Some thoughts on Ultratrac mode

Hello everyone

Just bringing my two cents on the Ultratrac mode.
Before anything else I just want to say I'm very happy with my Fenix 5S plus, even with the battery life (getting approx one week with two to three hours of GPS activities + daily smartwatch mode). But as most users I was expecting a top range device like the fenix 5 to manage a full day of GPS, for trekking or ultra trail, software wise - with a decent compromise between GPS accuracy and battery consumption. Unfortunately the consensus is that Ultratrac mode is VERY far from that.
I would be happy with a drop in accuracy if the GPS data was still a little relevant, but all the reports I've seen give distance gaps of more +50% (33 km instead of 24 for example) and GPS tracks look like drawings of my 2 years old boy Slight smile
Competitors have developed similar modes which are much more intelligently coded (Suunto 9 ultra mode ?).
So to me, Ultratrac is just a marketing name, not yet a feature I'm even considering to use. I prefer packing a small power bank in case I run out of juice during a trek or trail race.

Has anyone got a positive experience with it? Any setting or type of activity where it gave relevant information ?

  • I have similar experience with UltraTrac (sic!). I used it last year during a long run (68km) and it completely drained my battery after getting stuck at some point. The watch freezed ater ~50km and within ~30 minutes it completely died. I couldn't even find the right way to bring it back to life after charging the battery after the run. The standard combination of buttons pressed for the hard reset didn't work Smiley I've found somewhere a different method and that helped. Garmin's helpdesk didn't even know this solution.

    Last weekend during 80km run it looked a bit better with UltraTrac (several updates since the last try). This time the watch survived without extra charging on the track. The only issue was that it showed over 100km instead of 80 ;) I've also noticed a strange behaviour when using the track navigation. The watch killed the navigation addon at some point. Anyway, I was happy that it survived at all, that it didn't freeze the watch ;)

    Next moth I'm joining 100km run and this time I'll just simply use a standard navi with heart monitor off + a small power bank. Shame on Garmin with Ultratrac mode. I guess the Chineese with their Xiaomi can do it better.

  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 5 years ago in reply to 9488754

    I've noticed this oddity with navigation on long runs as well. After a deep dive on the issue, it appears that you won't have any navigation after the first 200 course points (ie turns) - next to useless for even a half marathon on a trail let alone an ultra.

    forums.garmin.com/.../200-course-point-max-exceeded-final-79-points-will-not-be-shown

  • Just completed a 141 km ultramarathon using ultratrac and the GPS accuracy was way off. On climbs the positioning bounces all over the place which resulted in completely inaccurate D+ reading (twice the actual D+) The recorded activity came up with 23 km more than the actual route. This needs to be looked at and fixed by Garmin. Otherwise this mode is useless and this was one of the main reasons I switched to Fenix 5s

  • Adding my experiences with UltraTrac mode which are more or less the same with the rest of the F5+ owners: this mode is totally useless for me (I sincerely have no idea what the use case is that justifies it's existence given how inaccurate it is):

    * Recorded a full 80K race with UltraTrac - the F5+ tracked 96K instead

    * Tried following a cource on the map on the F5+ with UltraTrac on. This was impossible; it would just show me off course and complain all the time

    * Tried it for a long distance hike (>14 hours per day), useless again, most of the time showing me off track or in the wrong place alltogether

    I have like other owners resolved to using the full GPS+Galileo tracking and carrying a power bank but F5+ does not make it easy for me to charge while on the go.

    I sincerely love my F5+ but UltraTrac inadequacy along with the unfriendly charging cable are major annoyances. At least with my old F3 I knew that UlraTrac was untrustworthy but charging it while on the move was really easy. 

  • Hm. This one doesn't look too bad indeed!

    Man, Garmin needs to fix the notifications in the forum.

  • Garmin please fix this feature! The competitors have reached this step yet, you have to improve it if you don't want to lose a bit of consumers

  • I keep reading about this issue, and obviously there are enough posts to warrant some Garmin activity. However, I just finish 700 miles of the AT, using this mode, and tracking each day. I had good results. The data even matched up pretty well with the maps and AT Guide. Not sure why I got a different outcome. 

  • The introduction of the Fenix 6 makes me and I assume you even more adamant that this needs addressing. The 5xPlus was not a "minor" release and it needs fixing. A backport of the battery modes is definitely possible and a must-have too.

  • I just saw that the Fenix 6 has an ultra-long mode that samples once an hour. I hope it is adjustable but I fear it isn't. Once an hour is a bit too coarse. Still, as I point out above, that's how i use my handheld GPS when trying to save battery so if it gets me 58 days of GPS usage to keep me on the map, I'd be happy with that!

  • We should start looking at the fenix 6 maybe. 58 DAYS of gps, sampled once an hour.