Rant: GPS units used to last a week, now my phone craps out by noon

I remember back in 2015 driving through Kansas with a handheld Garmin that ran for days on two AA batteries. Now my phone dies by 2pm if I leave navigation on, and I'm scrambling for a charger in some random gas station. People keep blaming the apps or the signal, but it's the battery math that got worse. Why did we trade reliability for a screen that eats power like it's going out of style? Anyone else carry a backup power brick just to make it through a road trip?

2 comments

2 Comments

williams.kim1mo ago

I switched to airplane mode with offline maps on my old S9 and that got me through a full Utah trip, just had to preload the route at home. It's a pain but beats hunting for outlets every few hours.

murphy.linda29d ago

...my buddy did that for a trip through Nevada last summer, but he forgot to turn airplane mode back on after he got to the hotel one night. His phone spent all night trying to sync apps and search for service, and by morning he had like 12 percent left. He had to sit in a diner for an hour with the charger before he could even use his maps again. So yeah, the trick works, you just gotta double check the phone actually stays quiet the whole time.