Distance wrong on my runs please help!

I just got my vivoactive 3 music a couple weeks ago and notice the same thing comparing to measurements on google maps I come up about .1 miles short on a 4-5 mile runs every time

Same here . Wifes Fitbit Charge 4, Strava on phone,Google Fit on another phone, all register prety close.  I am out by .4 to .2km for every 5k walk. 

As we walking togther (lockdown) it always show the discrepency . A bit annoying as the VA3M hasn't worked since December when they updated the firmware.  

To be honest I wouldn't trust  a Fitbit I had one before and found it useless as doesn't have built in GPS 

Agreed Rachel but this is one of new ones with built in GPS.  I have just set my GPS to that GPS±something and changed to 1second instead of smart. Tomorrow will see if it improves. 

I've tried all 3 GPS settings and still wrong . Just back from another run with my husband and watch recording 2.98 miles compared to his 3.11 miles . Beyond a joke! 

RachelHyland said:

Check out my running activity on Garmin Connect. #beatyesterday

connect.garmin.com/.../4876590200

Could you ask your husband to share the same activity, and post the link here too, so that we can compare the two tracks, and see so, where the problem is?

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/4876184771

I phoned Garmin yesterday and sent them the two runs to look at . Same thing happened again today but yesterday on our walk both watches the same . Definitely seems to be only running which is strangely odd . I cycled and ran same route on same day and the run is 3 miles , cycle is 3.12 miles (correct distance ( many thanks 

Well, the difference between the two tracks over 5km is 170m (5.01 km - 4.84 km), so it does not see to be anything really dramatic. The accuracy of GPS (at a single key point) is 15m (unless you use military grade or expensive professional devices using diverse augmentation methods), and there are hundreds of such points in the track, so from this point of view the difference of 170m, does not seem to be that bad.

When I zoom and compare both tracks, I see your husband's track seems to stick closer to the roads, so if I assume that you were running on the road, it looks indeed slighlty more accurate. On the other hand, your track is much smoother - I guess your husband is using the Smart Recording, while you might have set the Every Second Recording.

Did not you, by hazard, run side by side with your husband, so that he would cast a "shadow" on your hand, preventing so the watch to have direct sight on the sky, and hence getting a worse GPS signal?

Another thing to verify is the freshness of the ephemeris file (so called EPO), it needs to be kept up to date, so that the GPS functions reliably and quickly. On the watch you can go to Settings » About, scroll couple of screens down, and there should be a screen with the EPO status at the end, telling something like EPO: Current. If it is not telling Current, connect the device over the USB cable to the computer, and click the update verification in Garmin Express.

Thanks for a comprehensive reply but I have to disagree,  there is quite a difference between 4.84km and 5.01km   so every race I do wont have correct distance  recorded ? In run with an athletics club so this is unsatisfactory not to be having the correct distance recorded . 

I've ran this route countless times before on my own and with my husband . My garmin 235 aways measured 5k , same qarxh as husbands. 

We are both side by side and only on a road where necessary.  Surely running beside someone cant cast a shadow on a watch? 

I've had a range of garmins throughout the years and really disappointed with this.  

I've found the about section  under settings but there is no EPO status section . Could this be somewhere else ? 

Thanks 

Rachel