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Garmin Tempe - accuracy?

Hi,

I've recently bought a Garmin Tempe to go with my Montana and it works well. It was easy to pair up and the unit is neat and small. I'm very pleased with it. I'm well aware of the limitations of siting a thermometer and how you need to put it so it's not going to be influenced by heat/cold sources so it only samples the ambient air temperature.

My query is really out of interest rather than worry.

What is the accuracy of the Garmin Tempe?

I understand that the figures aren't published. I wondered if anyone had any comparative evidence of the Tempe's accuracy? Has anyone ever compared the Tempe to a recognised accurate temperature?

I'm just a normal chap in a normal domestic environment, and I don't have access to a decent accurate thermometer, but someone has one somewhere. Has anyone every checked the Tempe?

Has Garmin ever checked them?
If so, surely they must know something.

Regards,
Mick

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0 stuartmw over 10 years ago

You totally missed the point of my post. I was quoting what others, that have no idea of the issues, say.

0 Black-81 over 10 years ago

Sorry, my mistake. Translation problems :(

0 schinder over 10 years ago

Wow. Good for you. You must have listened during school science classes and/or gone on to become an engineer or scientist :D

There'a a bunch of threads, mainly in the cycling model forums, from people complaining about temperature "accuracy".

"My unit differs from my wall thermometer by 1 degree. It must be broken! Fix it Garmin!"

Of course, those posts are dwarfed by the number complaining about how various devices "measure" calorie burn, and wondering why numbers from various places and devices are so different. At least you can actually measure temperature.

I'm expecting these forums to be swamped by such complaints when Vivofit comes out. (Unless Vivofit lies about calories on the too high side; then people will be satisfied.)

0 Black-81 over 10 years ago

The complaints are legitimate, as long as the measurements are carried out properly. .
Here in Italy, on the forums, there are people who measure the temperature in the sun, or on the wrist and is complaining that the sensor is not calibrated.
Technical support is at the same level

0 Black-81 over 10 years ago

Here is the answer of the support garmin, he evaded my question on the rounding of the decimal. However, the response of the Italian support was worse, the best answers are here

I apologize for the time is has taken for you to get a response. I would like to confirm, are you wanting information on the temperature gauge on the watch itself, or are you using a tempe sensor with the watch.

If you are referring to the accuracy of the sensor on the watch it would be closer to +/- 2 degrees of accuracy. That is also assuming that the barometric altimeter has been properly calibrated since the watch is reading temperature using that feature. Unfortunately to maintain accuracy on the barometric altimeter is usually has to be recalibrated every 10 minutes in order to remain accurate with changing air pressure.

0 Peter Gamma 04 over 2 years ago in reply to Black-81

It is great to have a Tempe with an accuracy of +- +/- 2 degrees, but:

«to maintain accuracy on the barometric altimeter is usually has to be recalibrated every 10 minutes in order to remain accurate with changing air pressure.»

Conclusion: the Garmin Tempe is only accurate when:

- the watch has a barometric altimeter

- it has to be recalibrated every 10 minutes

Which watches have a barometric altimeter which autocalibrates every 10 minutes? Manual recalibration every 10 min would be terrible.

0 trux over 2 years ago in reply to Peter Gamma 04

Peter Gamma 04 said:
Which watches have a barometric altimeter which autocalibrates every 10 minutes?

From the document Altimeter Auto Calibration for Outdoor Handhelds and Watches

The Continuous Calibration option applies to the following handhelds: GPSMAP 66 & 86 series, GPSMAP 276Cx, Montana 700 series, Oregon 700 series, and Rino 750/755t. Only watches with detailed mapping will have the Continuous Calibration option.

However, I do not believe at all the claim of the Italian support that the temperature reading from Tempe is influenced by the barometric altimeter calibration. I never heard a bigger nonsense. It is rather exactly the opposite way - the altimeter calibration is influenced by the Tempe reading. That indeed makes sense. Either it was lost in translation, or the Italian support person knows noting about physics.

0 trux over 2 years ago

Otherwise, you can find a nice review of Tempe's accuracy here:

Measured Mass - Garmin Tempe Temperature Sensor

0 Peter Gamma 04 over 2 years ago in reply to trux

Thanks for the answer. I paired a Tempe to a Fenix 6 and had GPS on, barometric pressure sensor on autocalibrate. Before, I had fluctuations in altitute, altough I did not leave the house for 24 h, the time the recording session lasted. The consequence, the altitute in Garmin Connect stayed constant, when GPS was on. Also temperature values of the Tempe looked reasonable. Before I had fluctuations, which where not convincing.

But the result is, after 24 h, Garmin connect says, I was traveling for 50 km a day, although I was not moving. The GPS said, I was out of the house for serval times, which I was not.

The values of the Tempe are fine now, but not the distance values. Is there a way to correct the distance values, which are wrong now?

0 trux over 2 years ago in reply to Peter Gamma 04

Peter Gamma 04 said:
The values of the Tempe are fine now, but not the distance values. Is there a way to correct the distance values, which are wrong now?

Please start a new thread in a forum for your device, since GPS distance is not related to Tempe's accuracy, and discussing it here would be completely off topic. Also, you will need to post more details - your device model, what activities you used, whether GPS was on at all, and post screenshots demonstrating the issue, and share links to activities involved.