Altimeter Barometer isuue

Could you clarify how this minor issue is impacting on your training?

Minor Issue???????
So the fact that the watch clearly calculates altitude the wrong way is a minor issue to you?. AGAIN If you go up, the air pressure goes down and the other way around. Those are just simple physics, nothing difficult about that I guess.
I buy a watch for 750 euro, the altimeter/barometer is a joke and you call that a minor issue?????????
I paid for it, so I want it to work.


So you suggest I should have bought a Forerunner 235 or what?

If you don't have anything interesting to add, why do you even reply?

It's a watch not a precision barometer. The errors you're getting don't seem that great to me. If you're that fussed though I suggest you return it for a refund. I assume you've read the manual?

https://www8.garmin.com/manuals/webh...37686793A.html

https://www8.garmin.com/manuals/webh...94CB12EB5.html

You might also find this improves your knowledge

https://allstarnix.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/how-to-garmin-fenix-altimeter-barometer.html#!/2013/08/how-to-garmin-fenix-altimeter-barometer.html

This morning altitude when I arrived at work: 78m, air pressure: 1013 hPa. I calibrate altimeter manually to 93m, barometer shows 1016hPa??

Correct result :-)

When I calibrate the altimeter manually, the barometer should stay the same, doesn't it?

Ambient pressure - yes
Baro pressure (equivalent of the pressure on the sea level) - no. Greater height = bigger correction of the baro pressure.

SUSSAMB, GPS_Maniak,
thank you both very much for a constructive response, now it is clear to me. And now it does make sense that pressure rises when I put in a greater height since it is the sea level pressure.

Indeed, not an issue at all.

thank you

For some users, the barometer is not working correctly.
If all the sensors of the Fenix 5x watches were exactly the same and installed with the same tolerances, all would indicate the same barometric pressure at the same altitude in the same place and at the same time
The sensor measures air pressure. Garmin calibrates the sensor with reference 0 meters at a certain pressure. The process could be this (the numbers are not real, they are only to explain the process):
With the altimeter calibrated at 0m altitude, Garmin introduces the watch into a sealed chamber and applies a real pressure of 1016mb
The watch sensor gives a value of 5000 units of pressure.
1016mb is the calibration for all sensors when the value that these sensors shows 5000 units of pressure
Ok. We already have all the Fenix 5x calibrated
If we have 100 watches on the beach and all are with the altimeter calibrated to 0m and the 100 sensors shows 8000 units of pressure, the widget of the barometer will indicate the atmospheric pressure that is at that moment. For example 1019mb
If a week later, the weather gets worse and the atmospheric pressure decreases, the sensors of the 100 watches will show 2000 units of pressure and the barometer widget will show 1012mb if all altimeters are calibrated to 0m and the watches on the beach
What happens to some users?
The sensors of 10 of those 100 clocks, when they get into the sealed chamber with the altimeter calibrated at 0m and a real pressure of 1016mb is applied, they do not show 5000 pressure units like the other 90. They shows 9000 units of pressure and in their barometer widget shows 1020mb
That is, the relationship that Garmin has recorded in the software of all Fenix 5x of: "5000 pressure units are 1016mb", does not work for these sensors. This group of sensors should have a calibration of "9000 units of pressure are 1016mb"

If the sensor reading at a certain fixed and stable altitude increases by 3000 units, the barometer widget increases by 3mb (for both 90 well calibrated watches and 10 poorly calibrated watches)
When we gain altitude we lose pressure, but in reality, all weather stations compensate the gain in altitude with INCREMENT of the barometric pressure.
If at 0m at 9:00 in the morning we have 1020mb, at 500m altitude at the same time and in a nearby place we will also have 1020mb (more or less depending on temperature, etc.)
Of course, there is less pressure at 500m altitude, but the barometric value is corrected with height
More or less, every 10 meters of height we lose between 8mb and 9mb of pressure
What does the Fenix 5x?
If at 0m of altitude, the sensor shows 5000 units of pressure and the barometer shows 1016mb, at 500 meters of altitude the sensor will show 4000 units of pressure and the barometer widget would show 1000mb
If not compensated with software, the barometer widget will indicate a pressure drop when gaining height
The numerical relation (more or less real) would be the following:
For each 10m of altitude that shows the altimeter will add betwen 8mb-9mb to the barometer
If I go up and the height goes up (the altimeter widget increases), the sensor is giving less and less pressure units but the software goes adding mb to the barometer value
If the altitude goes up, the software causes the barometer to rise pressure. If it did not, the atmospheric pressure of the barometer value would decrease as it gained altitude
Well, Why if I change the altitude setting also changes the value of the barometer widget?
For that compensation that is in the software. If we have more altitude in the altimeter widget we will have more pressure in the barometer widget

Sorry, struggling with that. Are you saying you've taken 100 watches to a beach to test this 'theory' of yours? If not, what are you trying to say? Incidentally your first statement is patently not true. IF you did take 100 watches to a beach and they all had the same tolerance they wouldn't all read the same, they would all vary plus or minus from the actual pressure due to the tolerance :)

How does the Fenix 5x work?
If we are actually gaining altitude, the software blocks the barometer value and during the activity time the same atmospheric pressure is always showed. Flat line in the barometric widget during activity time

When the Fenix 5x is at the same altitude, the software locks the altimeter and shows changes in the barometer. Flat line in the altitude widget

These automatic locks are changed based on the sensor pressure readings.
If the pressure sensor does not show important changes in a certain period of time, the altimeter is locked and the pressure changes are shown on the barometer widget.
If the pressure sensor shows big changes over a period of time, the barometer is locked and changes are shown in the altitude widget

The Suunto manuals explain and give information about the values that explain when the altimeter works or lock and when the barometer

Sorry. 1,2 - 1,5mb / 10m. Not 8-9mb / 10m