A general question about GPS mode and Fenix 6 pro

In the default Normal power mode, the GPS setting is whatever you set in the GPS mode down below Auto Scroll (and Segments for modes supporting that). And also things like OHRM are whatever you've set elsewhere in the menus.

The other power modes selectively disable or adjust those settings to save battery. You set what they do in Menu>Power Manager>Power Modes. There's no setting there for Normal Mode, as that's just whatever you've set all the power-hungry settings to individually.

So if you haven't gone into Max Battery or something like that, the GPS setting is whatever you've set in GPS mode; and if you go into Max Battery, that's overridden by whatever lower-power mode you have set up in Max Battery, and that lower power mode is actually the same for all activities, because it's a global setting in the Power Manager.

Hi, and thanks for taking the time to reply, I find it interesting that you can select UltraTrac in the GPS menu and then GPS + Glonass in the Power Mode for the very same activity.

And I get what you mean by using the power modes to fine tune the various settings to get the most from the battery

I have set up different power modes for a hike to a run to walk all with different sensors and power requirements etc.

Next time I use the GPS for an activity, I'm going to select OFF in the GPS menu and leave it set to GPS in the power mode of the same activity and see what happens

Cheers

Aumate said:

I find it interesting that you can select UltraTrac in the GPS menu and then GPS + Glonass in the Power Mode for the very same activity.

It all makes sense.

You configure your activities the way you want them which is the standard. In the power modes you can select "Don't change" as GPS setting which will leave to whatever you configured for the activity you are about to start or you can force another setting either to increase battery life by sacrificing accuracy or to increase accuracy by sacrificing battery life.

Hey, thanks for the reply, Yes I understand what you are saying and it's great that you can make changes to suit the current power level.

What I am inquiring about is the menu entry GPS found in -  Up-Menu > Activities & Apps > Hike (or Walk or a couple of other activities) your choice > Hike Settings > GPS (found right down the bottom) there is no "Don't change" option, only the different GPS combinations.

If you select "off" in that menu item, you get a "incident detection" message. So I'm thinking it might be some "Master" GPS Switch" for each activity, but then why is it buried so far in the menu structure.

Anyway, I'm not going to loose sleep over it, the watch works really well for what I require.

Thank you for all your help

I don't think to have understood it. Can you explain it better?

Hi Mirko,

I'm not sure how I can explain it better, Example: hike power mode has GPS set to - GPS only, in the GPS menu of the activity you can set it to GPS + Glonass or something else.

Now when the watch has difficulty obtaining a GPS lock the second option (GPS + Glonass) takes over.

It is a setting that will allow a better GPS lock in difficult situations - almost word for word from Garmin support.

I hope this helps

Aumate said:

Example: hike power mode has GPS set to - GPS only, in the GPS menu of the activity you can set it to GPS + Glonass or something else.

Now when the watch has difficulty obtaining a GPS lock the second option (GPS + Glonass) takes over.

I doubt that is the way it works, did you receive a written clarification from Garmin? The power modes is a convenient way to change certain activity settings when starting, or during, an activity. When a power mode is selected all settings will be from the power mode except where the power mode setting has an option to keep the activity setting and that is what's configured in the power mode.

I use Jacket Mode in 99% of all my running activities. Jacket Mode don't change anything and allows all features and sensors except wrist HR. If I forget my HR Strap it will never fall back to wrist HR, I need to manually change power mode to Normal.

If the GPS works with fall back that is an exception and for me it sounds unlikely. I also doubt that the watch is able to say if GPS + X is better than GPS + Y or GPS only. If that would have been true there should be a automatic choice of GPS setting.

My understanding is that the Power Mode will take precedence - although the PM may well be set to "Don't Change", so it will follow the Activity settings anyway.

The Hike activity is a good example. You might regularly go for a couple of hours hike in a nearby park on a summer's evening, and not care a whole lot about power consumption, and are happy with GPS+GLONASS as the default for this more regular hike. You could also go for a more extended 3 day trip over a holiday weekend in a remote area, where you want to be more conservative with power settings - applying an economical power mode with GPS only makes sense here.