Fenix 5X - 9.71 Beta Release

GPS testing.....
I used GPS and GALILEO for the first test....
The course is covered in a high density of forestry and tree cover....not much sky through much of the course.....
I found that I had satalite drift.... a sawing motion like a ship having trouble staying on course....the worst GPS trace ive ever had on this course....

::::::::::

GPS and Glonass....and just GPS.

Next day same course...

GPS and Glonass was much better....no sawing....but the blue indicator on the arrow direction screen was not much use....and I kept getting off course and on course alerts....when I was on course seen on the map screen....so after half a mile I changed to just GPS...and I was pleased with the results.....no weird rogue off course on course alerts as soon as I switched......also GPS track trace is far superior.
So in my case with this GPS version 2.20......GPS alone was better for me in this instance.......obviously I will need to test many times in different places to get true results.....but thought it might be interesting anyways.....
Here are to picks....the worst trace is GPS and Galileo.....

I found similar results with gps_galileo, Sam. A lot of trail drift and harsh lines, like the connection had dropped and the watch joined the dots. I see quite a few Galileo Sats showing above me but only 3 are showing as active. The rest are in stages of testing and commissioning. Hopefully once it all gets on-line it'll work itself out!

Really?? And you're located in Europe too. I was under the impression that Galileo worked better in Europe, where as GPS works better in North America.

That's a bit disappointing.

Any North American users testing out Galileo?

Yes it was dissapointing...I was looking forward to the higher satalite positions maybe giving less drift....especially at my location,Wales UK...but found exactly the opposite in this instance.

I found similar results with gps_galileo, Sam. A lot of trail drift and harsh lines, like the connection had dropped and the watch joined the dots. I see quite a few Galileo Sats showing above me but only 3 are showing as active. The rest are in stages of testing and commissioning. Hopefully once it all gets on-line it'll work itself out!

Yes maybe it needs more time....as you say Galileo is not a complete system....and is still in it's infancy......I'm still pleased to get a great GPS trace using the watch with GPS alone though.

Can see status of each satellite here - https://www.gsc-europa.eu/system-status/Constellation-Information

I use an app called Orbit on my iPhone to see what is above.

Its not meant to reach maturity until 2020, supposedly. https://www.gsa.europa.eu/galileo/services/initial-services/frequently-asked-questions#1

It does offer some exciting options - the ability to get better signals in complex environments like cities, much higher accuracy in tracking - allegedly centimeters instead of meters.

I expect it will ultimately require new devices to fully take advantage of all the features. Perhaps the Fenix 6.

For me that battery drain is not present.
Yesterday, 07:35 PM - charged to 100% on a wall outlet, soft-reset followed by a normal power off and power on. Sync over WLAN.
Today, 04:17 AM - Battery down to 98% Only using standard watchface.
Went to a 45km training run (4:08:31h, wrist based HR, stryd and tempe connected, GPS only, 1 sec recording)
Came back at 09:03 AM with 72% left. That's 26% down in about 4 hours with GPS. That's an improvement from previously 10%/hour down to 7%/hour.

Update:
The above post was on Saturday.
On Sunday I did a 10k with OHR, stryd and tempe. Then went the rest of the day to watch the Triathlon Challenge Roth.
Monday was Rest day.
This morning I did a 17k run with stryd, tempe and HRMrun2 connetced.
Still 41% battery left.
In the meantime a few sync over WLAN have been done as well and fitness tracker is always on. No Bluetooth activated.

Hi Guys,

I'm not sure if it's related to the beta or to the watchface ( B GMT Dark configurable 1Hz mode ) but now the date only updates if I change back an forward watchfaces or connect to GC or GCM.

Did an 30 min ocean swim with GPS + GALILEO today and it only recorded about 4 points during the whole swim. Swim was recorded as being about 1/2 the usual distance (700m not the usual 1400m) and normally (on GPS only) it has fairly accurate tracking.
So, a poor result seen from the GALILEO setting in the ocean today, but really great none the less to have the option so good on GARMIN for releasing it. I am hopeful it will improve as more satellites come online and software integration with GPS improves too.

Using GPS+Galileo with Nokia 6.1 (Oreo 8.1): excellent battery, auto-upload works via BT (wifi disabled). When enabling elevation correction on connect.garmin.com, I see a common 10% variance on both moderate (64m gain, 63m loss after correction) whereas showed 69m gain before correction over 8km 45-minute run. Similar variance on previous 3 runs on different courses. Even though same course, seeing same variance in both directions using this build. Not a high priority problem for me.

I have 9.20 on my watch and the battery life is 2 till 3 days instead off 7 with normaly 1 swim activity and 4 runs? I read that 9.7.. gives better battery life. Please make it soon a update!