The GPS + GLONASS doesn't improve accuracy, it only helps you get a quicker GPS acquisition and hold on to a satellite lock when there is a limited view of the sky. The watches only calculate position from the signals of three satellites and there are 12 GPS and 12 GLONASS satellites in each hemisphere.
The tracks on your map with GPS and GPS + GLONASS show that you are using Smart Data Recording. To improve your accuracy, you should change that setting to Every Second.
It is incorrect that position is only calculated from 3 satellites. For a 2D fix 3 satellites are required, this wouldn't give altitude information. For a 3D fix minimum of 4 satellites are required. With the number of satellites the accuracy increases, according to specs Mediatek chip is able to handle 66 satellites. At the moment there are ~ 30 GPS and ~ 25 Glonass satellites in orbit, but not all of them are visible at the same time. Glonass does increase accuracy under certain circumstances when there are to few GPS satellites in view or not well spread over the orbit. This is mainly in areas with limited view to the sky. (high raise buildings, valleys) I life in an area where I can clearly see an improvement in accuracy by using Glonass, but I can't speak for areas with good coverage of GPS only satellites. 1" recording shouldn't have impact to battery life, but Glonass has.
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.
I'm doing a weekend hike this weekend in the Adirondack high peaks. This will be the first real hiking test for my F5. I'll post back with results.
Could you please check the barometric altimeter's accuracy as well during your hike? I am experiencing constant drift in the barometric altimeter, compared to the altitude the GPS displays (which is very accurate in open areas) I know that this is expected due to pressure change, but in my case I see the altimeter drifting quickly in the first 10 to 30 minutes after calibration I have created a thread so that people email garmin to add continuous altimeter calibration https://forums.garmin.com/forum/on-t...us-calibration
That's rough. Do you have any good tracks, or are they all equally bad?
I'm doing a weekend hike this weekend in the Adirondack high peaks. This will be the first real hiking test for my F5. I'll post back with results.
Scottj2, I have some good ones - but those are only the ones where there is absolutely nothing blocking the sky. I decided to reset the watch to see if that helps at all. Will report back.
