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Connect elevation shift. OK in Strava.

Former Member over 10 years ago

Greetings all.

When I upload activities to Garmin Connect I see a sudden shift in the elevation curve. When the same activity is uploaded to Strava is OK. The Garmin elevation curve shows a sudden shift in elevation of 87 meters (!) from one point to the next. I use a Forerunner 305 with elevation correction enabled.

I have attached pictures of the elevation curve from Garmin and Strava. I realize you need to login to see the images, but you should be able to use your Connect ID.

I tried to report it to Garmin in Norway, but the answer I get is that without barometric elevation inaccuracies must be expected.

Have anyone else experienced similar issues on Connect? Is there any solution or must I accept the weird shift in elevation?

I purchased the FR305 four years ago to measure distance and elevation for my cycling trips. Monitoring heartrate etc. was just a bonus for me. I have considered either Fenix or Edge as possible upgrades. However, with the issue unsolved and failing to get Garmins attention I fear our ways must part...

Jorn K.

0 schinder over 10 years ago

Here's how it works on Garmin Connect. If the device has a barometric altimeter, then GC uses the elevation data recorded by the device itself. If, as in your case, the device doesn't have a barometric altimeter, then it uses the GPS track points and gets the elevation from a map. In your case, you've found that that map has a glitch in it, or GC has a glitch (and there have been many problems lately with it) in how it reads its map. I don't know what Strava does, but judging by the smoothness, they probably use a map themselves, a correct one.

Both the Fenix and the (higher end) Edges have barometric altimeters, so you won't have this particular problem with them. (You will have to calibrate the altimeter before you use them, but that's easy enough.) And there's no requirement to use Garmin Connect at all; there are many other places (like Strava!) that do the same thing.

0 Former Member over 10 years ago

Hi Schinder,

Thank you for taking the time to reply to this post. I suspect you are correct. Either GC using a map with a glitch, or GC has a glitch itself. I would say the problems started when GC went modern. I have been using the same watch along the same track for the past four years only seeing this issue since 2014.

I have started using Strava now as it produces a better result for me. It is however somewhat annoying to switch as I have the old data in GC. I reset the watch in an attempt to resolve the issue.

I would have hoped Garmin would be interested in investigating the issue, map related or not. It could happen if many users see the issue.

Jorn K