NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
From: Sean C
Date: 2013 Nov 23, 04:20 -0800
"...the life expectancy of the battery [...] on a radio-synced watch vs. the non-radio watches." -Carl
Both of my Casios only attempt to receive the radio signal once each hour on the hour from midnight to 5 am. If it successfully syncs at midnight (or any hour), it won't try again until midnight the next night. The idea is that you set the watch in your windowsill where the reception will be best and it syncs while you sleep. I work nights, so I end up having to sync it manually, usually during my lunch break. But when I'm off, it usually syncs without having to take it off at all...all the way from Fort Collins, CO to my house in Newport News, VA!
Since mine is solar powered I can't comment on battery life, but I imagine the effect of the receiver operation is negligible. As I said, my old Casio (also solar and sitting in the windowsill of my kitchen) is still running strong and always displays the correct time.
The watch does have a "power-saving" mode which turns off the display when it senses no movement for a specified period. The auto-backlight is also limited to either 1 or 3 seconds and will not turn on at all if the watch senses there is enough light to read the face without illumination. Seems they've done just about everything they can to conserve power.
Regards,
Sean C.
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