Fenix 5 - baro/alti crazy reading

I was having this exact same problem for about a month. Try placing the watch in warm soapy water for 30 minutes, then re-calibrate. I saw this in the official Fenix 3 literature somewhere. I do this every couple of days and the problem has gone away.

I believe charged synthetic particles from winter clothing or other sources cause the pressure sensor to malfunction but have no definitive proof. I was doing mobility exercises on the floor where the watch would be rubbing on the carpet fibers. This is when the huge errors started. Now I take the watch off for this activity, this is when I soak it. I have been trouble free for a while now.

This may sound crazy but try it.

Thanks for this advice. I was experiencing this issue, tried your solution, and the error appears to have been resolved. On the day the issue began to occur i was wearing a heavy duty/lined winter jacket and a 100% woollen jacket the day before so there may be some basis for what you say.

For all the people still having the issue, and just to be really clear, soaking the watch in the warm soapy water is not a permanent solution. Think of it as maintenance. As mentioned above by others, I tried a bunch of different things but the wacky baro/alt error kept coming back. Sometimes it would come back a day after soaking, sometimes longer, but it would always come back eventually. I also live in Colorado, I wear long sleeve synthetic clothing daily!

I now keep a plastic cup and a bottle of liquid hand soap in the bathroom, every time I shower, I soak the watch for 15 minutes while I get cleaned and dressed. At first I was upset about this, but It only takes a couple seconds, the problem has been gone for over a month and as a bonus, the watch stays really clean! More importantly, the watch is always ready to accurately record an activity, It had turned into such a non-issue I had forgotten about it until I saw this thread.

Good luck.

Oh, one other thing that may help. If you wear the watch on your right arm as I do, expect to have this problem more than someone who wears it on their left arm. On the right arm, the opening for the baro/alt sensor faces into the end of a long sleeve. the sleeve is constantly rubbing fibers into the opening. Those wearing the watch on the left arm have the opening facing away from the sleeve, harder for stuff to get in there.

I tested this theory and could go longer without the error re-appearing wearing the watch on my left arm.

After 8 months my F5 altimeter goes crazy!
I returned one Fenix 3 hr for the same issue last year.
It will be the second.

No altimeter, and no connection with Huawei for a 700€ watch. This time they will pay to me also all the accessories i've bought. Hrm tri, the speed sensor, the cadence sensor...

I'm angry now!

(Sorry for my english)

After 8 months my F5 altimeter goes crazy!
I returned one Fenix 3 hr for the same issue last year.
It will be the second.

No altimeter, and no connection with Huawei for a 700€ watch. This time they will pay to me also all the accessories i've bought. Hrm tri, the speed sensor, the cadence sensor...

I'm angry now!

(Sorry for my english)

Hi Alepan,

Witch Android version is your Huawei phone ? With Android 7.0.0 and 7.1.1, there are many bluetooth problem.... This is not the watch the problem. I had all this problem with a Tomtom Watch with this Android version. With 7.1.2 and higher no problem.

Did you test the method discribe on this topic with warm water ? Mine is at the garmin support, so i can't it.

bye ;-)

olson917
You are right about not being permanent, yesterday got an altimeter rise after the first bath. It was after being in a xmas shopping trip in a air conditioning environment but with a jacket and a low exterior dewpoint.

Since I live in Portugal were these kind of conditions, that build up static electricity, aren't usual I can live with the regular fenix bath.

I had 3 different fenix 3’s that had the same issue which I finally ended up getting a full refund, now I’m have the same issue on fenix 5! Fool me once shame on you fool me twice shame on me.. I will never buy another Garmin product.

Hi Alepan,

Witch Android version is your Huawei phone ? With Android 7.0.0 and 7.1.1, there are many bluetooth problem.... This is not the watch the problem. I had all this problem with a Tomtom Watch with this Android version. With 7.1.2 and higher no problem.

Did you test the method discribe on this topic with warm water ? Mine is at the garmin support, so i can't it.

bye ;-)

I have Huawei honor 6x with Android 7.0.0 It worked until last relase. I tried also a downgrade on the phone and the app. Nothing to do. Me and another 300 person have the same problem on a Fabebook Group (only italian).

I tested with soapy water and it wored for half a day.

Disgust. The last good working devices has benne my oregon 650 and an old Zumo 500. I had problems with:
1- Garmin elite cam
2- Fenix 3hr
3- Vivoactive HR
4- Fenix 5. ( a gift of my wife)

This is the last. No more Garmin.

Same issue here, only started this week. I noticed that the last two runs recorded zero elevation change when normally on this route I would expect about 10m, this is when I noticed the altimeter and barometer were going nuts. At first I thought wearing it in the pool may have triggered the issue but reading this it could be the fact I wore gloves on the last two runs. Trying the soapy water trick now.

Does anyone know if the elevation during running is GPS based or Baro?

Never had this issue with the TomTom Runner :(

Shame they don't do any diagnostic apps, be nice to look at GPS data and baro sensor raw data.

There are some diagnostics if you turn on the watch while holding the down button. I'm scared to mess around with the settings too much, i think it is kind of like a BIOS on a computer (I don't want to kill my watch completely). you can cycle through pages using the select button.

on mine, the relevant page says:

Baro Test
Valid? Valid
Local Press: 452157.59
Base Press: 509174.50
Local Alt: 991.19
Baro Temp (C): -23.8


I haven't verified it, but I'm thinking the messed up internal temperature reading might be screwing up the calculation (The watch is at room temperature, but still reads below freezing). Can anyone else post their data for comparison?
(Note: my watch barometer is broken too.)