Endurance Coach @ DazCarterFitness.com
Elite Ironman, Ultra Trail Runner
Hi,
I'm looking for a tracking app (iphone 4) that gives updates on current location without wasting too much battery power, and provides a web link to a map for friends/family to check your whereabouts.
I'm not bothered about any other data as I can get this from my Garmin watch. But it would be nice to have something running in the background for run/hikes over 1-2 days off-road.
Any recommendations appreciated?
I'm currently trying Glympse and Followmee. Followme has more relaxed updates (15mins would be great), but I'm not sure about it's reliability off-road. Find My Friends has been mentioned but I believe Glympse and FMF will eat up battery power(?).
Comments
garmin fit costs 69p and then it's about £1.50 for a month fee to connect to live update server, then you set it up at the beginning of a run hit start and forget about it. really good on battery usage, just make sure you turn off all the other apps including turning them off in the background, biggest eaters of batteries are facebook updating in the background and having email set to auto update, as you can tell email to update when you go into it. That is a waste of battery
Also look at little chargers. Something like this...
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ultra-Compact-Lipstick-Sized-Technology-Smartphones-Adapters-/dp/B005QI1A8C/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1407408206&sr=8-4&keywords=usb+battery+charger
No idea if it's a good one or not just a random example from Amazon. I think the iphone 4 has around a 2800 mAh battery, so a 3000 one would give you just over double. I have a little one, and also a 25000 mAh but that is quite chunky and heavy, but it's awesome for giving you a serious amount of extra oomph.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/PowerGen-12000mAh-External-lightning-Blackberry/dp/B0085OB0IE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1407408378&sr=8-1&keywords=usb+battery+charger+mah+12000 this for example is 12000 so should be able to fully recharge an iphone 4 times.
But hunt around on amazon and other places to find one of the size both physical, and battery power that suits what you need.
For less complicated way can do things like find my phone just get them to do that every x hours to see where you are. Of course dependent on having a signal where you are.
Thanks for the info! Lightweight chargers is also something I have been meaning to look into.
The Anker looks great at 85g and 3000mAh (I think my iphone charges to 1400mAh so that would give me x2 additional charges). Just a pity there is no indicator on the side of the Anker to show battery status.
Elite Ironman, Ultra Trail Runner
+1 for the charger, I have just got one of these
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/261453248695?_trksid=p2059210.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
6000mah and 117g. it also has 2 outputs, 1a + 2a so a better charge rate. It will also charge my head torch.
I got one of these first
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00904T4TA/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
and although it will give 5+ iphone charges, or run my torch for ages, it also weighs 350+g and the worst thing is the switch is too easy to knock off when its in your backpack. This is frustrating because I had to keep taking the pack off to press the switch again! 5 mins later it did the same. hence the new one, smaller, lighter and once youve pressed on, it stays on It has 4 charge level lights too.
Tracking wise, my crew/family use find friends app. It doesnt add much to battery use considering I have ismoothrun, hrm alarm and viewranger in the background too, but nothing else, especially email programs or FB as BT says.
BT I think I'll take a look at that garmin fit too, not too expensive.
I like the Romoss 6000, but are you sure it's 117g? Says its 193g on amazon.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Romoss-Portable-external-smartphone-Lightning/dp/B00DFYTTF0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1407510734&sr=8-1&keywords=romoss+6000
Elite Ironman, Ultra Trail Runner
well, tha stats say this:
Light and Small:
- Dimensions: L100*W60*H21mm
- Weight: ~117g
- Elegant and Fashionable Designed
- it is very convenience to take it out
High Capacity - Long Lasting:
- Capacity: 6000mAh
But to be sure, I just weighed mine and its 177g ! Oh well, its still better than the 350 or so for my old one, and at least it actually works when you plug it in and press the switch
Oh, and tried the garmin fit app today, but after 15 seconds it faults and says no connection, so it wont track me. Un impressed at moment, but as Steph said earlier the servers are shite at moment which could be affecting it. Still I doubt I will be able to use it for next week
Garmin fit servers are now working and I have to say that for the cost, it actually works pretty well! I have set mine to email 4 people and to drop a post on my Facebook page, with a link to a live tracking page that really does follow you, updating every 2 mins. So far it has cost me 69p plus one month at ??1.49
I wouldn't use it all the time, just for races and long runs if family wanted to keep an eye on me.
Main thing is it works!
Unfortunately from a phone I can't cut and paste a working link, only this, you then have to re cut and paste into your own browser.
http://livetrack.garmin.com/session/6f8e5179-f6e7-46e0-a092-619ab4b54108/token/86DAB255242A859157B3AA45B869BA85
In case your wondering why the blank posts, just testing to see if I can post a live link from my phone, which I cant it seems. Only from a proper browser ... Smart Phone = not so iSmart
http://livetrack.garmin.com/session/e9313bfe-12f6-4680-adbd-5c6b8a29d2bd/token/03F455AD7F281708CA28EEB4284B18B
See if this works
Edit: it seems that you can only make a live link from a computer, not a browser in a 'smart' phone Unless anyone knows of a way round this? A computer isnt feasable for where I will be ...
Hello.
How's life on horns road? we are stalking you!! BE AFWAID!!!!!
I tend to do it to a few people via email and stick it on facebook. what you might want to do is add yourself as an email contact so as well as emailing others it emails yourself, that way if you want to post the link to someone you can cut n paste it from the email which when you're on an ultra as long as you have a signal i'm sure you'd find the opportunity to do at some point.
haha lifes good here I do have myself as a contact, hoping that I would be able to cut n paste a live link to a forum, but it doesnt work, so just the dead link will have to do!
I just happy that after last weeks fail, it finally works. Mainly for friends and family to follow, either forum or actual friends.. and anyone else that cares to follow my struggles
Hopefully others will pick up on it as a tracker for themselves too, as this seems to be a working example.
One thing I have noticed, I can set the activity running, then pause it for several hours, so can post links from home then when I start, press resume, and it carries on.
Currently checking battery like (iphone 5) and it isnt using it any faster than when I just have my normal pace and hrm programs running, so 4-5 hrs safely then switch to spare battery.
PS can you tell which part of my 'route' the kettle is?
Cheesy - yes you can post links from a phone/fruit based device. You have to add (url) in front of the address and (/url) at the end, but use square brackets instead of round.
http://livetrack.garmin.com/session/e9313bfe-12f6-4680-adbd-5c6b8a29d2bd/token/03F455AD7F281708CA28EEB4284B18B
http://livetrack.garmin.com/session/e9313bfe-12f6-4680-adbd-5c6b8a29d2bd/token/03F455AD7F281708CA28EEB4284B18B
Easy as that ! Thanks RR
Down to 47% battery after 2:47 so far its as expected.
Test Link
Stopped after 5:04 with battery down to 18% so almost exactly what was expected.
This works for me but does show that I spend too much time near the kettle at work ...
I have been playing with the FollowMe app since I last posted on here. Have to say it does the trick. The free app updates every 30mins, but I bought (one off £3) the standard app which, amongst a few other things, allows me to reduce the updates.
On 10min updates and with nothing else running on my iphone (apart from the basics) the phone runs down by 3%/hr in sleep mode. So a rough 33hrs on a full charge and my family/friends can see where I am on an online tracking map every 10mins. That will do me.
Like I said, all other data I can get from my 310XT. Speaking of which, I bought myself this from amazon recently : http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00DXYKCOE/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
A 3000mAh similar to the one booktrunk recommended. I thought I'd go with this because although weight is the same, this one has a high voltage (not that it matters too much) and a strong flashlight. May come in handy, and I'll take as a backup to my headtorch (saving more weight). Also £5 cheaper than the Anker and on a good deal right now. Drawbacks - no battery power indicator, you need to make sure you don;t press the switch by accident in your bag and wear out the battery(!)
Now I'm looking for a 6000-8000mAh that's
Elite Ironman, Ultra Trail Runner
Best so far : http://www.amazon.co.uk/RAVPower%C2%AE-External-Flashlight-Charging-connector-Black/dp/B00AQE75BC/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top
Weight quotes vary from 121g to 159g. Not bad for 6000mAh and 2.1V output, indicators, and an led backup.
I'm hoping to do wainwrights coast 2 coast in 3 days soon, which will mean limited rest, so I think 6000 or 9000 (3000+6000) should do the trick leaving the iphone on sleep constant running of a garmin 310XT.
Elite Ironman, Ultra Trail Runner