Before Your Next Ultra Event... Check These Garmin Fenix Settings
An ultra is won and lost long before the start line. Nail your kit, your feet and your watch setup, and you free yourself up to just walk or run. Here's exactly how we set up a Garmin Fenix so the battery lasts, the screen stays readable, and the numbers that matter are right in front of you when you're tired.
Whether you're taking on a 50K, a 100-miler or a multi-day challenge, a few minutes in the settings menu makes a real difference to battery life, navigation and readability out on the hill. In this video, Andy from GPS Training walks through the settings he changes before every ultra — practical tweaks that stretch the battery without losing the features you actually rely on. They work just as well for long-distance walkers as they do for runners.
Battery-saving settings for a long day out
Battery anxiety is the number one worry on any long event, and it's the easiest thing to fix. None of these changes take more than a few seconds, but stacked together they can add hours — sometimes days — to how long your Fenix keeps recording:
- Drop the screen brightness
- Turn off the Always On Display
- Set a shorter screen timeout
- Switch off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth when you don't need them
- Use Jacket Mode to disable the heart rate sensor if you're not tracking heart rate
- Pick the right satellite setting for your terrain
Individually they're small. Together, over an event that runs many hours or several days, they're the difference between finishing with charge to spare and watching the screen go dark before the last checkpoint.
Set up data screens you can actually read
When you're deep into an event and your legs have gone, the last thing you want is a screen crammed with tiny numbers you have to squint at.
Instead of living with Garmin's default layouts, Andy shows how to build your own data screens so they only show what's genuinely useful. Distance, elapsed time, pace, estimated arrival time and distance remaining are usually far more valuable than trying to track every stat going. Fewer, larger fields also means you can read your watch at a glance when fatigue kicks in.
The Ultra Run feature most owners never find
If you're taking on a multi-day event or an ultra with planned sleep stops, Garmin's Ultra Run activity has a trick many people never discover. The built-in Rest function stops GPS recording while keeping your overall event timer running — so you save battery during long breaks but still get an accurate total event time.
It's ideal for races with mandatory checkpoints or overnight rests, and even if you're walking rather than running, this one feature alone makes the Ultra Run activity worth using.
Ten minutes now saves you out on the hill
Whether it's a Fenix 8 or an earlier model heading to your next ultra, ten minutes of setup beforehand pays you back on the day — more battery, a screen you can read, and navigation that just works when you're tired. Watch the full video above to see every setting demonstrated step by step, backed by years of real-world ultra events and long-distance navigation.
New to a Fenix, or thinking about one? We're the UK's largest Garmin retailer and trainer, and free training and support come with every device we sell — so you'll know how to use it, not just own it. Take a look at our multi-activity GPS watches, or give us a call and we'll help you pick the right one for your events.
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