GPS accuracy, Garmin and Upandrunning customeres care

Hello Fenix 5 users, I apologize for starting yet another topic on the GPS issues of our very expensive Fenix 5 but I need your help understanding if the way my watch behaves is normal or not.
I bought the watch on line at www.upandrunning.co.uk because they had it on stock when it came out (early April). Very soon I realized that the watch had several issues with Bluetooth connection, altimeter, barometer and activity tracking in general. But what was worse in my opinion was the GPS accuracy in running and open water swimming. I bought the watch for triathlon training and racing and the inaccurate GPS means that all the metrics I'm interest in (distance, pace...) are more than inaccurate and completely useless. I've contacted upandrunning about that and they told me to see directly with Garmin UK.

0 rob-surf over 8 years ago

....continuing from above...
After several emails where Garmin was answering random things quoting the user manual, I shared my activities in which the GPS issues where evident. There were supposed to let me know then, based on the data collected during the activity, if the watch was faulty or not. Instead of answering my last email they simply told me that since I am leaving in France I need to contact Garmin France. So I did, but of course Garmin France is not answering my email and it's been a months now.
I did contact then upandrunning.co.uk but again I'm getting NO answer at all!
This is the first time I receive such a treatment as a customer and I am very surprised that both upandrunnig and Garmin decided to completely ignore that my watch may be faulty.

Again I apologize for a long complaining message but I really appreciate if you could tell me if the GPS accuracy in the following activities is acceptable for you.

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1785027527#.WUwrYKyXXp0.email

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1788728940#.WUwq5rU5rIQ.email

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1763837023#.WUwqeV19ApM.email

thanks a lot for your help
r

0 AntonisSp over 8 years ago

As far as swimming activities go, you have to understand that the watch only gets a gps signal when your hand is out of the water. As far as I know, unless you have the watch over the water at all times (using a swimming buoy for example), most watches will struggle.

In your running activity, I guess you went under a tunnel? The rest of the jagged line could be due to proximity to high buildings.

0 rob-surf over 8 years ago

Correct, I went under a tunnel and of course I'm not expecting the GPS to work there...In fact the tunnel only causes a "spike" in the track which is not so bad, the rest of the time I always had a perfect/clear view of the sky. Unfortunately not only "high" building creates problems, almost any building does that. And any kind of three too.
I understand the problems related to GPS and swimming but if the distance measured is off by about 30% it is indeed useless for training purposes. If this is a normal behavior (which I still doubt) than it should be stated somewhere instead of being advertised as the ultimate outdoor/triathlon watch.

0 Former Member over 8 years ago

When I see your record, I guess that you have a real problem wtith the GPS.
I have a fenix 5 too and live in France like you.
I noticed some issues with my GPS: all the distances were underestimated by 4-5%.
I contacted Garmin France. They accepted the return of the watch.That's what I did. A few days later I received a brand new watch.
The GPS accuracy is'nt still that good. I had before a garmin Vivoactice HR that was much better.
But nothing compare to your track records.
I hope that there will a software update taht will solve the problem.
So you should contact Garmin France to ask for a change of the watch. Unfortunately august is not the best month to have people available for you...

0 rob-surf over 8 years ago

Thanks for your message, I will try to call Garmin France instead of emailing next time