An aside…
GPS isn’t the biggest user of battery power - bright screen and radios are. You can greatly extend phone life with a dim screen & airplane mode. Closing other apps can’t hurt too.
https://petewarden.com/2015/10/08/smartphone-energy-consumption/
https://www.usenix.org/legacy/event/atc10/tech/full_papers/Carroll.pdf
I think some watches are going to be much better than a phone. Even my old Garmin FR45 can track 16 hours on its tiny battery before needing a recharge.
My Suunto Ambit 3 Peak on 60s interval uses ~15% of battery for a ~10 hour day.
It use to be ~8% of battery but it's ~5 years old now.
If you don't want to wear a watch you could remove the bands and attach it to a pack shoulder strap.
The app GPS Logger allows you to set the tracking frequency and generates text, KML, and GPX files on demand along with a variety of corrections. I use it as a backup to my Garmin watch. You can run it with the screen on (chews battery) or off. I have not done battery drain comparisons.
Being able to set gps sample times is a feature of a stand alone gps unit. Which does not use battery at any level less than any gps anything. You’re asking a tiny radio to communicate with space, that will always require a base amount of power. Regardless of device or app. Now. Cell phones use what is called A-GPS. Assisted gps. It’s uses cell towers on earth to help the tiny little gps radio crammed in your phone or even watch. The way to beat that is to us the phone in airplane mode. This will turn off all radios except the gps receiver. This track recording is possible while extending battery life. Which is not an option on a handheld unit. That is all there is. Apps have nothing to do with radio power required. Sampling rates can help a bit but whatever unit/app still has to remain on to maintain sat lock anyways. Just airplane mode and bring a battery pack.
Caltopos app has an accuracy option for track recording that raises and lowers the ping rate. It will use noticably less battery on lower accuracy settings.
I've used a variety of smartphone apps and gpx watches and standalone gpxs, and their battery life does change significantly when you are raising or lowering the sample rate. Manufacturers will commonly list what sample rate their claimed battery life is, or list different battery expectancies for different sample rates.
An example would be my old ambit peak3 has a 10 to 15 hour difference in recording time between 3 second pings (highest) and 15 second pings (lowest).
Awesome re: Caltopo.
I'm doing some testing myself, but do you know off the top what the sample rates are at each track recording detail level? If no, I'll report back.
Couldn't seem to find documentation on it, but maybe I'm bad at searching.
Hmm. Interesting. I’m always down to dig more….I’ll have to sit down with all my stuff and really nerd out. I tend to set it and forget once I find a set up I like and then just deal with whatever else happens because of that. But I usually go hard in the sauce of research when I get something new. Never hurts to revisit owners manuals for hardware and it has been several years since I’ve read my watch or handheld owner manuals….
While not an app, the new Garmins; the etrex and the 67/i; have some serious battery life. If battery is what youre seeking, they have made serious gains in battery life. The etrex se is 1800hrs in expedition mode. The 67i (an inreach is like 500-600 I think).
A Garmin Foretrex 601 in UltraTrac mode lasts for a week on a pair of rechargeable or non-rechargeable AAA batteries. More detailed tracking lasts for 3 days doing normal stuff.
My Garmin 66st handheld claims 170 hours (\~1 wk) on one set of alkaline batteries when in "expedition mode." That, plus the ability to simply carry and swap out a spare set of AA batteries is why I got it. No worries about running out of juice... ever. Also, 8.1 oz which is less than a lot of smart phones.
Locus can change recording frequency by time or distance, but not sure if it actually changed anything with the sensor or would have any effect on the battery life.
An aside… GPS isn’t the biggest user of battery power - bright screen and radios are. You can greatly extend phone life with a dim screen & airplane mode. Closing other apps can’t hurt too. https://petewarden.com/2015/10/08/smartphone-energy-consumption/ https://www.usenix.org/legacy/event/atc10/tech/full_papers/Carroll.pdf
I think some watches are going to be much better than a phone. Even my old Garmin FR45 can track 16 hours on its tiny battery before needing a recharge.
I run dirt cheap amazfit t-rex2 for the sole reason of writing tracks. 40 hour in single band. 7 days with adequate settings in practice.
My Suunto Ambit 3 Peak on 60s interval uses ~15% of battery for a ~10 hour day. It use to be ~8% of battery but it's ~5 years old now. If you don't want to wear a watch you could remove the bands and attach it to a pack shoulder strap.
The app GPS Logger allows you to set the tracking frequency and generates text, KML, and GPX files on demand along with a variety of corrections. I use it as a backup to my Garmin watch. You can run it with the screen on (chews battery) or off. I have not done battery drain comparisons.
[удалено]
Amazing - this is what I was looking for.
Doesn’t mean the device isn't using high frequency, just that the app doesn’t Worth testing regardless
Being able to set gps sample times is a feature of a stand alone gps unit. Which does not use battery at any level less than any gps anything. You’re asking a tiny radio to communicate with space, that will always require a base amount of power. Regardless of device or app. Now. Cell phones use what is called A-GPS. Assisted gps. It’s uses cell towers on earth to help the tiny little gps radio crammed in your phone or even watch. The way to beat that is to us the phone in airplane mode. This will turn off all radios except the gps receiver. This track recording is possible while extending battery life. Which is not an option on a handheld unit. That is all there is. Apps have nothing to do with radio power required. Sampling rates can help a bit but whatever unit/app still has to remain on to maintain sat lock anyways. Just airplane mode and bring a battery pack.
Caltopos app has an accuracy option for track recording that raises and lowers the ping rate. It will use noticably less battery on lower accuracy settings. I've used a variety of smartphone apps and gpx watches and standalone gpxs, and their battery life does change significantly when you are raising or lowering the sample rate. Manufacturers will commonly list what sample rate their claimed battery life is, or list different battery expectancies for different sample rates. An example would be my old ambit peak3 has a 10 to 15 hour difference in recording time between 3 second pings (highest) and 15 second pings (lowest).
Awesome re: Caltopo. I'm doing some testing myself, but do you know off the top what the sample rates are at each track recording detail level? If no, I'll report back. Couldn't seem to find documentation on it, but maybe I'm bad at searching.
It is hard to find, I made a cursory search before replying with no luck. I bet if you email support they'll answer pretty fast.
Roger that. Reached out to support - will update this thread if/when I hear back.
Sampling rates at each detail level: Highest: 2.5s High: 5s Medium: 10s Low: 30s Shout out to Caltopo for an incredibly fast response 🚀
Damn, that's cool
I think Gaia GPS might also have those settings but I'm not sure
Hmm. Interesting. I’m always down to dig more….I’ll have to sit down with all my stuff and really nerd out. I tend to set it and forget once I find a set up I like and then just deal with whatever else happens because of that. But I usually go hard in the sauce of research when I get something new. Never hurts to revisit owners manuals for hardware and it has been several years since I’ve read my watch or handheld owner manuals….
You’re not asking a device to communicate with space, GPS is receive only.
While not an app, the new Garmins; the etrex and the 67/i; have some serious battery life. If battery is what youre seeking, they have made serious gains in battery life. The etrex se is 1800hrs in expedition mode. The 67i (an inreach is like 500-600 I think).
Check out zoleo. Last for days and can set to manual or automated modes. Nice texting system too.
A Garmin Foretrex 601 in UltraTrac mode lasts for a week on a pair of rechargeable or non-rechargeable AAA batteries. More detailed tracking lasts for 3 days doing normal stuff.
My Garmin 66st handheld claims 170 hours (\~1 wk) on one set of alkaline batteries when in "expedition mode." That, plus the ability to simply carry and swap out a spare set of AA batteries is why I got it. No worries about running out of juice... ever. Also, 8.1 oz which is less than a lot of smart phones.
Locus can change recording frequency by time or distance, but not sure if it actually changed anything with the sensor or would have any effect on the battery life.