I got my Fenix 5 last Monday. I've have about a dozen runs and about 6 open water swim activities. Unfortunately, all of the activities had very poor GPS tracking. Out of the my open swim activities half of them couldn't get a GPS lock after waiting around for nearly 15 minutes. I've configured every setting possible to get a more accurate tracking (1 sec recording/Smart, GPS+GLONASS, and without.) I even performed two Master Resets. I ended up losing about 12k of steps because of it.
The attached image is suppose to be a simple 1.4 mile loop around my neighborhood. According to GC it was 1.8 and with some weird paths.
Other than the gps tracking issues the F5 is one of the best fitness watches around. I hope this can be fixed by software. I'm planning to keep this watch for a couple of more days before I return it.
Today I went to REI during my lunch and picked up another Fenix 5 Sapphire. When I got home I set the watch up and went for a run. I must say the GPS tracking is spot on. It's infinitely better than my previous F5. I ran to my local middle school track and ran 4 laps and everything tracked perfectly.
As it turns out my previous F5 that I got from Amazon was an APAC model. I think the Asian Pacific model is sold in Asia. I'm not sure if that was contributing to the GPS accuracy. Anyways, so far the watch is working great with GPS and I'm stoked again.
I am having significant issues with GPS accuracy - two photos attached. The bottom one was in Chicago when I first got my F5. It was an out and back run - the lines should be on top of each other. The top one was a hike in Zions NP and the accuracy is so far off that you cannot even use the data. Not sure what to do - I have yet to call Garmin on it - but I am finding that any time there is not 180 degrees of full sky view the GPS is not even usable.
Thoughts?
I don't think you can expect great accuracy in the city of Chicago with all of the buildings, especially if you were on the river walk. I regularly walk around the Millennium Park area and the track near buildings is always hit or miss. My VAHR fared a little better, but it's hard to gauge how much better it was... it only takes a few messed up data points to throw the track completely out of wack.
That hike does look atrocious... I'm not familiar with Zions NP, but a quick Google search shows a lot of canyons. I think the F5 has trouble when the signal is blocked... maybe a firmware update could disregard the errant data points. Let us know if the reset helps things!
gps has by technology accuracy of few meters. All devices smooth your track trying to compensate the inaccuracy. This works however, assuming you move with some speed in some direction. The device is not designed to record your track while cutting the grass, playing football or ride a home trainer with GPS on. Therefore you may get reading like this. This is totally normal. In my personal opinion the accuracy of GPS in Fenix 5 is ok, however worse than in e.g. 920XT. But I really won't cry if it draws my track on the wrong side of the street, or not exactly in the middle of the forest trail. But instant pace is piece of crap. But it was the same on 920xt at the beginning, and they fixed it...
I've been having GPS and pace inconsistencies with my F5 since its purchase. Thought it was just me. I've tried GPS 1sec/smart (with Glonass and without) since a few of my friends have had issue with their 5S I checked the forums and it seems the issue is very wide spread.
There doesn't appear to be issues with the 5X from I can see. Is Garmin going to acknowledge this is an issue ? And why only in the 5/5S ?
I've been having severe accuracy issues with my Fenix 5, total distance for an 8.5 mile hike is showing up as 12.5 miles, along with the "wildest" track I've ever seen. This is the 5th wearable Garmin watch I've owned, and 7th GPS overall. The Fenix 5 has the worst tracking accuracy of any Garmin I've owned. Really hate it. Below are the track from my one month old Fenix 5 and my 6 year old Garmin FR610 (the accuracy of the FR610 is spot on, the accuracy of the Fenix 5 GPS is horrible, look at the track, it is all over the place). Something is seriously wrong here. Any suggestions appreciated. Bought it on Amazon, and it's been more than 30 days, so I cannot return it. Garmin please fix this! I've been a loyal customer for years, this is just too much.
I have owned 5 Garmin GPS wearables. Below are two GPS tracks of the same hike using different Garmin GPS watches. The first is using a new FENIX 5-series watch. The second is using my 6 year old FR610. Note the FR610 track is far more accurate, and the FENIX 5 is literally "all over the map" with GPS distance estimate off by 4 miles, the FENIX 5 claims the hike was 12.5 miles, the FR610 says 8.5 (the FR610 is correct, and cost less than half as much). Garmin please fix this.ciq.forums.garmin.com/.../1237633.jpg
I recorded 3 short walks. The walk2 and walk3 were recorded with 1s GPS only, walk1 with 1s GPS+Glonass. Firmware ist 4.12 (GPS 4.30). The green line marks where i really walked. Would you consider this as a normal GPS deviation?
