Galaxy Watch 5 Pro : Fantastic For Hiking
The new Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro is an incredibly powerful smart watch for hiking, making it an impressive upgrade on the Galaxy Watch 4 and 5. This is excellent news for anyone who loves spending time in nature and the outdoors.
As a bare minimum a good smart watch for hiking must have the following two things:
- Consistent GPS tracking accuracy (3 out of 4 stars)
- Economical GPS battery consumption (5 out of 5 stars)
Having both of these features in the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro is a great thing to have and gives you assurance that your smart watch is going to stay powered up for a long time without having to be recharged all the time.
In my hiking review with the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro, I would say that it Definitely exceeds the bare minimum requirements and I have given it a 8 out of 9
In this article I will also be mentioning some of the great features that can assist you when going hiking, and there is a whole lot to get through,
- GPS Tracking Accuracy is Very Good
- GPS Battery Consumption is Excellent
- You Have 2 options to Track Your Hiking Route
- Assisted GPS, What You Need To Know
- Ability To Import / Export A Hiking Route in GPX Format
GPS Tracking Accuracy is Very Good
In order to show how good the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro is in GPS Tracking, I have put together a chart ranking the accuracy of it. This is the first time I have done something like this, and I felt it was necessary to demonstrate how reliable this watch is in relation to GPS Tracking. In my experience with smartwatches, nothing ever completely earns a full four stars due to minor misalignments, so I have also taken this into account for my final rating
| Level Of Accuracy | No of Stars |
| Excellent | 4 |
| Very Good | 3 |
| Good | 2 |
| Bad | 1 |
In my experience with the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro, the GPS Tracking has been fairly consistent in terms of accuracy. It’s not perfect, but is definitely above average in terms of accuracy. In the example below, is a GPS tracking test on a hiking trail in my home trail here in New Zealand. The level of difficulty is very high with dense forestry, tall trees and mountain ranges can disrupt the accuracy.
However The Galaxy Watch 5 Pro still manages to hold a fairly good GPS Tracking accuracy which will definitely be useful when you are hiking in area for the first time and use the route back feature to navigate you back to your start point, which is why it deserves it’s 3 out of 4 stars.
GPS Battery Consumption is Excellent
Just like the GPS tracking accuracy table, I have also developed a rating system that can differentiate the best GPS tracking systems from those that are not as powerful. Going on a hike requires the use of accurate GPS tracking, however this can be incredibly draining on battery life which is why this ranking system is so valuable.
| No of Stars | GPS Battery Consumption Rate |
| 5 | Up to 7% per hour |
| 4 | 8% to 12% per hour |
| 3 | 13 to 15% per hour |
| 2 | 16 to 19% per hour |
| 1 | 20 % or more |
As far as the GPS battery consumption, the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro has consistently been in the 5% per hour mark which is fantastic value. I have been getting 3% per hour when your battery life is lower than 50%, which is why it deserves the 5 out of 5 star rating. In terms of comparison many smart watches rank in the 4 star range which is still pretty good.
You Have 2 options to Track Your Hiking Route
If you’re looking to track your hiking route, you have plenty of options. I’d suggest using either the Samsung Health App or a third party app like Komoot or Strava. Personally, I have found that the free version of Komoot is the best of the third party apps when it comes to tracking your route.
The Third Party Apps offer an incredibly useful service, allowing you to run them directly off your watch, but there’s a catch. You need to have your phone in Bluetooth range. So, the next time you go hiking, you can easily keep your phone out of your pocket and keep it in your back pocket or bag.
My personal preference is to use the Hiking mode via Samsung Health App. The only reason I do this is because you can save a further 3% battery life with the Hiking mode by Samsung Health App. But there are some cool things that Komoot can do which is:
- Easily find a Hiking route within a 50 mile radius from your location
- You can view a route before you leave your home (especially the condition of the track)
Either way the hiking experience is still fantastic.
Assisted GPS, What You Need To Know
If a watch utilizes Assisted GPS, it will be able to get a fix on your position much more rapidly than one without. Assisted GPS makes use of other resources such as cell phone towers or local servers to access satellites and can provide a much more precise location of the person. This helps to reduce the amount of time required to pinpoint the user’s location.
The only downside is that when you are in an area that does not have cell phone coverage, connecting to a satellite can be a tedious process. This can significantly reduce your GPS tracking accuracy, compared to if you were in an area with cell phone coverage.
Final Conclusion
The Galaxy Watch 5 Pro is an incredible smart watch that can provide consistent results while hiking and hence deserves its 8 out of 9 star rating. However, one feature that I left out of this review is the ability to import and export GPX files to your watch. This isn’t something I can really explain in a few words, so I’ll be writing a follow-up piece that will elaborate on how this can be done. Thank you so much for reading and I hope you found this article useful!
