Expedition mode drains battery empty in less than 2 days

Hi,

Recently during 2 days hike turned my Instinct Solar to Expedition mode just to see, how it performs in it. I was close to shocked, when in ~ 36 hours battery was totally empty and Instinct turned off because of that.

I am sure, it was no other specific things/modes that time and everything else happened exactly as it should - with change to expedition mode Pulse Ox turned off atomatically, heart rate and all other features too. Recorded GPS track looked exactly as it should - one GPS point per hour, no surprises, backligt 70% and delay 8 seconds (but I was not looking at screen too often:))

Watch is just aprox 3 weeks in use, so I am slightly afraid, isn't this a case of warranty - in normal everyday smartwatch mode (HR, Pulse Ox, sleep ON), sinhronisation few times a day, without any GPS activities or music management battery life is just around 5...6 days. Are there any possibilities to check/find reasons for such behaviour?

0 DJGShef over 3 years ago

UltraTrac should last 40hrs.

0 Dan.Boilermaker over 3 years ago

I've had this happen as well. When I first got the watch, I wanted to test the Expedition mode.
so I put the watch on my wrist and started an expedition (in my office :)). I let it continually run and looked fine all day. When I got home I through the watch in a drawer with my car keys (no GPS signal) and by morning the battery was dead. The battery seems to drain quickly if it can't get a GPS lock. I assume it keeps trying to get a lock until it either gets one or drains the battery.

0 1264233 over 3 years ago in reply to DJGShef

Hi,

This is what user manual says:

You can use the Expedition app to prolong the battery life while recording a multi-day activity.

From the watch face, press GPS.
Select Expedition.
Press GPS to start the activity timer.

The device enters low power mode and collects GPS track points once an hour. To maximize battery life, the device turns off all sensors and accessories, including the connection to your smartphone."

What I so in reality, was completely opposite. And recorded track was clearly points, recorded every hour, not constantly.

0 1264233 over 3 years ago in reply to Dan.Boilermaker

Hi,

Not my case, I was outdoors all the time for those 2 days. GPS signal was strong enough for Samsung smartphone to work w/o any problems.

0 Dan.Boilermaker over 3 years ago in reply to 1264233

So, I tested again. Started with 70% battery, recording at 15min intervals, and Recording after Sunset turned off. Started mid-afternoon and battery was dead by early morning. I then recharged to 100% and started another Expedition activity with the same settings. It's been going for two days with battery level still reading 100%/27 days. I don't get it.

The watch is an Instinct Solar by the way.