August 19, 2022
Garmin isn’t any stranger to the navigation and monitoring house. Our GPS handhelds have been the trusted companions of adventurers for many years, and we provide a sturdy monitoring machine for nearly any exercise. However when you’re utilizing monitoring know-how typically, you already know that it’s essential to pick the correct satellite tv for pc mode on your setting. In an open sky space, you could solely want GPS mode. In a canyon or in an city panorama between tall skyscrapers, you may must kick it into the next gear — like All Satellite tv for pc Methods and multi-band frequencies mixed — to find out precisely the place you might be and the place you could be going.
Right here’s the place Garmin SatIQ™ know-how is available in. Think about it your private navigation assistant — it really works within the background of your appropriate machine to find out which satellite tv for pc mode your setting requires, delivering the accuracy of Garmin multi-band frequency know-how whereas preserving the battery life our smartwatches are recognized for. Under, Garmin engineer Ben Collins solutions a number of questions in regards to the newest and best in GPS know-how.
What Is SatIQ?
SatIQ extends battery life whereas delivering the accuracy of multi-band GPS all through your exercise. It’s a know-how that works within the background to mechanically choose the correct satellite tv for pc mode on your setting.
How Does SatIQ work?
What satellite tv for pc setting is required to get an correct place from a GNSS machine is dependent upon the setting. In open sky, GPS-only mode may present the identical degree of accuracy as All Satellite tv for pc Methods + Multi-band mode. In a canyon or between tall buildings, the chip should connect with all of the accessible satellites and frequency bands to ship excessive accuracy. That comes with a major drain on battery life. To present an instance, the fēnix® 7X Photo voltaic Sapphire can obtain as much as 63 hours of battery life when locked into All Satellite tv for pc Methods mode. For those who change the satellite tv for pc setting to All Satellite tv for pc Methods and Multi-band mode, that drops to 36 hours, whereas GPS-only mode will get as much as 89 hours.
Previous to SatIQ, you had to decide on what setting to make use of for an exercise forward of time, but it surely’s laborious to know what mode is required. What’s extra, when you solely wanted multi-band for a brief interval throughout a run, you had to decide on between poor positioning in that one location, or larger battery drain all through your complete exercise. SatIQ takes the guesswork out of the satellite tv for pc settings and lets the machine swap between modes in actual time based mostly on the setting. Meaning higher battery life whereas nonetheless utilizing All Satellite tv for pc Methods mode and multi-band mode by the Auto Choose mode.
What’s the distinction between multi-band GNSS and a decrease energy GPS mode?
There are two fundamental variations. One is the variety of satellites the machine connects to. In GPS-only mode, the machine solely connects to the GPS satellite tv for pc system, which is only one of many GNSS satellite tv for pc techniques. With All Satellite tv for pc Methods mode, the machine can connect with others as properly.
The second distinction is the frequency band that the watch connects to. With GPS-only or All Satellite tv for pc Methods modes, the watch is just detecting satellites on one frequency. That extends battery life, however it’s vulnerable to error when there’s dense tree cowl or tall reflective objects like buildings or cliffs. Multi-band mode makes use of multiple frequency, which makes use of extra vitality, however permits the watch to filter out errors.
Will customers know whether or not their machine is utilizing multi-band GNSS or the low energy GPS, or will SatIQ quietly toggle forwards and backwards within the background?
SatIQ will quietly toggle forwards and backwards. You set it and let the watch do the work when you benefit from the outdoor with confidence.
Which units assist SatIQ?
This shall be coming to the units with multi-band assist, together with fēnix® 7 Sapphire sequence, Forerunner® 255, Forerunner® 255 Music, Forerunner® 955, epix™ (Gen 2) Sapphire Editions and Enduro™ 2.
I have already got GPS know-how. Why ought to I improve to a tool with SatIQ?
For those who stay in an city setting with skyscrapers, or when you spend lots of time within the mountains, you’ll see a giant distinction within the accuracy of your monitor logs, and solely a minimal hit to battery life in comparison with the All Methods mode. Even when you don’t spend lots of time in locations the place satellite tv for pc accuracy is difficult, SatIQ means you don’t must ever give it some thought. You go on trip to the Grand Canyon, and the watch will monitor each switchback with out ever needing to alter settings from what you utilize at house.
Precisely how a lot battery life does SatIQ save?
In in depth testing, we discovered that multi-band is used solely about 15% of the time throughout an exercise. That signifies that with out multi-band turned on, 15% of your route might have low accuracy, however with out SatIQ, it was a significant hit to battery life to appropriate that. With SatIQ, you get accuracy almost 100% of the time and solely take the hit to battery life 15% of the time (in these situations).
Able to roam the unknown? The Garmin fēnix 7 Sapphire sequence, Forerunner 255, Forerunner 255 Music, Forerunner 955, epix (Gen 2) Sapphire Editions and Enduro 2 all include SatIQ know-how or may have it shortly.