Fitbit Surge Update brings 10 Hrs GPS Battery Life, Run Cues & StopWatch + Timer

Surge,  the ultimate fitness tracker from Fitbit, has got a major update today which not only brings in some requested functionality, but also claims to have improved the GPS battery life to last for 10 hours  (Expect a post on this after I test it out for next 10 days).

I use the GPS functionality everyday when I go out for walk and run, and it typically drains like 20 to 25% of battery in one hour. This means I only get 3 hours of GPS battery which had always been too low in my opinion, and shared the same in the review. Apart from this you have two more features:

Run Cues:

This mode helps you improve by letting you know when you meet a predetermined time or distance. Let’s say you go out for long walks, but you want to see how fast you cover first 500 meters and the last 500 meters. This mode tells you that. This feature right now is only available for FREE RUN or The exercise mode named as “RUN”.

 

How to use this feature?

1. While the feature is already enabled by default if you have the new firmware, it can changed or turned off only from the Fitbit Web Interface. This is little inconvenient as I cannot do it from the device on demand.
2. Login into your Fitbit Dashboard, and click on the gear icon in the top right corner of the page and select Settings.
3. Using the navigation tabs on the left, find your tracker settings, and then find Run Cues.
4. Here you can choose  to track distance or time and  how much. Specify whether you want to track distance or time and the distance or duration.
5. Sync and when you do the next run, the notification with vibration will show up automatically on your tracker.

Stopwatch + Timer

This option will let you manually track intervals & circular training giving you an idea on the field on how you are doing. Till now, Surge used to automatically find your intervals using GPS and other measurements during walk. Now you will be able to use it for almost anything.

How to To use this feature?

press the left button on the surge, and then swipe till you find the “TIMER”. Now press the lower button on the right and this will show you a 10 minute timer available by default. Press the button on top right, and you can change it as per your need. For Stopwatch, slide to left and it will show up. Both of them run in the background  even if you switch to any exercise mode.

How to Update?

To update, launch your Fitbit App, and you will see a red colour arrow right next to your Surge pointing towards the update. Tap on it and will get the job done in next 20 minutes or more.  I am going to test it for next couple of days on GPS to figure out if the battery on GPS actually improved.