You've put in the hours on the trails and now you are ready to hit the start line for that 50k, 100k, or even farther race. Now the question is, will your watch battery last?
Depending on the battery life of your watch model and your expected finish time, you can use the following guide to plan your race strategy and make sure your COROS watch tracks the entire run.
You can use our Watch Comparison Chart to view the expected battery life for your watch model. It's important to note that the expected battery life can be reduced depending on your watch settings and features enabled. We recommend making the following adjustments to ensure the best battery life during your ultra:
- Disable activity alerts. Vibrations, tones, and backlight all negatively impact the battery life. Go to the intended workout mode on the watch > Settings > Activity Alert > OFF. If you wish to keep activity alerts turned on but disable vibrations and tones, you can do this by going to System > More Settings > Vibrations/Tones > OFF.
- Reduce backlight usage. Go to System > More Settings > Gesture Backlight/Backlight > OFF. If you are planning on racing in the dark at some point during your ultra, but still need to view data on your watch screen, we recommend using Night Mode. This dims the backlight for a good compromise between battery life and backlight. To do this, long-press the back button > Toolbox Menu > Night Mode widget > ON.
- Adjust GPS settings.* We recommend using Standard GPS to ensure the best battery life. You can change your watch's GPS settings by going to System > More Settings > Satellite Systems.
- Remove unneeded accessories. Please unpair any heart rate straps or foot pods, as the connectivity will drain the watch's battery life.
- Reduce or turn off navigation/maps. If navigation is not needed for your ultra, we recommend not using it, as following a route or viewing maps will drain the battery faster. If it is essential to use navigation features, then we recommend scrolling away from the map screen onto the regular workout data pages when not viewing the route. You can also exit and re-enter the route at any time during your ultra by long-pressing the back button > Toolbox Menu > Navigation.
- Add "Battery %" as a data field. Instead of going to the toolbox menu and locating the battery widget, you can add your watch's current battery percentage directly onto your workout data pages for easier access. By keeping an eye on the percentage in relation to the amount of time you have left in your ultra, you can determine when it is best to make changes to conserve more battery life - which brings us to tip #7.
- Use UltraMax mode if necessary. In extreme situations where your watch battery is dangerously low or you need to prolong the battery life as much as possible, you can toggle on UltraMax mode either before or during a workout. To do this, long-press the back button > Toolbox Menu > scroll to UltraMax widget. Please note, this mode will periodically switch off the GPS and estimate your distance/pace using algorithms. This sacrifices some GPS accuracy in exchange for longer battery life.
*At some point during your ultra, it is possible that you will be running in areas with poor satellite signal such as heavy tree coverage or steep canyons/rock faces. This reduces the battery life as the watch attempts to connect to GPS. If you are constantly running in areas with poor GPS signal, you may need to make more adjustments as recommended above to offset the battery drain.