SatIQ vs All Satellites

hi forerunner friends,

i write wondering if any of you have experimented with the different GPS options. obviously, multi band gives the best data, but at the cost of significant battery drain. i have long (over 2 years) used All Satellites to great effect for my runs. it gave me better instantaneous pace during my runs at a reasonable battery drain. yet, i saw DC Rainmaker and DesFit recommend using SatIQ for the best of both worlds and then forget about it.

this would make sense if SatIQ was smart enough to choose the GPS mode properly, but it seems in my case, it doesn't work very well. i find it is draining almost as fast as Multiband on runs which have very clear sky/unobstructed views (with a sprinkling of runs under tree cover), and significantly more than All Satellites with no apparent gain.

roughly speaking, i drain about 3.5-4%/hour using All Satellites and close to 5% using SatIQ which is almost the same as i would get using full Multiband. have you all seen the same thing?

i'm sure a dig down into the FIT files might yield some interesting results (i don't have the tools nor time to do that), but it seems anecdotally that SatIQ is using Multiband in cases where it's likely not necessary.

  • As far as I know, from Fenix 7 logfiles written by one beta release (data of just 4 weeks or so), SatIQ only activates when it is _really_ necessary ("urban canyon" or other conditions with bad satellite reception or lots of reflections). And in my case that was nearly never. So I left it on "All+Multiband" all the time, also on my FR955. I am noticing a higher battery drain than I am used to lately, but I think that is due to the dark days of autumn and using the backlight much more often.

  • la mia breve esperienza con Satl Q :quando ho provato ad usarlo soprattutto in zone montuose, ricordo che non mi dava risultati soddisfacenti. non per quanto riguarda la durata del consumo della batteria, che secondo me è abbastanza simile all'utilizzo della massima precisione, ma piuttosto in modalità navigazione sembrava avere momenti in cui perdeva il segnale o comunque non era preciso nel darmi le indicazioni di svolta e dovevo basarmi sulla mappa.

  • Care to write in english in this international forum?

    Yes, I know everybody can use a translator tool, but this is also true for you - so why don't you translate to english before posting, please?

  • Hi derek87,

    I have not experimented with the settings, no.
    Personally I use SatIQ for everything and I am quite satisfied with the results in terms of accuracy and consistency. A road track in the forest I run quite often all over the year in different conditions with the FR955 and SatIQ will be to 98% measured with 10,30 - 10,34 km which I find to be very accurate. This is below 0,25% deviation.

    With my FR 245 (which had no Multiband and thus no SatIQ) the margin on the same track was higher, but still in 95% below 0,5%.

    In terms of battery consumption I admit that I did not compare to "All satellites", "Just GPS" or even "Ultratrac" modes. But in the end, even if I go for my usual 2-3 hours bike ride, I find the consumption acceptable.
    Only case I could imagine where I would use something different might be hiking, when I would plan for tracking for 6, 8 or 10 hours per day and would have no option to charge the watch.
    But anyway, usually I will have a powerbank with me for the smartphone anyway, so on my past trekking trips I also used "SatIQ".

  • I have a forerunner 965 and gps should be about the same.

    At first I tried satiq. But then I noticed it uses 10% battery for every hour of gps activity. I think that is quite high. I looked at the fit fileand noticed the watch was switching between gps modes like crazy. I live in super flat the Netherlands which should be hardly a challange for gps and multiband doesn’t add anything. 

    Then I switched to all systems. Battery usage went down to 5% per hour gps activity. I think that is a big difference. The. i compared gps trails on different setting on the same route and hardly notice a difference. 
    For instant pace when doing intervals both modes are quite useless. 

    Have to say, my old watch, a forerunner 935 was already good enough for my usage. I know dcrainmaker has other experiences and I can only judge his reviews on forerunner 935 and 965, but I do notice he emphasizes things I don’t find important and don’t say anything about annoyances I experience, so I stopped reading his reviews.

    But that’s just my experience.

  • Hi, I have been following famous YouTuber reviewers for a long time and I must say that several of them seem to me to be "advertising" the products they review (especially with Garmins) but for the use I make of them in a mountain environment/ mountaineering, these are rather superficial reviews.IMHO

  • Hello.

    I had also noticed that SatIQ takes a very long time to lock on satellite and in sometimes it was unable to. I had switched to All+Multiband and it works perfect.
    I didn't compare the battery drain but I don't see anything abnormal.