Is my GPS off enough to warrant a master reset?

Former Member over 6 years ago

Did a short hike last weekend with my 5+ and was kind of surprised to see how off the GPS marked route was from the trail. I had it on GPS only and the hike was through a pretty forested area, although it did go through some open spots. Here's my recorded route:

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/3122935871

Don't worry about the end where you see a tangled web of routes. I was hopping all over the area doing some work. It's the hike to that section which I'm concerned about. Looks like the GPS is as far as 80 feet off target in spots. Is this to be expected? Is it worth it to preform a master reset?

btw, I did not record the route with my phone, but usually it's within 10 feet of the suggested trail.

0 xv1234 over 6 years ago

I'm no expert in any of this but I had a look at your activity, what is surprising or maybe not is the variance in maps, your track looks off from the map you provide, but when its switched to some of the other options it seems pretty close, or close enough, especially considering the heavy tree cover, I have been having GPS problems with my 5x plus, and have just reset it, 1 Bike ride in and looks better, but too early to tell for the long term.

0 Former Member over 6 years ago

I agree, some maps showed it closer, other were more off. I think the Google maps show it off by over 200 feet in some points.

I think I'll go on another hike and perform one more test, this time with a comparison to my phone to get a better reference.

Thanks for your help.

0 Browner40 over 6 years ago

Honestly, it looks like a pretty good track to me. The Google map appears to have the trail marked in the wrong location. It's also really good considering you are in the gorge and under pretty heavy tree cover.

0 jimoestman over 6 years ago

I would not treat the drawn map trail as the true route. It is undoubtedly recorded by another GPS device with its inaccuracies. (Or perhaps if it is overly smooth (like here and google) it can be the average of multiple track recordings.) Since the trail is covered by trees it is hard to judge by looking at satellite images..

0 Former Member over 6 years ago

Thank for all the feedback. I agree about not totally trusting the maps as a reference. The first hike I recorded above was a very short hike which was in pretty heavy rain so I never once looked down at the watch to see how close the route was to the trail. That's actually all I'm really concerned about - can the watch show me where I'm at quickly without me having to stop and get out my phone and also mark way points accurately.

It would be nice if it was also accurate with the distance of my hikes, but that's not priority at this point.

0 Former Member over 6 years ago

I have the same experience that my running courses are often marked a few meters off the track of the underlying map and for me it is tolerable. Nevertheless I experienced as well significant GPS inaccuracies when running a forested trail even when I had a clear line of sight to the sky. As well after having passed under bridges or though short tunnels (<<50m) it takes the Fenix GPS at often more a minute / 500m to get back on track

0 Dr Phil over 6 years ago

It's always difficult to know whether the issue is with the track on the map or the track plotted as a result of the data gathered from the device. My run last night is mostly under tree cover but there are times when it comes out into the open. If you look at the route as a map it looks pretty garbage, but when looked at as satellite view it's fine. The loops are genuine as we do that to keep the group together. Thursday evening trail run.

0 Former Member over 6 years ago

Finished a longer hike yesterday and was very satisfied with the results. The hike included a course I uploaded to the watch. Only once did the watch think that I was off course (it was when going up some switchbacks) but after about 10 seconds it reported I was back on course.

If anyone is interested, here are the results:

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/3154615129

I would say the GPS never recorded me more than 50 feet off trail, but more importantly, I never once felt I was lost when I couldn't find the trail. The watch helped me pinpoint where the trail should be and also helped me determine the correct course at the forks. Much of the hike was covered by trees. Excellent results!