Increase battery life without losing GNSS accuracy

[dreamer_]

Hello,

I was going to post in the Race S forums, but that watch is too new and the question can also be related to the Race, both amoled and very similar. The thing is that despite I have the Vertical Titanium, I’m seriously considering in buying an additional Race S.

I’m writing here because there are users that probably do have this experience.

My main concern is about dual band battery life. Despite that battery life is a lot, thinking in ultra races, I’d like to extend that number a bit more with dual band enabled. And I think it should be possible without loosing GNSS accuracy.

Suunto says that the battery life lasts 31 hours using dual band mode (for the Race S) and 50 hours using dual band mode (for the Race).

I find very interesting to know if someone knows if disabling bluetooth and notifications (I don’t need those both things while running) and reducing also the wrist gesture and brightness, if that battery life could be extended some few hours and how much.
I mean, Suunto makes some assumptions for that battery life and I’d like to know if someone has tested these things in the real life. Lets say running a 100 miler o more.

[Brad_Olwin]

@dreamer_ said in Increase battery life without losing GNSS accuracy:

Hello,

I mean, Suunto makes some assumptions for that battery life and I’d like to know if someone has tested these things in the real life. Lets say running a 100 miler o more.

I am probably the best to answer for now. The RaceS battery life could be increased with an HR belt and no maps but I don’t think you will get more than an hour or two. I don’t think dual band matters that much where I run. Ultra or Endurance mode work well.

[dreamer_]

Thanks @Brad_Olwin! I agree. Considering the paces when running a long time, all GNSS systems with one band should be more than enough. Let’s say for a 100 miler.

I’m now remembering that even with an FR935 (back in 2017), that only had GPS (no GNSS, no multiband and without maps) I was able to get pretty accurate “out of route” notifications while running 100 kilometers. Those notifications were everything I wanted in 2017.

The Race S lasts 60 hours in those conditions, or even perhaps more. We want more accurate tracks in 2024 than those we were used to have years ago but it’s really impressive what is being accomplished in a watch of this size.