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Optimum settings for ultra distance like UTMB

aldawoudy
over 4 years ago

Hello,

I'll be running UTMB end of this month, and I wanted to know the optimum settings to make sure the watch lasts the advertised 36 hours in GPS mode. 

I've done some tests and never really reached the advertised 36 hours in any of them, not even close. The best result was around 25-26 hours. 

Below is my setup:

1- Wrist HR: ON

2- Plus OX: OFF

3- Bluetooth devices:  Stryd for better pace/distance accuracy and to also measure power

4- Vibration: OFF

5- Backlight is set to 5% and 8s timeout

6- No auto laps every 1km, I'll be using lap button to mark a lap between aid stations

7- No auto-pause

8- GPS+GLONASS

9- I don't use maps, and barely touch the watch during workout, I only look at the main screen

10- ClimbPro: ON

11- Alerts: None

12- Auto Scroll: Off

13- Segment Alers: Off

14- Power save Timeout: Normal

With the above settings I did two tests: 

- 9 Hour trail run: consumed around 50% (during this run ClimbPro was activated on the climbs to show elevation gain)

- Daily runs in the city: around 4% per hour.

I need to get this 4% to 3% to reach the advertised 36 hours without sacrificing GPS accuracy/ Wrist HR and of course with Stryd connected.

Any ideas are more than welcome

Thanks,

Ismail

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  • 0 over 4 years ago

    I’m assuming the 36h spec is with everything else turned off, including GLONASS, Bluetooth, and backlight. 

    Of these, I’m guessing GLONASS has the most impact and is known to take up more battery than GPS alone, so you might want to see if you can get any intel from locals or those who’ve done UTMB before about whether it helps accuracy in that area. Not sure that will get you an additional 10h, though...

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    For the longest activity so far after almost 20hrs I had 22% of battery remaining - I had enabled GPS+GLONASS and OHR only.

    You need to turn off OHR for sure, probably turn off GLONASS as well.

    Note that switching to maps reduces battery life a bit.

    I would strongly recommend to take a cable and power bank and to recharge somewhere in the middle of the race during a meal Slight smile

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    The 36 hour spec is with GPS and OHR turned on. If possible, we would recommend pairing your STRYD sensor using ANT+ so you can turn bluetooth off completely. Turning off your backlight, GLONASS, bluetooth and other settings can help extend this further. 

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    UTMB is a very long term goal for me - and I wish you all the best!

    I've wondered about this before - and I thought about taking a powerbank to top up the charge whilst in feed stations.

    Would a chest strap for HR be more economical for the battery?

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    Doesn't the Stryd footpod tap out at 20 hours?  I can't see an application where trying to optimize your watch battery life would apply if you're paired to a Stryd for pace/distance/power.  Maybe a standard footpod in combination with UltraTrac would be a better solution.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to Garmin-Blake

    What are the other settings? I understand that backlight, glonass and bluetooth are those most power hungry?

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to p9ul
    p9ul said:
    I thought about taking a powerbank to top up the charge whilst in feed stations.

    I think Garmin support will be present at some checkpoint, and they can help you recharge your watch and/or provide any other garmin-related assistance, so no need to burden yourself with a heavy powerbank. More details here:

    https://utmbmontblanc.com/en/page/280/280.html

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to Garmin-Blake

    How do I know if Stryd is connected via Bluetooth or ANT+? 

    Also how to turn off backlight, the only option I found was to set the brightness at 5%, and timeout after 8 secs. I've switched off all gestures that would turn backlight automatically, I don't really need it. During the night I'll be wearing a headlamp and during the day I can see it clearly.

    Yesterday I tuned off GPS+GLONASS and use GPS Only, it didn't help much. For 90 min run with everything (except OHR  and Stryd) turned off battery consumption was 5.7%, that's still 3.8% per hour, this still projects a time of 26.3 hours in total. 

    One last thing I noticed in sensors that both the HRM Tri and HRM swim were already paired with the watch and the watch is always looking for them, I'm guessing that might have an impact on the battery life. Since I'm not using them, I switch them off as well.

    I guess next test would be to turn off Stryd completely to see if I can really go under 3% with GPS only and OHR.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to tmk2

    Exactly, that would be my backup plan. In the past I used Suunto Ambit3 Peak and I used to charge it mid-race using a power bank. At UTMB there're some checkpoints with Garmin support team that will also have chargers, I'll probably try to charge for few mins while I refreshing/resting Slight smile

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to deeter26_2

    For me, I see that Stryd will last more than 20 hours. During my 9 hours trail run I checked the battery life and it was slightly below 80% If we say battery consumption was 25% for 9 hours, that's exactly 36 hours before it runs out of battery. 

    I don't really want to use UltraTrac, the advertised battery life is 36 hours with GPS + OHR. I'm guessing Stryd isn't eating up at least 10 hours from the 36 hours. As a last resort if I don't manage to reach 36 hours I'll probably just charge the watch during the the race.

    Also, I use Stryd because it's much more accurate than GPS for pace/distance and so on. I also rely on power reading for pacing myself. And finally I'm not sure how UltraTrac would affect elevation gain readings (I know the watch has a barometer) but it might have an impact. Plus from what I saw UltraTrac is very unreliable