# Ascertaining approximate memory capacity of Ambit2



## bruceames (Jul 20, 2013)

It still seems to be a big mystery as to how much memory the Ambit2 has. I think the best practical way to find out (other than Suunto telling us, which so far they haven't), is to see how many hours of logs (with HR and at 1 second intervals) the device holds before it start erasing old logs to make room for new ones. Since a log-erasing FW update was just released though, most people's memory won't be full. 

So please once your log is full and it has all HR logs and 1 second intervals, could you post the number of hours it recorded?

Also, anyone already have a good idea of how much memory (in MB) or how many hours of such logs the watch will hold?


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## or_watching (Nov 13, 2008)

And probably need to know many pods are in use getting logged, and if Apps are logging data, since all that chews up space. In the spirit of accuracy. 

Maybe martowl will run a few 100 milers for us using various settings and pods and hand-pushing a bicycle wheel around the western US. ;-). Just a suggestion.


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## bruceames (Jul 20, 2013)

or_watching said:


> And probably need to know many pods are in use getting logged, and if Apps are logging data, since all that chews up space. In the spirit of accuracy.


Good points. most people's logbook will have logs which deviate from the above to some degree, and if so, the more detail about it, the better. I don't plan to use any pods or apps, and I also plan to calculate the average (weighted) HR from all the logs as that will have a big effect as well. Who knows how long it will take to fill this watch up though...


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## paul1928 (Jul 27, 2013)

Don't forget average heart-rate will impact the capacity too. The higher the HR the faster the IBI times get written to the log. I've asked Suunto for an Excel tool that lets you calculate capacity with various options like they released for the t6c but no luck so far.


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## bruceames (Jul 20, 2013)

paul1928 said:


> Don't forget average heart-rate will impact the capacity too. The higher the HR the faster the IBI times get written to the log. I've asked Suunto for an Excel tool that lets you calculate capacity with various options like they released for the t6c but no luck so far.


Yeah, I thought that if you have all HR logs with 1 sec recording and no other variables, then you get the weighted HR average with the total length of the logs and so get a decent approximation of capacity.


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## martowl (Dec 31, 2010)

or_watching said:


> And probably need to know many pods are in use getting logged, and if Apps are logging data, since all that chews up space. In the spirit of accuracy.
> 
> Maybe martowl will run a few 100 milers for us using various settings and pods and hand-pushing a bicycle wheel around the western US. ;-). Just a suggestion.


My T6c had the option of turning off R-R recording, especially when recording a move greater than 100 consecutive hours:-x Seriously, turning off R-R added a tremendous increase in recording capacity, here is a table I found. I have asked Suunto to give us the option of turning this off.

*
For a T6c/d
*HR only: 70hr @ 2s or 250hr @ 10s
HR & speed: 23hr @ 2s or 117hr @ 10s
HR & speed & EPOC: 14hr @ 2s or 70hr @ 10s
HR & speed & R-R with an avg HR of 120bpm: 10hr @ 2s or 15hr @ 10s
HR & speed & R-R with an avg HR of 150bpm: 9hr @ 2s or 12hr @ 10s


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## bruceames (Jul 20, 2013)

I recorded a 19 hour R-R @ 10s (ave. HR: 126) log without speed with the T6 in 2006. The move was 23 1/2 hours long so I brought along my old X6HR to finish the recording.

The purpose behind this estimation is hopefully to confirm that the memory is plenty large enough to never have to worry about a log getting full. I'm used to worrying about memory capacity with Suunto watches.


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## Gerald Zhang-Schmidt (Oct 30, 2011)

Well, that's why the memory is now circular, so that old logs get erased rather than new ones stopped when the memory gets full (which I had happen with my t6 only too often).
And now, because that raises the spectre of old logs getting erased without them having been uploaded, there's the new reminder to sync when memory gets full... however that works.


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## paul1928 (Jul 27, 2013)

martowl said:


> *
> For a T6c/d
> *HR only: 70hr @ 2s or 250hr @ 10s
> HR & speed: 23hr @ 2s or 117hr @ 10s
> ...


Wow! I wrote that on the (now gone) Suunto forum about four years ago. Funny to see someone still referring to it.  Here's the spreadsheet that's behind those figures: http://www.enigma.id.au/suunto_t6c_memory.xls

Unfortunately I haven't been able to get anything similar out of Suunto for the Ambits.


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## martowl (Dec 31, 2010)

paul1928 said:


> Wow! I wrote that on the (now gone) Suunto forum about four years ago. Funny to see someone still referring to it.  Here's the spreadsheet that's behind those figures: http://www.enigma.id.au/suunto_t6c_memory.xls
> 
> Unfortunately I haven't been able to get anything similar out of Suunto for the Ambits.


That is cool!!!
I kept some of the important things that I used from the old Suunto forums. This I kept on my phone as a note or on my computer so when going on long trips I would make sure the T6 had enough memory to record the whole event. Typically these were multi day hikes or mountaineering trips. Thanks again for that!

bruceames, I am with you. I have asked numerous times on Suunto's Q&A what the memory capacity is, the only answers I ever get is that the memory is sufficient to record for the battery duration. Clearly not the question that was asked.


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## bruceames (Jul 20, 2013)

martowl said:


> That is cool!!!
> I kept some of the important things that I used from the old Suunto forums. This I kept on my phone as a note or on my computer so when going on long trips I would make sure the T6 had enough memory to record the whole event. Typically these were multi day hikes or mountaineering trips. Thanks again for that!
> 
> bruceames, I am with you. I have asked numerous times on Suunto's Q&A what the memory capacity is, the only answers I ever get is that the memory is sufficient to record for the battery duration. Clearly not the question that was asked.


I heard a few people mention that they think the Ambit2 has more memory than the Ambit 1. One person hypothesized that the Ambit1 has 16 mb (over 15 hours of recording) and the Ambit2 has 48 mb. If true, then the watch could hold around 50 hours of data.

For multiday moves that would be useful since you won't need to sacrifice quality by having 60 sec fixes (or even 5 sec fixes) if you know that you'll have enough memory for 1 sec. As for the battery, I just take along a usb charger so that's not an issue as I could recharge the watch 2-3 more times in the field.


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## JoggWithoutDog (Jul 3, 2012)

It's not even because of stores your moves ... I guess the enlarging factor 3 is more because of the apps ... (and maybe because of reduced prices of memory chips  and maybe to "force" Ambit1 users to buy a new better one 
JoggWithoutDog alias Joachim


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## RockBird (Mar 10, 2013)

I used once my Ambit 1 on a ultra with 1s GPS and 1s recording, with an external USB battery, and after 18h it didn't register any data. But I had in the end the total distance. That activity exported as gpx has 15.1 MB.

For Ambit 1 is there an option to disable some data to be recorded like EPOC, R-R, Temperature etc ? I think Suunto can do this (if they want to), so that Ambit 1 users can use the extra space for multiple apps logging.


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## bruceames (Jul 20, 2013)

RockBird said:


> I used once my Ambit 1 on a ultra with 1s GPS and 1s recording, with an external USB battery, and after 18h it didn't register any data. But I had in the end the total distance. That activity exported as gpx has 15.1 MB.
> 
> For Ambit 1 is there an option to disable some data to be recorded like EPOC, R-R, Temperature etc ? I think Suunto can do this (if they want to), so that Ambit 1 users can use the extra space for multiple apps logging.


Thanks for the info. It never even occurred to me to measure memory by adding up the file sizes of the xml logs downloaded from the watch to the PC. Duh!


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## pjc3 (Mar 26, 2012)

Have a look here


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## bruceames (Jul 20, 2013)

Thank you for the link pjc3. I now remember reading that thread before in my flurry of getting caught up on Ambit2 threads but forgot about it.

I know the Trackpod has over 25 mb of memory because I have a 15+ hour move @ 1 sec that's just over 25 mb. 

I have noticed, that as the trackpod records GPS coordinates every 1 sec vs. variable for the ambit2 (average every 15 seconds at hiking speed), the file sizes are almost the same (the ambit2 also having HR and R-R info) on each move I do with the 2 devices.

Hopefully 25 hours is not the limit, but that would make sense if the memory size was 48 mb. I guess we'll see...

But could it be that memory for Ambit 1 and 2 are actually the same and that the reason that the Ambit 2 records more logs is because it doesn't record trackpoints every second like the Ambit1? If the Trackpod file size is 25 mb for a 15 hour log with no HR info, then the Ambit 1 file size must be much larger than that, @ 1 sec recording plus R-R HR.

Could that have been the prime motivation behind Suunto not letting the Ambit2 record trackpoints every second and instead do "smart" recording (*rolleyes*)? So that there's room for multiple app recording during the battery life without increasing memory?


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## bruceames (Jul 20, 2013)

RockBird said:


> For Ambit 1 is there an option to disable some data to be recorded like EPOC, R-R, Temperature etc ? I think Suunto can do this (if they want to), so that Ambit 1 users can use the extra space for multiple apps logging.


I don't think there is, unfortunately. If there were, it would have to be done through Movecount and I don't believe that option exists. It would be a good that they put that in a future update though. I really don't need the R-R for long moves.


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