Suunto 9 Baro Endurance/Ultra Battery mode issues

[Łukasz Szmigiel]

@isazi so in principle, you can set the watch to Ultra but if you’re going to stick to navigation screen 100% of time, it’ll be on Performance 100% of time, correct?

[Dimitrios Kanellopoulos]

@łukasz-szmigiel correct

[Dimitrios Kanellopoulos]

@david-zunel now I dont as well… Do you have a link for me ?

[Fenr1r]

@łukasz-szmigiel

you can set the watch to Ultra but if you’re going to stick to navigation screen 100% of time, it’ll be on Performance 100% of time, correct?

And if you have ETE/ETA and/or Distance to WP/POI/End data fields enabled, regardless of whether you have a route (or POI[?]) loaded and which screen you’re on.

From the man himself.

[Dimitrios Kanellopoulos]

@fenr1r he didn’t say that, I I think the ETA fields will make it to best only if a route is loaded

[Fenr1r]

@dimitrios-kanellopoulos Did you follow those links?

[Dimitrios Kanellopoulos]

@fenr1r yes

[Fenr1r]

@dimitrios-kanellopoulos My apologies (& to @Brad_Olwin), he didn’t say “regardless” but he didn’t say “only”, either. And isn’t the result the same? BEST will be applied without a route loaded? That was the experience that started the thread, no?

Alternatively, is it just ETA? Or ETE, Distance to (WP/POI/End) and ETA?

[David Zunel]

Dear @dimitrios-kanellopoulos,

here you can access the latest activity where I experimented this behaviour.
https://www.suunto.com/move/davidzuelballester/608484c3a8ea142553edb692

It’s an almost flat, circular route, along both banks of Saar river. From the link you can see that the registered distance was 18.47 Kms while the actual one is 17.15 Kms. Now, looking at the graphs I’m realising the the total distance reported there is the real one (just moving the cursor till the end of the graph), 17.15 Kms. Moreover looking at the splits (1 Km), it looks like they are somehow modified. Duration and pace don’t match, pace looks right to me.

And now, in the attached picture, you see the recording in the watch, when you can see that readings where probably taken only at the 1 min sample rate (endurance mode).

FYI. I had the route loaded and I was following the route (not necessarily looking at it all the time)

[Dimitrios Kanellopoulos]

@david-zunel only the last part is with wrong data right (regarding pace etc) ?

In most of the run from what I see the endurance mode was used

[Brad_Olwin]

@david-zunel The other issue is a 1.5 h run is quite short to get an idea of battery life for the extended battery modes. A 5-6h run would provide a much better idea based on consumption.

[Łukasz Szmigiel]

@dimitrios-kanellopoulos so, let’s say you’re running 100+ km ultra race and have S9 set on Endurance or Ultra and have route loaded and there’s also ETA field on base screen. Will the FusedTrack engage correctly and stay engaged or will watch default to Performance?

[Brad_Olwin]

@łukasz-szmigiel I believe will default to Performance, I avoid any ETE/ETA fields for waypoints or for finish on my Custom Ultra Sport modes. The Altitude Route Profile will not cause the GPS switch, only the route profile page. I typically only use the Altitude Profile. My comments are vaiid for when a route is loaded. Otherwise, it makes no sense to have ETE or ETA fields on the screens.

[David Zunel]

Hi @dimitrios-kanellopoulos,

in the screenshot (watch reading) you laps 2 to 6 are wrong then 9,10,11, 17 and 18 for sure all of them are wrong, so I assume all readings have some kind of error, and that GPS sampling interval was at least 1min.

If you look at the move (link), 1 km splits pace seems to be ok though ( I don’t understand the difference in duration neither)

[David Zunel]

Hi @brad_olwin. Yes probably you are right, but I remember this run quite well. When I started the battery was showing 6% and the time at performance mode said 1h, I switched to endurance resulting in 2h. The battery estimation might not have been accurate but the watch reading indicated clearly GPS accuracy GOOD. I presumed that Fusedtrack did its part so I could follow the navigation but according to @Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos if I was using the navigation screen then GPS was set at BEST.

So,unless there is something I don’t understand or I am missing, I see 2 options:

1/ GPS was actually back at BEST because I selected the navigation screen. Then my good navigation reading was provided by the GPS sampling at 1 second, BUT, autolap failed and total distance did so. Software problem here. (good news : battery stood)

2/ GPS was stuck at GOOD (software problem here?) and Fusedtrack did its job to provide with the good navigation reading. Autolap degraded, and so did the total distance. This could be easily fixed in real-time or at least at the end of the race (the shared link seems to have done it)

[Łukasz Szmigiel]

@brad_olwin so if I get it right:

Pace gets updated once per minute or per two minutes (endurance / ultra) but eta is forcing performance mode? Why it can’t update according to 1 - 2 min refresh periods?

[Brad_Olwin]

@david-zunel As I stated before, I think your run is too short with too many unknowns to make conclusions regarding software issues. I will be doing some longer runs 5-6h where I can wear two S9b watches with one running Endurance and one running Performance for an adequate test. I typically do not enable auto laps but will enable for this test. I will load identical routes and see what happens. I will observe the Nav screen a few times during the run. It will be a couple of weeks for this as I am still doing SkiMo for most of my long outings as opposed to running.

[David Zunel]

Thanks @brad_olwin, it looks like a very good test bed!

[Fenr1r]

@brad_olwin said in Suunto 9 Baro Endurance/Ultra Battery mode issues:

I will be doing some longer runs 5-6h where I can wear two S9b watches with one running Endurance and one running Performance for an adequate test

I know a certain @surfboomerang is eagerly anticipating your dual S9b testing season …

[surfboomerang]

@fenr1r Indeed, I’m certainly interested in the test result. Funny how such a feature can cause so much confusion about the way it works vs how it should work.

As for now I have the following facts. Feel free to add or correct the list:

• ultra / endurance mode can be selected for every sport mode
• fusedtrack is only available for running profiles
• if you navigate a route, GPS is set to performance while looking at the navigation screen. If you move away from the screen, it falls back to ultra or endurance after a while (5 min?)
• if you don’t navigate a route, but have fields like ETA, ETE or distance to … fields configured in one of the screens the watch will never fall into ultra / endurance mode, but stays in performance mode
• If the watch is set to ultra / endurance but operating in performance mode the sampling rate for auto laps and pace is still 1 or 2 min if I understood @David-Zunel correctly.