Garmin support ignored my ticket

I have found recently that support are running at about 12 to 14 days before they reply, as they seem to be overly busy with support requests.
I opted to call them as you will be able to raise your issue with an advisor there and then, instead of waiting and waiting, wondering what is happening.

You wont get an answer there and then, but they should come back to you, if they find an answer or they might ask you to submit the devices memory file in an email to themselves, to investigate what has happened.

Thanks, I guess I'll just keep waiting. I hate the phone.

I’m sorry about our delay in getting back to your email. If you dislike the phone option, you can always try the chat support option but before you do that, I would highly suggest you take a look at the following FAQ Troubleshooting steps for fenix Chronos and fenix 5 altimeter and barometer

In case anyone is interested or is having the same issue, they replied and gave me the generic advice to calibrate before the activity, and also clean the sensor hole. I was already doing both those, so here's my response:

I just recorded another activity yesterday, after following all your advice. I calibrated beforehand with a known elevation, yet at the summit of the mountain I climbed, my Fenix showed 10,576 ft, yet the well-known altitude of the summit (and what my phone showed) is 10,742 ft. The summit was completely clear of vegetation, the weather was perfectly clear and calm, and I had no clothes obscuring the watch. Here is the activity: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/2872307805

This continues the trend of my Fenix being more than 100ft. lower than whatever summit I am on. This is in addition to the general inaccuracy displayed by the altitude sensor during other activities. As an example, here's a recent run where it appears as though I jumped off a 70-foot cliff around the 42:58 mark: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/2863795631 The elevation graph shown is not an accurate depiction of my run's elevation profile.

I actually rinse the watch every time I take a shower, so I don't see how it could be dirty. I take the watch off before I shower, then at the end, I rinse it under the water and then turn the water off.

What can be done to improve the altitude accuracy of my $600 watch? I don't feel as though I'm asking too much for it to accurately (within 10-30 ft) report the altitude of a mountain summit. Thanks for your help.

So Garmin got back to me after my latest reply. They basically told me the altimeter is not to be relied upon, and that deviations of as much as 400 feet are normal.

This seems....pretty insane to me. I am standing on top of a peak, on a clear day, with no clothing covering my watch, after having manually calibrated 2 hours earlier, and the watch can't accurately report my elevation?

Seriously, why buy any Garmin watch that has an altimeter? They refuse to stand by the accuracy/reliability of their equipment.

Here is my response I'm sending now:

Since the altimeter is so unreliable and inaccurate, how can I force all my activities to ignore the faulty altimeter data and just use map data for elevation? Put another way, how can I disable one of the biggest features that differentiates my $600 watch from a $329 watch? I'd like to avoid having to "babysit" all of my activities, spot-checking them for altitude aberrations that you're telling me are normal. Thanks.



In case you're curious, here's their complete reply to my previous post:

Hello Phil,



The best accuracy the watch can achieve is +/-50 feet with calibration to a known elevation for up to an hour of usage. Anything over an hour the sensor should be calibrated again to a known elevation every hour. Weather and other factors can also cause the altimeter to read incorrect elevations as well and require more frequent calibration.

The following article explains the expected elevation ranges, and factors that can impact elevation reading by the watch.

Troubleshooting steps for fenix Chronos and fenix 5 altimeter and barometer
To maintain accurate readings when using the altimeter and barometer on these watches, the sensors needs to be periodically calibrated. By default, the watch will calibrate automatically using the GPS elevation reading whenever a new activity is started. However, depending on the GPS signal strength, these elevations can be off by as much as +/- 400 feet.

The sensor can also be calibrated manually, providing an accuracy of within +/- 50 feet. To maintain this level of accuracy the watch will need to be periodically recalibrated over time. For the best accuracy it would be recommended to do this hourly.

Enabling elevation corrections for an activity will adjust the elevations to surveyed maps and give you the most accurate elevation possible. The altimeter is to be used as a guide in the field and is not survey grade equipment.

Should you need further assistance, first check our Support Center for additional help, you can also reply to this email or call Customer Support at 1-800-800-1020 available Monday through Friday 7:00am to 7:00pm CST, Closed Holidays.



Thank you for choosing Garmin,

Brandon

Product Support - Outdoor Team

Garmin International

For 24-hour access to support videos, manuals, FAQs & more, visit the Support Center.

So I am sitting here on the forum wasting time, but wanted to point you to the new Beta 10.51 update that should fix your issues with elevation. I hope... at least it seems to make my new 5s work very well. Give it a shot.

i was reluctant to try anything less than a stable release but this is driving me crazy, so I put 10.51 on yesterday. I have a trip to Mt. Whitney this week, so that’ll be a good test.