Battery LIfe

Steff

The waypoints notifications are eating a lot of battery.

I did a 6 hours hike today following a course made in Komoot. The course had 24 waypoints(automatically generated by Komoot) so around 50 notifications (I saw that it displays a notification with 100m before and another on the turn).

I started with 93% battery, watch in airplane mode with best GPS mode, and after 5.5 hours I received a low battery notification and the battery was at 7%. Besides the waypoints notifications I checked the map 2 times for a few seconds.

15.45%/hour is a lot.
I usually get 12-13%/hour in the same conditions but with only 2-3 waypoints.

Also, after I got the low battery notification I put the GPS in good mode and it continued for another 30 minutes after which the watch powered off resulting in saving the activity with some missing data(I posted more details in the Suunto 7 topic).

isazi

@steff I believe waypoints trigger the main processor.

Steff

@isazi for sure, the problem is that it makes the Komoot integration somehow pointless.

On longer routes Komoot will generate a lot of waypoints which will drain the battery and you cannot finish the route.

If in best GPS mode the watch didn’t even last 6 hours I doubt it will last 10 hours in good GPS mode.

Dimitrios Kanellopoulos

@steff well there is the option to not use those. It doesn’t make it useless.

Also staying on the map screen vs activity screen makes a huge diff

Brad_Olwin

@steff Here are my battery estimates using TBT either on or off from many runs. I always place the watch in Airplane mode but all other settings are standard. I do occasionally scroll to the map screen but most of the time I am on the main display with the co-processor on.

No route loaded
Best 7-9h
FusedTrack 16-19h

TBT Route Loaded
Best 4-6h
FusedTrack 10-13h

You had a lot of waypoints, I typically have 10-15.

olymay

@steff said in Battery LIfe:

The waypoints notifications are eating a lot of battery.

As confirmed by others, waypoint notifications do cause the watch to go into full power mode (same with any notifications from what I can tell)

I did a 6 hours hike today following a course made in Komoot. The course had 24 waypoints(automatically generated by Komoot) so around 50 notifications (I saw that it displays a notification with 100m before and another on the turn).

You can use the route editor in the Suunto App on your phone to remove any waypoints you don’t want/need. This may seem a faff, but it is still quicker to do this to an imported route from Komoot than it is to create the route in the Suunto App (in my experience anyway).

I started with 93% battery, watch in airplane mode with best GPS mode, and after 5.5 hours I received a low battery notification and the battery was at 7%. Besides the waypoints notifications I checked the map 2 times for a few seconds.

That seems excessive battery use.
If you have your phone on you there is no benefit from putting the watch onto Aeroplane mode (if you want to avoid notifications then do not disturb is plenty)
Also, for walking/hiking then ‘good’ GPS mode is more than accurate enough, and this should extend battery life by a fair bit.

15.45%/hour is a lot.
I usually get 12-13%/hour in the same conditions but with only 2-3 waypoints.

So the difference between 24 waypoints and 2-3 waypoints is roughly 3% battery drop per hour? That doesn’t seem significant to me? Or am I missing something?

Also, after I got the low battery notification I put the GPS in good mode and it continued for another 30 minutes after which the watch powered off resulting in saving the activity with some missing data(I posted more details in the Suunto 7 topic).

Try the same route, but with superfluous waypoints removed and the GPS set to ‘good’ and see if the battery life is any better

Nigel Taylor 0

@olymay said in Battery LIfe:

@steff said in Battery LIfe:

The waypoints notifications are eating a lot of battery.

As confirmed by others, waypoint notifications do cause the watch to go into full power mode (same with any notifications from what I can tell)

I did a 6 hours hike today following a course made in Komoot. The course had 24 waypoints(automatically generated by Komoot) so around 50 notifications (I saw that it displays a notification with 100m before and another on the turn).

You can use the route editor in the Suunto App on your phone to remove any waypoints you don’t want/need.

Yup I find creating my own route in Plotaroute with my own RoutePoints is FAR better than the default Komoot TBT.

However, on the points quoted above, I think its a necessity that there is some config/customisation on which/when notifications are displayed which could result in dramatic improvement.

On that 24 WayPoints example…its actually more like 70+ notifications. You get the notification at the actual RoutePoint, then a few seconds after you get a notification telling you about the next WayPoint (no matter how near or far it is), then as you say, about 100metres before you get the pre-notification notification. So its about 3 notifications per RoutePoint.

For me I’d much rather have only the single ‘notification at the actual Routepoint’…I never ever miss the notifications, so no need for a ‘pre-warning’…I can imagine for cyclists the 100metre pre turn alert might be useful however. But the alert that comes “just after” you’ve passed a RoutePoint, I just don’t get that one at all.

Please can we have a config setting.

olymay

@nigel-taylor-0 I love Plotaroute but the method of exporting and then importing via Quantified Self is more of a faff I find (unless I am missing a trick?).

And yes, I agree that customisation of waypoints would be great.
Some people may only want a notification when they reach the waypoint (me included) some would like some warning. And depending whether you are walking, running, or cycling should determine how far away that warning is.

Nigel Taylor 0

@olymay said in Battery LIfe:

@nigel-taylor-0 I love Plotaroute but the method of exporting and then importing via Quantified Self is more of a faff I find (unless I am missing a trick?).

I find it very simple.

You’ve created your route and added the directions you want with shorthand text in the description “LEFT” etc - just add a ‘symbol’, then export from Plotaroute with the ‘POI’ option (all directions you’ve added a symbol to will be included).

Then click on https://quantified-self.io/services - click on the route icon and drag your exported file on. DONE.

Or - if you use Runalyze, just click here - https://runalyze.com/my/suunto/route-upload - choose your file and likewise, DONE.

Route will be immediately synced to watch…and next time you stick watch on charger, maps surrounding the route will be downloaded if they aren’t already part of your local downloaded area.

olymay

@nigel-taylor-0 Cheers! I’ll have to give it a go

Steff

Thank you all for the answers.

@Brad_Olwin your TBT Route loaded with Best GPS estimation seams exactly as mine, so if FusedTrack will last 10-13h is very good

@olymay

This seams to be the best option.

You can use the route editor in the Suunto App on your phone to remove any waypoints you don’t want/need. This may seem a faff, but it is still quicker to do this to an imported route from Komoot than it is to create the route in the Suunto App (in my experience anyway).

Are you sure about this ? When I received the watch I made some tests and in Best GPS mode with no route loaded, the difference between airplane mode and phone connected was about 3 hours of battery.
I also saw a lot of similar reports on this forum.

That seems excessive battery use.
If you have your phone on you there is no benefit from putting the watch onto Aeroplane mode (if you want to avoid notifications then do not disturb is plenty)

3%/hour difference means about 2 hours of battery. For me 2 hours is a lot.

So the difference between 24 waypoints and 2-3 waypoints is roughly 3% battery drop per hour? That doesn’t seem significant to me? Or am I missing something?

I will try next time.

Try the same route, but with superfluous waypoints removed and the GPS set to ‘good’ and see if the battery life is any better

Steff

I did another hike today, 4h50min, best GPS, airplane mode on, no route loaded, I only checked the map 2 times(max 10sec in total) and it consumed 76% battery.

This means 15.72%/hour, even more than last time when I had a route loaded with lots of waypoints.

I don’t know what happen.
I also noticed that in the first 30 minutes, that watch had a hard time to lock on my HR. It fluctuated a lot between 100 and 160, even though I was a climbing so my HR should have been constantly above 140-150.

I’m a little disappointed about the battery life.

When I got the watch in January this year, I made several walking/running tests and I was getting 11-12%/hour with the above settings, which means 8-9 hours of battery.

90% of my hikes are under 8 hours so I though it will be enough.
Now I get 6 hours at best…

And no, good GPS it’s not always an option.
Most of the paths from my hikes are very twisty and sampling GPS every 10sec creates a total mess.

Brad_Olwin

@steff 6h is OK but 8 should be possible if fully charged and you do not go to Navigation very often.

Steff

I made another test today, a walk through the city, so possible worst GPS reception, same conditions as above (best GPS, airplane mode on, no route) and in 1h43min it used 20% battery.

This means 11.65%/hour so ~8.5 hours of battery.

I don’t understand from where is the difference.

I start to believe that is something relating with hiking profile.
I will try next using the hiking profile.

Brad_Olwin

@steff I will test hiking as well, I rarely use that.

isazi

Lots of talking about the S7 this week, so I got curious and decided to dedicate the week at testing the S7. Focus will be on battery and ascent/descent. In this thread I will report battery stats.

Monday, walking for 59m 39s. No much interaction with the watch, except looking at it once. Connected to my phone, receiving notifications. No map use, just one complete walk of all screens. Autolap notifications every 1k (no way to disable them). Best possible GPS settings, never used the other one.

Battery consumption: 10%. Estimated battery life: 09h 56m 13s .

Steff

@isazi I also just got home after testing if FusedTrack is different from one profile to another.

First I did 30 min, hiking profile, 4% battery.
Second I did 41min, running profile, 5% battery.

Both cases walking, with airplane mode, no route loaded, no interaction with the watch, 10sec GPS.

In total it means 7.6%/hour and 13.15 hours battery life.

I don’t know how you managed to get 9%/hour with 1 sec GPS and watch connected to phone.

Tomorrow I will try to make the exact test as youres.
What profile did you used?

Regarding FusedTrack, it seams there is no noticeable difference between hiking and running profiles.
In both cases I got good results, much better than what I got during the 6h hours hike.

isazi

@steff said in Battery LIfe:

What profile did you used?

Walking.

I will do a longer walk on Wednesday, as longer activities should give better (i.e. more realistic and precise) estimates.

Brad_Olwin

@isazi @Steff I have quite a few examples of S7 with and without FusedTrack. All of my runs/ski: S7 in Airplane mode, that is it, I do not use the maps much but will look at them occasionally. I have a few other apps installed but am using the watch normally. None of these is with a route loaded, that will cut down the FusedTrack time to ~10-13h and Best to ~4-5h. These are from QS estimates, and you cannot get good estimates without a decently long exercise so do not try to extrapolate from a short 2h exercise.

Last Saturday Best

Here is a bit older one from last summer on FusedTrack:

Steff

@brad_olwin how did you get the battery estimates in QS?