Garmin Tempe - accuracy?

I contacted Mr Garmin about this:

Subject: Tempe accuracy
>> Message: Hi I have a Tempe to go with my Montana 600 and it works well and I have no issues with it. My question is regarding the accuracy of the readout. There doesn't seem to be a spec advertised for the Temp. What accuracy can I expect with my setup given that it is sampling the open air and away from sources of confusing heat? What are the figures? Thanks Mick.
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Thank you for contacting Garmin Europe. I am happy to help you with your enquiry.
I have now escalated this question for you. As soon as I have more information regarding this I will be in contact.
Thank you for your patience.
If there is anything else I can help you with then please let me know. Alternatively you can search for a solution here: http://www.garmin.co.uk/support
Kind regards,
Joe

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The above reply was received on the 6th Dec - a week ago - it seems strange to me that they can't answer immediately. Surely they must know who designed, built and tested the things, all they have to do is ASK.

Mick

I finally received an answer from Garmin.
Seems ok to me, and what I would have expected.

I can confirm that the Tempe is accurate to +/- 1 degree celsius.

While Tempe can sense changes in temperature as often as once a second, it is not typical for it to send updates this frequently to the device.
The process through which temperature changes are detected, filtered for irregularities and sent to the device will typically take longer than one second. An exact time for this process is not available as it is dependent on many variables. Often changes are seen within 15-30 seconds.
Noting the probability of variable update rates will allow for proper expectations when using the Tempe sensor.

Kind Regards,
Emma S
European Customer Care Associate
Garmin (Europe) Ltd | PO Box 392 | Southampton | SO40 0FW | UK

round up or down ?

I can't say for sure but most programmers would add 0.5 and then truncate. Mathematically

display = int(temp+ 0.5)

Thus 15.0-15.4 would become 15 and 15.5-15.9 would show 16.

I can't say for sure but most programmers would add 0.5 and then truncate. Mathematically

display = int(temp+ 0.5)

Thus 15.0-15.4 would become 15 and 15.5-15.9 would show 16.

For example, I can say with certainty that suunto completely truncates the decimal
15.0-15.9 = 15

For this reason, I wondered how the sensor works (garmin)

I can say with certainty that suunto completely truncates the decimal
15.0-15.9 = 15

Not good :(

FYI the tempe just reports the temperature and the GPS device decides how to display it. Different models, and perhaps different firmware for those models, determine how to display it.

You can try asking Garmin support and if you're lucky they'll actually ask the developer(s) vs giving a canned answer.

I did a short test with my Montana:
Display: 7 degrees C
Tracklog: 6.7 degrees C
So the device rounds it properly.

Wow. It's positively toasty where you are :p

Yeah, we skipped winter this year; no ice, no snow...
But we've had our share of storm and rain though.

Yeah, we skipped winter this year; no ice, no snow...

Want some of mine? :D I've plenty of both.