Recharge bracelet for Suunto 7
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In short: stretch usage with a bracelet holding a lipo and perhaps a tourbillon mechanism to recharge while running.
In long:
I’ve always ran with a Polar M200 but once I started running longer as 21km, it was a gamble with weather if the watch would last as long.
So I went through a huawei gt2 pro, beautiful watch. But the first run showed my GPS track sometimes meters off. Support writes “the signals can bounce off of buildings, run in an open field” - so the watch went back.
I’ve tried a Forerunner 245, thinking I could load it for navigation and listen offline music. The running features were great, but the watch felt as a toy. No music. The navigation is unusuable. The watch went back.
So, then the Mobvoi Pro 3 GPS - it is slightly less plastic and you can get away with a new bracelet. The battery life is amazing. I can listen to music offline through bluetooth. Navigation through 3rd parties has been too cumbersome. Google maps does not work offline (yet)
After a run, the GPS cut off 3 kilometers.It’s too late to brign it back but reviews about the Suunto and the GPS tracking are everywhere very positive. At first I considered it too large, but now the Suunto 7 titanium looks quite good actually. The running features are very impressive. The map drawing is a bit tricky (you can’t remove a waypoint or insert a waypoint, or I haven’t discovered how) but, everything works very well. The navigation is very useful and workable. The music works well. The GPS is very accurate. And off I went to my run, in the ideal situation: watch and headset, ID card key and water. Running a new track.
However, at kilometer 18, the watch started to give notifications about low battery. At kilometer 19 the battery was critical. At kilometer 20 I had to turn the watch off and ran the last 3km blind. What a pitty!
I know I can put the GPS saving modus and probably the music has been draining, while I’ve been watching “a bit too much to the map”. I shortly considered searching for a small MP3 player to only realize that I’ll regress 5 years in time. And Wear OS announced “a mayor update” which might (or might not) help to stretch the battery.
I’m hesitant to send this watch back and just accept to take a phone with me. But I like it too much to be honest, and want to make it work.
So the idea came to me, to use one of these 450mah lipo batteries with an USB bridge to recharge the watch while running and allow me to reach at least 30km. But it would be much more comfortable to have a well designed bracelet or wearable mini battery (perhaps with a sort of tourbillon mechanism to generate energy) to wear for longer sessions and snap under the strap during a run when it needs a bit of extra charge to keep going.
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@tim-van-laere I’m a bit confused. The Suunto 7 is advertised with a battery lifetime of 12 hours in outdoor workouts. Probably a bit shorter with music.
To me it seems more then enough time to complete a 23km run. Or am I missing something from your story?
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@surfboomerang
This was what I was led to believe as well. I would need to get 4 hours out of it.My run took 1:53’40. This was with “excellent” gps set and playing music over bluetooth from the watch starting with the watch at 100%.
I charged the watch back to 100% and woke up this morning with it at 85%
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@tim-van-laere I hear you can get mostly same accuracy with good gps, maybe give that a try? Also map usage greatly reduces battery life, it’s better to leave the map screen while not in use.
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Hey @дима-мельниченко - thank you for your suggestions.
I will try my next run with the 10s interval GPS and switch the map screen away when not needed. And see if how far it will stretch the battery.If it’s not sufficient, I’ll get creative with lipos; the watch would have 450mah lasting almost 2 hours. So per tiny 150mah lipo it would add another theoretical 40 minutes.
https://www.adafruit.com/product/1903
https://www.adafruit.com/product/2465 -
@tim-van-laere the culprit here is streaming music from the watch. It works really well, but it forces the watch to stay in high power mode, thus rendering it no different from any other WearOS watch on the market.
If you run without music streaming (and use the Suunto App on the watch) then it will switch to low power mode while tracking activity. This GREATLY extends the battery life and you should see 10-12 hours comfortably (depending on a few other factors).
I used to stream music from my S7 (we miss you Google Play Music
) but I am much happier with battery life since I stopped.
If I want music these days I slip my phone into my running belt and use that. If I am doing longer runs (especially cross country) then I like to have my phone with me in case I hurt myself and need help, so I’d have it with me anyway (although in the countryside I turn the music off and listen to natures playlist
)Also, if you use something to charge the S7 whilst running, I can’t see how this would be comfortable, or wouldn’t get in the way of the optical HR sensor.
If you really do want music, maybe try your phone, a really small mp3 player (modern ones can be crazy small), or even try some headphones with mp3 players built in?
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@olymay said in Recharge bracelet for Suunto 7:
we miss you Google Play Music
We do miss Google Play Music… :(((
I really liked the idea of loading a new path, putting on my shoes and go. Leaving a bulky phone home.
I’m running with Trekz and they brought out a new model with a built-in MP3 player. But i’m not due to an upgrade yet. So I think the easiest solution will be to go back to a simple MP3 player, like it’s 2006. As it would ultimately be about the same experience as carrying an additional battery and fumbling during a run.
Thanks for the insight!
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@tim-van-laere said in Recharge bracelet for Suunto 7:
@olymay said in Recharge bracelet for Suunto 7:
we miss you Google Play Music
We do miss Google Play Music… :(((
Hopefully it won’t be long until the WearOS YouTube Music app is available (however it will still kill the battery)
I really liked the idea of loading a new path, putting on my shoes and go. Leaving a bulky phone home.
I know that feeling. It’s one of the reasons I prefer trail running to road running, the escapism.
On longer runs I take water and/or gels with me, so carrying a slim phone as well isn’t much extra. I use a flipbelt and I don’t even notice I’m wearing it or carrying my phone.
For even longer runs I’ve started taking a pack to get used to carrying it when I get fit enough to do properly long runs.I’m running with Trekz and they brought out a new model with a built-in MP3 player. But i’m not due to an upgrade yet. So I think the easiest solution will be to go back to a simple MP3 player, like it’s 2006. As it would ultimately be about the same experience as carrying an additional battery and fumbling during a run.
Do we need an excuse to upgrade our running kit? I thought the fact it was a new week was usually enough for most of us
Thanks for the insight!
No worries, happy to help.
Also, something to bear in mind that if you are using the S7 to navigate lots (i.e. using the map screen to show the route) then this also puts the watch into high power mode, therefore impacting battery. It will switch back to low power when you lower your wrist though (unless you set the map to always on) so it shouldn’t be too bad.
Have a tinker with various settings (GPS good vs best etc) and see what works for you
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@tim-van-laere
Came across the same issue as you. Love my S7 but battery life just isn’t there.
Solution: Garmin Fenix 6x Pro Solar --> 66hrs of GPS tracking / 16 hrs of tracking with music. Normal battery life up to 21 days - I usually charge every monday morning and still have between 40-50% - that includes between 1-2hrs tracking each day and about half of that usign music.
Built in maps, with loads more navigation features than the S7 (plus full maps so no need to make sure you downloaded your area prior to using navigation). Only bummer is scrolling around maps with buttons, no touch screen. But you sort of get used to it. -
I don’t really seem to have any problems with battery…did an 8hr+ activity at the weekend using roughly 50%.
My caveat is that I don’t listen to music from watch, and in this particular occasion I had no need to refer to a map.
Having said that, I’d like some kind of portable charging capability. When I’ve been away camping I’ve simply taken the regular charger and a small battery pack, but would love a shorter cable, or even something that could be wearable similar to >>
https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2021/05/coros-keychain-charger.htmlWould be handy to have something like this that can be worn as a wrist band maybe?
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So, I did another 25km run and tried the suggestions.
Left wrist the Suunto 7. Right wrist the Mobvoi GPS Pro 3 playing music.This time the Suunto with Location accuracy “Good - 10 sec + FusedTrack” and without music. And a GPX without “turn by turn” navigation.
It drained the watch between 40-50% over 2:26’45 for 25.03km and 2046 calories burned. The GPS track was accurate enough (I only encountered an issue with an intersection where the navigation didn’t account for a bridge and I had to go around).
Heart tracking was also quite on point: my usual average of 144bpm instead of a 160bpm misreading.
The Mobvoi TicExercise “detected a run” and started recording a 2:26’23 run over 13.5 miles (21.6km) and 1007 calories burned. With an average heartbeat of 144bpm as well but a spike at 170bpm. Without any GPS data, it drained about 50% as well for constant music playing.
So for now, this is “workable”, but I migh report back if I start tinkering with this extra battery port. As the pinout of the Suunto matches USB I think it’s possible to come up with something not too complicated.
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@tim-van-laere said
This time the Suunto with Location accuracy “Good - 10 sec + FusedTrack” and without music. And a GPX without “turn by turn” navigation.
It drained the watch between 40-50% over 2:26’45 for 25.03km and 2046 calories burned.
That seems quite heavy drain still. On BEST even I still get 10% or less battery drain per hour…I’d expect 5% or better per hour on GOOD.
What are your other settings?
I have display on the lowest level of Auto Brightness (would prefer to go one click lower), Sunlight Boost OFF, Always-On Screen OFF, Screen Timeout 5secs. Tilt to Wake OFF. Power Save Tilt ON. Touch to Wake OFF. For Navigation gestures OFF.
Also WiFi I tend to leave off and just rely on Bluetooth, and toggle to FlightMode if running without taking phone along. -
@tim-van-laere
If you use a navigation track, the watch set the gps to best.You can also look to disable the Always On Display.
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@mi_chael said in Recharge bracelet for Suunto 7:
@tim-van-laere
If you use a navigation track, the watch set the gps to best.You can also look to disable the Always On Display.
This is not correct, on the S7 even a route is loaded the watch will work on FusedTrack 10s fix. This was the information provided by Suunto and is correct AFAIK.
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From what I understand, the best solution for turn-by-turn navigation with Sunnto7 while running still is to use the GhostRacer app with your watch’s Option “Power saver tilt” on.
Thus the watch can stay in power saver mode most of the time.
(Whereas the Suunto App loves to activate the full display very often fpr navigation, just to turn the display black again before you can read the information.)(And don’t carry your phone with you, as the connection from your watch to your phone drains extra power.)
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Good to know.
Thanks!
