Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 : Is Excellent To Use When Hiking
After owning the new Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 for over a week now, I’m finally able to put it to the test on my favourite activity, hiking. I was very surprised that the results of my test were very similar to the results of the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4.
It’s not something to be ashamed of – in fact, it’s a huge plus point – the hiking feature within the Galaxy Watch 4 is incredibly dependable, and the performance of the watch overall is nothing short of impressive.
All in all, the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 is a superb choice for avid hikers or those new to the world of outdoor adventuring. The hiking capabilities of this watch are extremely reliable and its overall performance is remarkable. Anyone who is looking for a device that can handle the rigours of a demanding outdoor activity will be delighted with the results of the Galaxy Watch 5.
In this article I will be discussing the Following things, and also share with you some of my test results.
- Battery consumption rate is 12% per hour (Very good)
- GPS Tracking is Very Good
- There are 2 ways to track your Hiking Workout Samsung Health / Third Party Komoot
- There are 2 ways to export your Hiking Route,
- Available options to import a route, to plan your next hike
Battery consumption rate is 12% per hour
One of the most important things to know is that the GPS tracking is one of the biggest battery drainers on this watch. So it is important to know the battery life of your watch before you go hiking. In comparison to it’s predecessor the GPS battery consumption is exactly the same.
The GPS battery consumption rate of the Galaxy Watch 5 is pretty great when compared to other smart watch brands. After testing a good number of smart watches, a good GPS battery consumption rate tends to be anywhere from 10 to 15 % battery consumption per hour. Keeping this in mind, the Galaxy Watch 5 is pretty much on par with other smart watches, including the Huawei GT3 and the Garmin Forerunner series, making this a really great option to consider.
On the weekends I tend to go for about a 3 hour hike which is about 36% GPS battery consumption. My typical use is 30%, which is a total of 66% in a single day. Which is a very big number, and something I want to share with you.
GPS Accuracy is Very Good
The Galaxy Watch 5 have the same location sensors as its predecessor and can connect to multiple satellite navigational systems which are
- A-GPS
- GLONASS
- Galileo
- BeiDo
The A-GPS, or Assisted Global Positioning Satellite, is one of the reasons why I love the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5. It operates in the same way as a traditional GPS system, however, it is able to connect to the navigational system faster due to it utilizing other resources such as servers or cell phone towers.
If you’re looking for more information about the GPS accuracy of the Galaxy Watch 5, I recently wrote an article which you may want to go and read. I tested the watch the same way as I have tested watch’s so that I can get some consistent results.
Easy Test Results
Here is a snap shot of the easy test I did. In this test I chose a route that didn’t have too many tall objects such as trees, buildings or power lines.
I wasn’t surprised that the Galaxy Watch 5 passed the easy test. Looking at the GPS tracking, the Galaxy Watch 5 tracked exactly true.
Hard Test Results
Here is a snap shot of the hard test I did. In this test I was walking through our main town which has tall buildings. The major obstacle really is trying to track my location while I was walking under a awning.
As a rule of thumb, if you cant see the sky then the GPS wont be able to track your location. However in this hard test, it wasn’t the case. Inside the blue rectangle is where I was walking under the awning.
After looking looking at the end result, I was very surprised that it tracked my movement correctly. I was walking side to side under the awning as I was manoeuvring around people. The end result is a pass
Very Hard Test Results
In this last test, I went for a hike in the local mountain track. I consider this one very hard as I will be walking under very heavy dense bush and surrounded by very tall trees and mountains.
Upon reviewing the GPS tracking the Galaxy Watch 5 tracked my trail very well. As a hiker this is good because the Galaxy Watch 5 is pretty reliable. The end result is a pass.
There are 2 ways to track your Hiking Workout Samsung Health / Third Party Komoot
Either way is fine but there are some things you need to know as they have some slight differences.
Using the Samsung Health Workout
- No optional battery saving options
- You can leave your phone at home or in the car and track your hike.
- You can save your Hiking route in GPX format.
- You cannot import hiking route in GPX format.
The above bullet points is a rough summary of the native Samsung Health Hiking mode. Leaving your phone behind can be quite handy because I do this a lot. Once your phone is in range of your watch the data will automatically sync. Saving your route is a very popular option, especially when you want to share your route with a friend. The Samsung Health can save your route in all the popular file formats when importing or exporting your route.
Using the Third Party App Komoot
- Ranked in the top 5 navigational app
- You must have your phone near by.
- Import and export hiking route can be done.
I only have the Bluetooth version of the Galaxy Watch 5, so when using the third party app when hiking you have to take your phone with you. I dont know for sure if this applies to the LTE or the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro versions, but I will be testing the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro in a few weeks.
Whenever I’m looking for a good hiking track, I often use the komoot app. The great thing about it is that it allows you to search for hiking tracks within a 50 mile radius, making it so much easier to find a great track. What’s also useful is that the komoot community is quite large, and people are often willing to share photos of the tracks they hike on, giving you an idea of what the track looks like so you can better prepare for it
Importing and exporting hiking routes can be quite tricky so I will do a video tutorial on how to this in future.
Conclusion
The Galaxy Watch 5 has many of the same features as its predecessor, making it an ideal choice for hiking. Here is a summary of all the great features to look for when using the Galaxy Watch 5 for hiking
- GPS battery consumption rate is 12% per hour, so take a note of this before you plan a long hike. It’s also between 10-15% which is in my opinion very economical and is at the same level as the Huawei GT 3 or Garmin Forerunner series.
- GPS accuracy is very good, go check out my article to see the full review. The assisted GPS is a very nice feature as it allows you to connect to the GPS satellites very quickly and allow you to start your hike immediately. Just take note that if you are in a remote area, connecting may take some time.
- You can track your hiking workout through the Samsung Health workout mode or via third party app Komoot. Either option is very good in my opinion, and I tend to use the Samsung Health modes more when I come to a track that I am more familiar with. When it comes to a new track I never hiked, I would use Komoot. I only have the free version of Komoot and it still works well.
