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c/backpacking-routeshollyl45hollyl4525d agoProlific Poster

Update: Finally hiked a 12 mile stretch without my GPS dying

I have been doing sections of the Appalachian Trail near Roanoke, Virginia, and it took me five tries to finish a 12 mile stretch without my GPS conking out. Kept noticing other hikers complaining about their batteries dying halfway through too, and I realized most of them are using the wrong settings. They leave the screen on full brightness and let the device run with Bluetooth pinging their phone. I turned my brightness to 30 percent, killed the Bluetooth, and set the tracking to only record every 30 seconds instead of every 5. Last week I finally made it the whole way with 40 percent battery left. What do you all do to stretch your GPS battery on longer hauls?
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3 Comments
cole356
cole35625d ago
Read somewhere that turning off the barometric altimeter can save a ton of juice too, since it's constantly measuring air pressure changes. Might be worth a try next time.
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williams.jenny
Good point, could mess up your total gain tracking though.
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verawhite
verawhite25d ago
Ngl, that "barometric altimeter" bit caught my eye, but does turning it off actually mess with anything else like tracking elevation gain or weather patterns?
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