4 comments ·Dec 13, 2019

New Shanren Discovery GPS unit has claimed 96 hour battery life

GPS unit funded via Indiegogo aims to break the GPS battery life ceiling

Paul NormanMarch 12, 2019 2:43 pm

Cycling GPS units have a habit of dying if you’re doing much more than the usual Sunday morning run, back for lunch. But the new Shanren Discovery GPS has a claimed battery life of 96 hours, so you should be able to take on multi-day rides without needing to recharge.

You’d expect a GPS with that sort of battery life to be a monster. The Shanren Discovery unit is a bit chunkier than a Garmin, but at 137g it’s not too bulky and it way outlasts Garmin’s maximum 15 to 20 hour battery life in its units. The screen is 6.8cm wide and displays 28 data fields. It’s controlled via three buttons on the top of the GPS.

There’s a built-in 260 lumen front light to show you the way too, although this can be slid out of the unit and removed if you don’t want this feature. Plus the front of the unit includes a set of LEDs that can be configured to change colour at threshold speeds.

There’s good connectivity, with both Bluetooth and ANT+ support native to the unit. Plus there’s turn by turn navigation and Strava integration, as well as smartphone connectivity for call and message alerts.

Shanren has its own click-in mounting system and makes a special out front mount to support the unit. This has two clamps, to sit on either side of the stem’s faceplate and hold the unit firmly in place, with less chance if it slipping down when you hit a bump. There’s also a chainstay mounted speed/cadence sensor available.

Shanren’s Indiegogo campaign is almost 400% overfunded, so there are clearly plenty of people out there looking to invest in a GPS with legs. Units are planned to ship from April, with a full package currently priced from $179 against a post-launch price of $308. For more details, take a look at Shanren’s Indigogo page.

We’ve got a unit in for test at the moment, so look out for a review soon. We’d like to be able to say that we’ve verified the battery life claim – but with the rotten weather at present, it’s going to take a while to hit 96 hours’ riding.

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