Navigation Impact on Battery Life

How much does navigation impact battery life?  I'm planning a ten hour hike using navigation along a predefined route.  With logging set to 1 minute and sending mapshare updates every ten minutes, how might my battery perform?

  • My guess is it will be nominal effect. Please don't depend on navigating with the Mini especially with only 1 minute recording as you could miss a turn easily between GPS points. Try this in your neighborhood first so you can see how it works. At least have a map for backup and have the route in your phone in the Explore app with maps. 

  • Fairly heavy impact. Nav requires the use of the GPS radio. Radios are the power hogs. Although the incremental cost over one minute logging may not be as large as I fear. Note that logging at 30 seconds and below keeps the GPS radio on all the time.