Garmin fitness smartwatches have this UltraTrac mode. In UltraTrac mode, GPS data is collected every minute. The advantage is significant battery life savings. The disadvantage is location accuracy. This is feature is not often mentioned, and there are not many reviews on this feature. It is likely due to the lack of accuracy. And many folks do not use this mode, particularly for training.
According to Garmin (Link), here are the battery life for Forerunner 255:
GPS Mode | Estimated Battery Life |
Smartwatch Mode | 14 days |
GPS-Only Mode | 30 hours |
All Systems (Default) Mode | 25 hours |
All Systems + Multi-Band | 16 hours |
UltraTrac | 54 hours |
UltraTrac battery lasts 1.8x longer than GPS-Only mode; 2.2x longer than the default mode. This is quite significant.
I'm using my Forerunner 255 for walking, jogging, day hiking, cardio, and strength exercises. So I don't absolutely need UltraTrac. Reducing battery consumption is always a good thing. There is convenience factor that I can prolong the duration between charges. Also, this can extend the life of the battery and the watch. So I'm curious to try out UltraTrac.
Below are couple examples for walking and hiking using default mode versus UltraTrac mode.
Example 1: Hiking
I did this hike over 2 different weekends. On the left is using default GPS mode. On the right is using UltraTrac mode. Looking at the map, the routing is actually quite good. Some online examples show UltraTrac going crazy (back and forth) in an area, where the user is tracking back. In my case, it is just 2 loops, so there is no backtracking.
But even though there is no odd routing on the map, the distance measurement is quite off. Per Google map, this route should be 5.1 miles. Default GPS mode measured 5.11 miles, which is basically dead on. UltraTrac measured 7.24 miles, which is off by 40%. For my weekend hike, this wouldn't matter. If you are running or trail running, then this will really throw off your pace and training data.
Example 1: Short Walk
This is an example of a short walk around the block. Again, on the left is using default GPS mode. On the right is using UltraTrac mode. The distance measurement are quite close in this short example. Probably more interesting is on the detailed route.
In default GPS mode, I can see that the details do track my actual route. UltraTrac data has many straight lines. Since the GPS data interval is longer, Garmin just drew lines between measurements.
Conclusion
It is a bit surprising why UltraTrac measures longer distance, even though the routing seems to be roughly correct. If anything, UltraTrac should underestimate. UltraTrac draws straight lines between measurements. And shortest distance between 2 points is a straight line. So many straight lines should be shorter than the actual distance traveled. At least in my examples, I'm doing a loop, so there is no weird extra routes added.
In this hiking case, there was backtrack. UltraTrac mode was completely confused and drew many repetitive routes. I get that in this case, UltraTrac can overestimate. https://www.tendigitgrid.com/d/159-garmin-ultratrac-review-and-data-accuracy
If you only care to know where you visited and your general track, then UltraTrac can work. For instance, you are going on multi-day hike or backpacking trips, and you want your battery to last thru the trip. On the other hand, if you are training and want good data on distance and pace, then UltraTrac won't work for you.
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