2 Hour GPS/HR Run-50% Battery Drain

[Long Run Nick]

Does that seem excessive? Been spoiled by Garmin- have run 50K(6:00 hours) and had 45% battery remaining.
The above time was 2 years ago as a young 71 year old guy.
Have run with the AW on 3 runs: two 8 milers and one 10 miler.
Initial thoughts- GPS pretty good. HR seems to be of by about 10-15 beats higher than my "normal"
I will do some run testing and provide more of my experience.
Street Creds: Recently went over 40 years of long distance road running- current total miles run 85,4xx and counting. Currently run with Garmin 235, so far about the best running watch I have used- and believe me I have tried way too many over the years. Note: First 20 years there wasn't much out there, other than a stop watch. Nick

 

[zhenya]

Apple says about 5 hours on GPS so seems close at least - depending on what else was going on with the watch at the time.

 

[lordofthereef]

I've been getting 7-8% per hour. I've just been doing hour runs but I'd figure it shouldn't jump that much. Unless my Watch is under reporting that first hour.

 

[Fthree]

Does that seem excessive? Been spoiled by Garmin- have run 50K(6:00 hours) and had 45% battery remaining.
The above time was 2 years ago as a young 71 year old guy.
Have run with the AW on 3 runs: two 8 milers and one 10 miler.
Initial thoughts- GPS pretty good. HR seems to be of by about 10-15 beats higher than my "normal"
I will do some run testing and provide more of my experience.
Street Creds: Recently went over 40 years of long distance road running- current total miles run 85,4xx and counting. Currently run with Garmin 235, so far about the best running watch I have used- and believe me I have tried way too many over the years. Note: First 20 years there wasn't much out there, other than a stop watch. Nick

Very interesting, i have preordered the Volt series 2 and am anxious about its arrival. I log about 40 miles a week and currently use a garmin 630. I LOVE the way garmin gives me the running dynamics. How does the AW S2 compare in that scenario?

 

[Nugget]

I love my Apple Watch for daily wear and general Fitbit style health monitoring. When I lace up and head out for a run I swap for my Garmin 630. Apple just isn't there yet to replace a dedicated device for anything but the most casual use.

 

[zhenya]

I've been getting 7-8% per hour. I've just been doing hour runs but I'd figure it shouldn't jump that much. Unless my Watch is under reporting that first hour.

That doesn't seem accurate. At that rate you'd get ~12-14 hours of GPS use. Even most dedicated running watches don't get that.

 

[exxxviii]

I've been getting 7-8% per hour. I've just been doing hour runs but I'd figure it shouldn't jump that much. Unless my Watch is under reporting that first hour.

Do you run with your phone also? If so, those numbers make sense, because the AW is using your phone's GPS instead of its own.

I LOVE the way garmin gives me the running dynamics. How does the AW S2 compare in that scenario?

Crickets. The AW offers close to nothing for running performance analysis. The mobile app is basic, and there is no web app for deeper visualizations.

 

[lordofthereef]

Do you run with your phone also? If so, those numbers make sense, because the AW is using your phone's GPS instead of its own.

Crickets. The AW offers close to nothing for running performance analysis. The mobile app is basic, and there is no web app for deeper visualizations.

No I don't run with my phone. I can certainly take a screenshot then next time I go of it helps any. That has been my rate. Maybe slightly more though I've never seen higher than 9%. This is straight off the charger, almost always and I've yet to go longer than an hour.
[doublepost=1476193690][/doublepost]

That doesn't seem accurate. At that rate you'd get ~12-14 hours of GPS use. Even most dedicated running watches don't get that.

As mentioned I don't know that the rates accurate as I haven't used it longer than an hour. With every Apple device I have ever had it claims to stick at 100% way longer than it should. I was just trying to give some insight. 50% battery drain in an hour also doesn't seem right. I did run yesterday and I did end the day at 70%. In fact, the first day I had the Watch was the only day it ended much lower than that, at 54%.

 

[goat5570]

Do you run with your phone also? If so, those numbers make sense, because the AW is using your phone's GPS instead of its own.

Crickets. The AW offers close to nothing for running performance analysis. The mobile app is basic, and there is no web app for deeper visualizations.

This is where I hope 3rd party apps will step up, just like 3rd party apps on the iphone make the phone what it its today. Apple doesn't seem interested in doing it, and from reading this site, it seems people would be willing to pay for more features. Even just a simple graph of pace, heartrate, and distance would be great. With all of the Nike and Apple partnerships going on, I'm surprised Apple didn't ask for some help in making their app.

 

[exxxviii]

This is where I hope 3rd party apps will step up, just like 3rd party apps on the iphone make the phone what it its today. Apple doesn't seem interested in doing it, and from reading this site, it seems people would be willing to pay for more features.

I think that Apple is pinning its hopes on apps like Strava, MapMyFitness, Runkeeper, iSmoothRun, etc. to help propel the AW to a common standing with the Garmins, TomToms, Suuntos, etc. After 18 months, that does not seem to be happening. Those apps are moving toward the core fitness tracking features, but they have not been stable or reliable enough on the AW to replace a fitness device.

 

[Nugget]

I think that Apple is pinning its hopes on apps like Strava, MapMyFitness, Runkeeper, iSmoothRun, etc. to help propel the AW to a common standing with the Garmins, TomToms, Suuntos, etc. After 18 months, that does not seem to be happening.

I think you're right that Apple is hoping the developer community will fill that gap. They're also constrained somewhat by their partnership with Nike which almost certainly has a chilling effect on how much enthusiasm they can apply towards the workout-focused features of the base watchOS app. They need to leave plenty of breathing room above the core functionality for Nike to fill with its historically tepid and uninspiring software development efforts.

That said, 18 months of lackluster improvement is in part due to the inadequate series 0 hardware. I think it's fair to say that developers have only just now (with the series 1 and 2 hardware) gotten a platform that has a fighting chance of competing with the dedicated devices.

 

[Long Run Nick]

Very interesting, i have preordered the Volt series 2 and am anxious about its arrival. I log about 40 miles a week and currently use a garmin 630. I LOVE the way garmin gives me the running dynamics. How does the AW S2 compare in that scenario?

My experience with 5 runs- total of 44 miles. It is a mixed bag. If you are serious runner- I think Garmin still rules, as they should, their FR watches are made for runners.
My last 2 runs are an example. On Monday I ran 9 miles with both my Garmin 235 and AW2. Heart rate was spot on- 1 beat off on HR average. Distance on AW was 9.14 vs Garmin was 9 mi. Please note that the courses I run have been tested with too many GPS watches/devices, so I am very comfortable with my 9 mile route is just that. As you can imagine anyone who has tracked mileage for just over 40 years and over 85,000 miles is pretty anal about my running stats.
Ran another 9 miler today. The Garmin showed 9 miles, the AW should 9.05. Not bad, actually I was impressed. Sadly the avg HR was way off. My Garmin showed avg HR of 134. The AW showed 160. The AW was all over the place today. Interesting on the workout info it showed both devices with avg HR 160- I thought that strange. As far as my "normal" HR for this type of run is around 132-135. At 73, I have observed my max HR to have declined over the years. Into my early 50's I could hit over 200-207 at the end of all out race efforts-5-10K races. Now my max HR is in the high 180's. Some decline may be explained by my age, of course,and also I don't push as hard as I use to. Hopefully you will give me a pass on that.
I wish we could have a section for serious runners to discuss their experiences with the AW2. I smile at the 30 minute circle for workouts. Thanks for letting me share. I hope my posts concerning running and the AW may motivate some folks to get out there and run to their full potential. Nick
PS. My battery life has improved a lot. I powered off the watch yesterday and have noticed a big improvement. Was averaging 6-8 percent drop an hour. Now down to around 1-2 per cent drop.
GPS/HR for 1:40 min run reduced from 43% drain to 34%.

 

[exxxviii]

My experience with 5 runs- total of 44 miles. It is a mixed bag. If you are serious runner- I think Garmin still rules, as they should, their FR watches are made for runners.

Moderate volume runner here...

Often, the high HR with wrist-based optical sensors happens when the sensor locks on to your cadence in error. The nut is that the watch is moving on your wrist with your stride, and the HRM's DSP algorithms are mistaking the variations in reflected light from the movement versus from changes in blood flow. The really good HRM subsystems use the device's accelerometer to filter out the movement noise. The fix is to tighten the watch band one notch more than you normally wear. That reduces the movement that negatively affects the reflected light readings.

Regarding distance accuracy, your observations sound about right and within Apple's performance range. My Garmins have been 0.02 mile standard deviation accurate on a 5 mile distance, while Apple-based products have been on the order of 0.1 (or worse). I do not have an AWS2 yet, but the iPhone GPS is not accurate compared to a Garmin. I would not expect the watch to be any better than the phone.

 

[Long Run Nick]

Moderate volume runner here...

Often, the high HR with wrist-based optical sensors happens when the sensor locks on to your cadence in error. The nut is that the watch is moving on your wrist with your stride, and the HRM's DSP algorithms are mistaking the variations in reflected light from the movement versus from changes in blood flow. The really good HRM subsystems use the device's accelerometer to filter out the movement noise. The fix is to tighten the watch band one notch more than you normally wear. That reduces the movement that negatively affects the reflected light readings.

Regarding distance accuracy, your observations sound about right and within Apple's performance range. My Garmins have been 0.02 mile standard deviation accurate on a 5 mile distance, while Apple-based products have been on the order of 0.1 (or worse). I do not have an AWS2 yet, but the iPhone GPS is not accurate compared to a Garmin. I would not expect the watch to be any better than the phone.

 

[Fthree]

My experience with 5 runs- total of 44 miles. It is a mixed bag. If you are serious runner- I think Garmin still rules, as they should, their FR watches are made for runners.
My last 2 runs are an example. On Monday I ran 9 miles with both my Garmin 235 and AW2. Heart rate was spot on- 1 beat off on HR average. Distance on AW was 9.14 vs Garmin was 9 mi. Please note that the courses I run have been tested with too many GPS watches/devices, so I am very comfortable with my 9 mile route is just that. As you can imagine anyone who has tracked mileage for just over 40 years and over 85,000 miles is pretty anal about my running stats.
Ran another 9 miler today. The Garmin showed 9 miles, the AW should 9.05. Not bad, actually I was impressed. Sadly the avg HR was way off. My Garmin showed avg HR of 134. The AW showed 160. The AW was all over the place today. Interesting on the workout info it showed both devices with avg HR 160- I thought that strange. As far as my "normal" HR for this type of run is around 132-135. At 73, I have observed my max HR to have declined over the years. Into my early 50's I could hit over 200-207 at the end of all out race efforts-5-10K races. Now my max HR is in the high 180's. Some decline may be explained by my age, of course,and also I don't push as hard as I use to. Hopefully you will give me a pass on that.
I wish we could have a section for serious runners to discuss their experiences with the AW2. I smile at the 30 minute circle for workouts. Thanks for letting me share. I hope my posts concerning running and the AW may motivate some folks to get out there and run to their full potential. Nick
PS. My battery life has improved a lot. I powered off the watch yesterday and have noticed a big improvement. Was averaging 6-8 percent drop an hour. Now down to around 1-2 per cent drop.
GPS/HR for 1:40 min run reduced from 43% drain to 34%.

thank you for sharing! I am pretty excited about getting my watch BUT I feel I may be disappointed when it comes simply because I will be expecting too much out of it.

 

[Long Run Nick]

Thanks, I am aware of cadence lock. When Garmin initially introduced their Elevate optical HR sensor, I grabbed their activity tracker that preceded the FR watches with HR sensor. It worked good enough for me to get the FR235 when released. I have used the 235 since 11/21/15 and have not had issues with cadence lock. I have run with my other Garmin's with a HR strap and have been pleased with the 235 readings.
I think what might have happened today I wore the AW on a my other wrist and probably didn't have it tight enough. Doing an ez 5 miler early tomorrow. I will see how it goes.
Appreciate your comments. I really got the AW for a smart watch and "toy". I like it a lot. My concern about excessive battery drain does not exist now. 13 hours and it burned only 22%. I charge over night and when showering after my morning run. Hey, keep running, it works.

 

[profets]

Apple says about 5 hours on GPS so seems close at least - depending on what else was going on with the watch at the time.

I've been averaging about 18% per hour for running with the watch only (GPS in use) and playing music over bluetooth from the watch. Seems to work out roughly to 5 hours.

 

[Fthree]

Thanks, I am aware of cadence lock. When Garmin initially introduced their Elevate optical HR sensor, I grabbed their activity tracker that preceded the FR watches with HR sensor. It worked good enough for me to get the FR235 when released. I have used the 235 since 11/21/15 and have not had issues with cadence lock. I have run with my other Garmin's with a HR strap and have been pleased with the 235 readings.
I think what might have happened today I wore the AW on a my other wrist and probably didn't have it tight enough. Doing an ez 5 miler early tomorrow. I will see how it goes.
Appreciate your comments. I really got the AW for a smart watch and "toy". I like it a lot. My concern about excessive battery drain does not exist now. 13 hours and it burned only 22%. I charge over night and when showering after my morning run. Hey, keep running, it works.

Thank you for sharing, please continue to do so. I am excited about mine coming in late this oct. Do you happen to have a strava profile?

 

[Long Run Nick]

Thank you for sharing, please continue to do so. I am excited about mine coming in late this oct. Do you happen to have a strava profile?

I don't have a Strava profile. FYI, did a 5 mi run - actually, a 5.25 today per Garmin/5.30 AW. HR Avg 126 Garmin/126 AW. Tightened the AW 1 notch. Pace was tight- if I use Garmin moving pace a second off the AW. Actually, I am kind of impressed. Really hadn't planned running with the AW, but with those damn circles want to get them "completed".
Planning a 9-10 miler tomorrow. Will write up the results. Don't worry, I won't keep posting about this, just wanted to present my data for others to compare/ chime in.

 

[Newtons Apple]

Pretty pitiful if this is all,the battery can do when running GPS.

 

[Resqu2]

All I can add is I'm envious of your distance and total mileage. Very impressive. I have just got into running at 48yo and it's not easy. Did a timed 5k just to see how it would be and didn't think I'd live through it lol. Keep you the good work.

 

[Long Run Nick]

Thanks. I have coached hundreds of runners over the years. Some simple advice: Slow down. By going "slow" you will get faster, and risk fewer injuries. Try running/ and walking. If you are serious about a lifetime commitment there isn't a big hurry. Most newbies run too fast, too far, too soon. Relax,be appreciative that you can move about. Most folks that ignore this advice end up in the world's largest running club- "I use to run but........club. Nick
[doublepost=1476477202][/doublepost]A final run experience for this post. Garmin 235- 10.3 miles. AW 10.39. Pace within 2 seconds and HR Garmin 143, AW 144. Not bad. Hope this info helps. Battery drain 35% for my nearly 2 hour run(1:53:17). A note to "fast " runners. In my 40's to mid 50's could train this distance comfortably at 8 minute miles and race at sub 6 minute miles(5:45-6:00). As you can see the years and the miles kinda slow us down. I tell folks Frank Shorter will never win another Olympic Marathon.
Keep running, it works. Nick

 

[avkam]

>> Long Run Nick: Ran another 9 miler today. The Garmin showed 9 miles, the AW should 9.05. Not bad, actually I was impressed. Sadly the avg HR was way off. My Garmin showed avg HR of 134. The AW showed 160. The AW was all over the place today. Interesting on the workout info it showed both devices with avg HR 160- I thought that strange. As far as my "normal" HR for this type of run is around 132-135. <<

Something like this happened me just when I was walking with my kid. Moderate walk and suddenly HR was over 170 for a long time (hope you can see the attached pic). I tried to move watch a little bit, but nothing helped. Band was very tight. AW S2.

 

[Fthree]

just saw that my watch should be here oct 28. Did a half marathon yesterday in Kansas City, (Used my garmin of course...) Beautiful city! ended up finishing in 1hr 40min (slower than usual for me but i blame the hills!!!) KEEP POSTING

 

[Long Run Nick]

just saw that my watch should be here oct 28. Did a half marathon yesterday in Kansas City, (Used my garmin of course...) Beautiful city! ended up finishing in 1hr 40min (slower than usual for me but i blame the hills!!!) KEEP POSTING

Good job! You filled up the activity circle nearly 5x. Don't retire your Garmin. I feel like DC Rainmaker wearing 2 watches now.
I finally figured out the pause and resume on the AW. It seemed like hit and miss. An Apple guy advised lightly tap- I was pounding it or full press. Hit and miss. Light tap- works great.
The auto pause only works if you completely stop. Garmin gives you some pace times choices, so if you are running 8 minute miles you can set auto pause to a slower pace, i.e. 10-12 minute and you can walk, get water or whiz break, you don't have to be completely stopped to have the auto pause kick in. Nick