k run or century bike ride. All of which is surprising given Fitbit is approaching 3 years of multi-sport tracking. But hey, you can taunt your friends 😉

I'll keep the faith that someday Fitbit upgrades the app/dashboard.

[Dominique]

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@pf2303 wrote:

Still very disappointing when the Surge, with GPS lasts a lot longer for half the price. Shame because it's a nice watch but not for me with a pathetic battery life. 

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First of all, it’s not half the price, it’s more like two thirds (200 vs. 300). Talking about comparable things, that is list prices when new. You may be able to find Surge at lower prices now, but only because it’s almost three years old and about to be discontinued. Ionic will likely be discounted too, after it’s been around for a while.

Secondly, as noted by @shipo, Surge battery when GPS is on doesn’t last as long as you think it does (in real life conditions).