current state of GPS watches for up to 6 day outings?

[Phong D]

Still consider myself a newbie and would love some advice.  My use case would be for up to 6 days stints between towns.  Mostly I section hike the PCT, but a thru hike is also planned (or dreamt of).

My current setup is an iPhone for GPS (in airplane mode, not active tracking), an abc watch that I use for altimeter (which combined with paper elevation chart lets me know enough so that I don’t constantly turn on the phone), and a 10 mah battery (which seems to be overkill as I almost never need to use it).  I also carry paper-maps and compass, but doubt I have enough skill with these.  There’s also a small mp3 player so I don’t use the iPhone, it almost never needs recharge before towns.

The latest generation of watches (Ambit 3, Fenix 6) boast extended GPS times by setting the intervals longer.  The Ambit 3 claims 200 hours @ 1 minute tracking intervals and the Fenix 6 claims 336 hours (intervals are 15 minutes or longer).  This seems like it might be able to track my entire 6 day trip, and I have spare battery capacity if it needs charge.

I’ve never used a GPS watch because of the short battery life.  The new generations sounds better, but is it really useful beyond what I currently am using?  I guess I wouldn’t mind having another GPS capable device as backup…like I said, my ability (or lack of) with paper maps has never been tested.  And I wouldn’t mind something that can track my path if I have to backtrack.  My iPhone is usually not actively tracking me for better battery life.

So does anyone use one for week long hikes, thru hikes, or section hikes?  If so, do you find it useful?  I guess I wouldn’t mind getting one for the weekend trips, but wonder if they are useful for longer things.

Thanks guys!

[Arthur]

Phong

I have an Ambit 3.  Thoughts:

1.       Location.   You can get lat/long from the watch easily, but if you can’t use a paper topo, that does not help you much.

2.       Track back.   Trying to use the track back on that watch would be challenging.  Tried it once, not easy.  Better than nothing, I guess.

3.       Tracking.  Why are you tracking?  How accurate do you need?  In 200 hours, the track points are far between, only a general path that is not particularly accurate. I think that is because the gps pauses between points and loses its fix.  In 30 hours, pretty good tracking.  In 20 hours, very good tracking.   I use mine to sync location for photographs, I use a real camera.  The 30 hours is good for that and compares favorably to a real GPS.  Suunto just changed the web interface to access the tracks.  If you are downloading the tracks, it is a multiple step process thru your phone now.   Who knows why they did that.

4.       Charging.  I don’t know the battery size on the watch, but it charges from 50-100% in about 15-20 minutes. I bet you could charge the watch from 50% 20-30 times easily with your present battery pack.   I have used it for 8 day outings, hardly dented my 5600 mAh battery. But, you have to bring a proprietary charging cord.

5.       Distance.  It is nice to just look at the watch to see how far I have hiked rather than get out the phone or topo.   But, on the 200 hr mode, it is dreadfully inaccurate for this function.  In a straight line, not bad, in a meandering path, it is probably 20-30% short.  It is certainly less weight than a GPS unit and batteries for that function.

6.       If you are navigating by altitude, the gps watch will be more accurate than a barometric watch if your changes in altitudes are subtle. If just for altitude, the 200 hour would be fine.

7.       If you are really into on the trail gadgets, you can download the day’s track to you phone and look at it.  Waste of battery and I am usually too tired to care about those details on the trail.  I don’t know if the map on the phone on their app works without cell service, never cared to try.

8.       You might quiz the long distance thru hikers to see if any of them use a GPS watch.  The few that I know don’t.

9.       I would learn how to use a topo.

[Pedestrian]

Rather than rehash things and try to correct all the inaccurate information, I point you to Andrew Skurka’s very detailed series of posts on navigation including maps, compass, GPS watches, smartphone apps and more. Also look at this and this.

 

He also has several posts on the Suunto Ambit3 Peak, Suunto 9 Baro, Garmin Fenix 6 and more.

Rather than read a lot of half-baked somewhat ill informed posts here, please take some time and educated yourself on Skurka’s excellent blog. You might even actually learn something! Especially if you take his posts and go practice said skills on hikes/runs.

 

[Phong D]

Okay guys thanks so much for the detailed responses.  I didn’t know about Skurka’s posts on that…should be useful.  On a side note, my nephew had his Flux Capacitor and loves it.

[Adam White]

At the risk of adding more half-baked, ill-informed information to this thread…

I’ve been using an Ambit 3 for the last 3-4 years, and I’d basically second everything that @art-r said.

I have not wanted to bring the charging cable while backpacking, so I’ve always used the 200 hour mode. And as Arthur pointed out, it’s pretty woefully inaccurate in this mode–not just due to limited sampling (and the distance errors that result from that), but spatial errors that result in recorded points being off by up to several hundred feet. This might affect your ability to navigate with the watch–I don’t know; I’ve never tried to navigate with it. I am more of a topo map person.

This year, I started recording GPS tracks with my DeLorme inReach Mini instead of the Ambit, and it does a much better job (at a sample rate of 30 seconds/pt, to boot, decreasing distance errors in the recorded track). If you’re already carrying an inReach, you might consider that. After a 14 hour day of backpacking, I find it has usually drained the battery by ~30%. I recharge it nightly.

Alternatively, if you use the Ambit in a higher accuracy/higher sample rate mode, accuracy should should be great (I do that all the time for dayhikes or runs, and the accuracy is outstanding). Of course, you would need to bring the charging cable in this case.

Lastly, some of the more recent offerings from Coros also look compelling, but that’s a whole ‘nother can of worms.

Given that I don’t use the watch to record a GPS track anymore, and never use it for navigation, I’m thinking about going back to a barometric watch for backpacking.

[MTN]

I’d love a watch that can stay alive for a week of basic necessities. For me that’s altitude, time, alarm clock, and maybe compass. I like the altitude to know how I’m doing on an ascent. Out west it feels like it’s almost ever do. I’d also not like to feel trapped by a battery

the only abc watch I’ve found that is not horrendously monstrous on my slim wrists are the tissot touch watches. They are solar powered and do the ABCs ok. The altimeter needs to be periodically set as it is not a true gps watch. I don’t mind. Gaia gps gives altitude well. So basically I can track my ascent easily and the check how close I am to my destination periodically w Gaia w my smartphone.

[Author]

Posts