GPS apps and battery life

[Timaphillips]

I'm going on a hike this weekend and thought it'd be a good time to test out either Google Tracks or CardioTrainer to see elevation gain, time, speed, etc. The hike should last about 4 hours. How will my battery hold up with the GPS on the whole time? Assuming these apps have the GPS constantly draining the battery, which I imagine they do.

 

[dodger55fan]

Should be fine, I've had my GPS on for longer than that, just make sure to give it a full charge right before you go!

 

[dougwilson2000]

Keep your screen OFF as much as possible to extend your battery life. Four hours GPS tracking should be no problem unless you leave the screen on and then maybe.

 

[johnny99]

Yes, your screen eats much more battery than the GPS, especially if you have the brightness on more than the minimum. I've done 8 hour bike rides with the "My Tracks" GPS app running and still had battery left over at the end. I do turn off sync and I keep the Droid screen off almost all the time.

BTW - the Droid's elevation calculation is terrible. A few times, I carried a barometric altimeter with me on hilly bike rides and the Droid measured 50% to 100% more elevation gain than the altimeter.