[DaleinTexas]

What kind of battery life, data capacity is everyone getting for their long rides. I'm talking in the range of 170-230 miles of constant data recording.

It seems for most battery life is the forefront on what can be done, so we charge them up to 100 percent, turn the backlighting off, and clear out all of the previous ride data to make room for incoming data, to cure the battery life issue, its easily fixed with the charging usb cable and small 20.00 cheapy aux battery..

This will be my first time trying to capture and entire 24 hour MTB race..

Should be interesting to see what fails first, batteries, or data capacity.

Anyone else attempt this yet? Advice?

 

[waltaz]

What kind of battery life, data capacity is everyone getting for their long rides. I'm talking in the range of 170-230 miles of constant data recording.

It seems for most battery life is the forefront on what can be done, so we charge them up to 100 percent, turn the backlighting off, and clear out all of the previous ride data to make room for incoming data, to cure the battery life issue, its easily fixed with the charging usb cable and small 20.00 cheapy aux battery..

This will be my first time trying to capture and entire 24 hour MTB race..

Should be interesting to see what fails first, batteries, or data capacity.

Anyone else attempt this yet? Advice?

Good question.

I run a Wahoo ELEMNT on a K-Edge stem mount, and wear a Garmin Fenix 5x on my wrist, and track with both. I find that both will cover a 12-hour event, but in a 24, they will die at 13-14 hours, so here's what I do:
- Wahoo: As I'm getting on towards 10-12 hours, I'll put an aux battery pack (with two USB charging ports) in a Topeak Fuel Tank top tube pack, and invert the Wahoo so that the charging port is accessible, and plug it in. I'll run it all night inverted and charging. Can't see it anyway, other than the LED's, which I use to gauge my HR. Then, come daylight, it should be charged, and I can reorient and unplug it. That said, last year at Enchanted Forest, on my last lap (#14), it just rebooted itself and I had to start a new track halfway through the last lap. Weird.
- Garmin Fenix: Similar thing - I'll bring the watch-specific charging cable in the Fuel Tank, and take the watch off, and put it in there, plugged into the aux battery, while still tracking.

It all works in theory, but in practice, as I get tired, and it gets dark, I start to DGAF about everything and forget/don't bother to switch stuff around sometimes. You know the drill - you're on the last part of a lap, and thinking about your pit stop, what you want to eat, any bike maintenance, clothes, mounting lights, changing glasses, etc, etc...and it's just ONE more thing to deal with, and it can get to be too much sometimes...LOL.

But I really do try to keep everything plugged in and running.

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[3blackbikes]

Garmin 520 with a GoalZero pocket charger. I usually plug it in about when the sun is setting and forget about it. Keep it plugged in until the race is over.

At the 25 Hours of Frog Hollow, I did 230 miles, didn't stop (except for midnight pie). When I finished my Garmin had 100% battery after being plugged into the GoalZero, which had 2/4 charge left as well.

In a different scenario, running the Garmin on a backcountry trip where I needed to have navigation on all the time, I would run low on original battery 3-5 hours in, plug in the GoalZero, and barely make it through the day. I was in a remote Asian country and the GPS was screwed up thinking I was off course so lots of battery suck with that scenario. Still it kept a charge through the rides.

 

[economatic]

I've always used 2 Garmin units and swap them out around 12 hours then combine the files after the race. That way I'm not hauling around an extra battery pack during the race and it reduces the possibility of loosing data if the file gets too large.

 

[Lochnes]

wahoo element, if it doesnt use the backlight goes on for approx 15-16 hrs. nightracing with backlight is a less. top up with usb cable to my batterylights, have a usb power pack in my half-way change drop off bag. friends that use a garmin which goes significantly less hours all ducktape some power packs (preferably the smaller tube shaped variety) to their toptube and connect a usb cable when needed. 2 powerpack = zero problems except for when its muddy and they shortcircuit..:

 

[NordieBoy]

Garmin 945.
48hr? battery life.

 

[VegasSingleSpeed]

24 hour race - Lezyne Super GPS.
Longer - Garmin eTrex 30, replace batteries as needed.

 

[fatso]

Lezyne Mega GPS has a claimed 48 hour battery life. I have used it for over 30 without recharging it, so I think it is probably pretty accurate. No need for auxillary batteries and such.

 

[waltaz]

Lezyne Mega GPS has a claimed 48 hour battery life. I have used it for over 30 without recharging it, so I think it is probably pretty accurate. No need for auxillary batteries and such.

How do you like the Mega? It's pretty intriguing to me. I am somewhat disappointed in the ELEMNT because the feet climbed and calories are never remotely accurate, and am considering going back to Garmin and the new 530. But the battery life of the Mega is compelling.

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[notso]

My Lezyne Super was pretty poor overall. I find the wahoo better in every way.

 

[VegasSingleSpeed]

My Lezyne Super was pretty poor overall. I find the wahoo better in every way.

Except battery life.

 

[flowby2wheels]

I use a garmin edge 1030 for this type of riding. Exceptional battery life even with the back lit display. Longest race I have had with it was the Butte 100 which had over 11hours recording time including warm up and the event. Still had just under 60% left.

I frequently use it for multiple training rides without charging it. I mount mine on my stem instead of using their out front mount (I have that on my road bike) so I do not have experience with the garmin external battery.

 

[mackdhagen]

I just did dirty Kanza on a Wahoo Bolt paired to 5 sensors (2 tire pressure, HR, Power and one other) and my phone set up with a no background lighting (15sec delay) and the led's on. I got about 11 hours on it when it was getting low (down to 15%) and i just plugged one of those cheap "lipstick" chargers in (bound it to the bottom of the stem with a hair tie..while riding, on the fly) still recording..juiced it up to 82 % an hour later and i was good

 

[economatic]

I recently lost my old Garmin Edge 800 dumpster fire and picked up an Edge 530 today. In the DC Rainmaker review he lists this:

Increased battery life from 15 to 20 hours, and to 48 hours in battery saver mode

I'll be testing the battery saver mode this weekend at Enchanted Forest to see if it works. We'll see...

 

[waltaz]

I recently lost my old Garmin Edge 800 dumpster fire and picked up an Edge 530 today. In the DC Rainmaker review he lists this:

I'll be testing the battery saver mode this weekend at Enchanted Forest to see if it works. We'll see...

Very cool...I'll be interested to hear the results!

 

[solo-x]

Don't the new Garmin's support charging through the mount now?

 

[economatic]

Don't the new Garmin's support charging through the mount now?

Yeah but you need to use the out front mount. And the power pack costs how much? Like $130 IIRC, which is excessive.

Admittedly it's a nice idea in theory and might be a good solution for some people. I could maybe justify it for a multi day bikepacking adventure where having a water resistant design to charge on the bike is important. I'd still probably be OK with recharging at night with the external battery pack that I use for my phone and other electronics.

 

[solo-x]

Yeah but you need to use the out front mount. And the power pack costs how much? Like $130 IIRC, which is excessive.

Admittedly it's a nice idea in theory and might be a good solution for some people. I could maybe justify it for a multi day bikepacking adventure where having a water resistant design to charge on the bike is important. I'd still probably be OK with recharging at night with the external battery pack that I use for my phone and other electronics.

Yeah, but it's going to catch on I'm sure.

 

[waltaz]

This will work just fine, with only the $19 expense of the out-front stem mount.

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[economatic]

24 hour race success with the Edge 530. I put it in the battery saver mode and after running for a total of about 22 hours it had 63% battery left. That was with a HR monitor and Stages power meter connected.

The (potential) bad: In battery saver mode it goes to "sleep" and shuts off the screen. If you push buttons it comes on for a few seconds then quickly goes back to sleep. That wouldn't be good if you had to use the navigation or want to constantly know your stats but it was great for my 24 hour race. I find it demoralizing later in the race when lap times and speed crash to pathetic levels...but with the screen off I was able to stay focus on just pedaling and choosing good lines on the trail.