Geko 301 Battery life

In article <[email hidden]>, druidh

url=''URL:/url said:

I understand that the electronic compass on the 301 drains the battery a bit faster (tho estimates
of just how much faster do vary) ad would be happy to switch it off in preference to a normal
compass. However, I've not seen any data on the altimeter function affecting battery life. Is
there the same issue? If so, I'm thinking it would be as well to go for the cheaper 201.

Thanks

If you turn off the GPS and compass on the Geko 301 it will continue in just barometric pressure
mode. When I have done this it lasts for well over 24 hours on one set of batteries so I don't think
that the barometer is a major drain of current.

I have a Geko 201, which now mainly gets used by my wife as a bicycle odometer and trip recorder, a
Summit which has now been placed in semi retirement, by a Geko 301, which is the model I much
prefer. I haven't found anything to fault the Geko 301 over. It does what it says on the box, the
software allows lots of user configuration, and it doesn't seem to eat batteries that fast despite
running off AAAs. I reckon on using no more that two sets of AAA NiMh batteries per day of use,
generally getting over 6 hours use out of each set.

Mike Clark, <URL:http://www.path.cam.ac.uk/~mrc7/>
--
o/ \\ // |\ ,_ o Mike Clark <\__,\\ // __o | \ / /\, "A mountain climbing, cycling, skiing, "> ||
_`\<,_ |__\ \> | immunology lecturer, antibody engineer and ` || (_)/ (_) | \corn computer user"

I gave my Geko 301 it's first full day out a couple of weeks ago. Two Dynacell (made by Duracell)
750mah AAA Nimh batteries provided the power. The GPS was not turned off and ran continuously in
normal mode (not battery save mode). I had also left the compass on as well when I stopped for
lunch. Despite being a battery killing -4c (GPS attached to shoulder strap) it lasted for just over
8 hours. I also did loads and loads of button prodding as I played around with it loads.

I found the altitude information very encouraging. It was nice seeing how much altitude I was
gaining when I wasn't actually travelling much distance.

Cheers, Jiffy