Fenix 5 Plus altimeter calibration

There are basically two issues I have with the altimeter of the Fenix 5 Plus.

The first is concerning the manual altitude calibration which does not allow you to enter a negative number. Since I live in the Netherlands the chance of being somewhere below sea level is substantial and it would be nice to be able to enter a level below sea level manually.

The second thing is the automatic calibration during activities. When you do a calibration you can choose between manual, DEM or GPS. Using DEM is usually accurate and that is what I mostly use to calibrate the altitude. During activities it only uses the GPS altitude and not the DEM data. It should not be that dificult in my opinion to use DEM during automatic calibration during activities.

0 AllanOlesen67 over 6 years ago

During activities it only uses the GPS altitude and not the DEM data.

How did you arrive to that conclusion?

0 Crispin_Ellisdon over 6 years ago

Just to reiterate how things are supposed to work according to the official Garmin FAQ page here ">Related Content

Watch Mode also has an altimeter calibration. This mode uses location data when paired with Garmin Connect Mobile and is enabled during the pairing process on your smart phone. The phone position and the DEM data will provide a calibration each night during a user's sleep window.
Manual Calibration allows the watch to use the DEM data to provide the elevation.

">support.garmin.com/.../

[/URL] [h=3]The Fenix 5 Plus has 3 ways for Altimeter Calibration[/h]
You will want to ensure you are using the right mode for how you use the watch.
Continuous Mode, while in-activity, uses the DEM that is included with the pre-loaded regional mapping data on the device. The continuous calibration setting enables using both the DEM and GPS elevation to offset any altimeter drift due to pressure changes caused by a weather event during an activity. This allows the device to accurately track any short-term elevation change during an activity. For more information on how barmetric pressure effects the altimeter sensor, see Related Content
Watch Mode also has an altimeter calibration. This mode uses location data when paired with Garmin Connect Mobile and is enabled during the pairing process on your smart phone. The phone position and the DEM data will provide a calibration each night during a user's sleep window.
Manual Calibration allows the watch to use the DEM data to provide the elevation.

0 remcomeeder over 6 years ago

How did you arrive to that conclusion?

When I go for a 5km walk from home which is at 10m above sealevel it never ends up with the same altitude as it was at the start. If it would be using DEM it should end up at the same altitude as when I started.

0 Dr Phil over 6 years ago

What difference are we talking about?

0 AllanOlesen67 over 6 years ago

When I go for a 5km walk from home which is at 10m above sealevel it never ends up with the same altitude as it was at the start. If it would be using DEM it should end up at the same altitude as when I started.

That doesn't prove that it uses GPS altitude for calibration. You don't even know if a calibration happened at all.

0 antoniovertical over 6 years ago

I think is not possible to get a DEM calibration during the activity because if you are on a 50m high bridge you would have the terrain reading which is 50m lower.

0 AllanOlesen67 over 6 years ago

I think is not possible to get a DEM calibration during the activity because if you are on a 50m high bridge you would have the terrain reading which is 50m lower.

That problem also exists if the initial calibration is done on a bridge. There is a thread about that, started by a rather pissed parachuter. Garmin did nothing to avoid that. So it is only guesswork whether they did anything to avoid the problem when doing calibrations during the activity.