Milage Tracker

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Ready2Rock206
Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,488 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Normally I use RunKeeper to track milage, but when I'm hiking in the mountains it just drains my phone battery and my phone dies after 3 or 4 miles which defeats the purpose and leaves me without a phone if there's an emergency. Any suggestions for something like RunKeeper that isn't a phone app? I have a FitBit One but it wasn't at all accurate today for milage and tracks my whole life rather than just a specific hike/walk.

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  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
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    Ready2Rock206 wrote: »
    I have a FitBit One but it wasn't at all accurate today for milage and tracks my whole life rather than just a specific hike/walk.

    For accurate mileage, calibrate your stride: http://help.fitbit.com/articles/en_US/Help_article/How-do-I-measure-and-adjust-my-stride-length

    And you can see the stats for a specific walk by using your One's exercise mode: http://help.fitbit.com/articles/en_US/Help_article/How-do-I-log-or-record-exercise-automatically

    You can learn more in the Fitbit Users group: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/1290-fitbit-users
  • brianpperkins
    brianpperkins Posts: 6,124 Member
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    The problem with a Fitbit in that type of environment is that stride length is not constant when hiking.

    There is no reason why your phone should die in 3-4 miles even with GPS enabled. Make sure the screen is off ... let it track in the background. When cycling, I've run multiple GPS apps simultaneously (Road ID, Charity Miles are my most common) for over five hours on my phone without it dying ... screen off of course.

    Most GPS watches start at around 8 hours of GPS time ... some give over 20 hours. The now replaced Garmin Fenix was designed as a hiking watch with a longer time between GPS fixes ... great for hiking and ultra running, terrible for cycling and urban running with rapid turns. Suunto makes a few products that fit that need. Tomtom's original GPS watches are available on clearance for under $100.
  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,488 Member
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    brianpperkins wrote: »
    The problem with a Fitbit in that type of environment is that stride length is not constant .

    Yeah, it's usually very accurate but today it was way off in milage but the hike was super rough terrain and just messed it all up. The GPS was a lot more accurate until it died! And it seems to be a mountain thing because I can walk for miles where I have a good signal with it going and is fine, but something about mountains and the battery goes faster. It's weird - but I'm not a techy person.

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