One of the biggest drawbacks of any fitness tracking device is battery life, particularly when the device has a huge number of options that can soak juice quickly. The Microsoft Band is not alone in this, however, due to the depth of features (notifications, emails, GPS, Bluetooth, etc.) the band has over other tracking devices, battery life can be at a premium. If you're just monitoring a 20 minute workout, run, or bike ride – no big deal. The band's battery can definitely handle that. In fact, the battery life for the Microsoft Band is phenomenal, particularly for what it can do and if you have all the features turned on constantly. When I was sick with the flu a while back, and was stuck in bed and not recording any fitness activities, the band didn't need a charge for almost 3 days. Try that with the Apple Watch.
Over the last weekend I made a long run of 14.2 miles, or, in other words, a little over a personal half-marathon. The run lasted just around 2 hours and had drained the Microsoft Band battery to 40%. So, I was thinking "how could the Microsoft Band supply enough juice for a full marathon?" It just didn't seem possible.
That was, until Mark King slapped me in the face with a flash of the obvious over Twitter. Mark offered this tip…
@rodtrent I recommend turning off display, putting it in airplane mode, Bluetooth off. Will last a marathon
— Mark King (@unplugthepbx) May 25, 2015
I could've kicked myself for not thinking of it, but since that suggestion I've been manually turning off the display, notifications (Do Not Disturb), and Bluetooth. I'm still testing a different mixture of settings to get just the right balance between function and feature, but you get the gist. If you need to take a long run or bike ride, modify the feature settings.
