GPS accuracy

Hi everyone,

I know there are a lot of threads on this subject, but I couldn't find anything useful, so I thought I'd post it again.

I own the Fenix 5 for a year and a half now, and I'm very happy.

I live in Berlin, and the watch's GPS has always been a bit off inside the city. It gets better when I'm running on trails outside the city, but in the city itself, it cannot REALLY be trusted, if we're talking about pace.

Mostly, the GPS thinks that sometimes I'm crossing the street and coming back (which is not true). I'm attaching 2 pictures to show what I mean. I was running along the street, on one side of the sidewalk, but every now and then the watch "jumps" to the other sidewalk and comes back.

I have to say that Berlin, and also the streets in the screenshots, don't have any high buildings. and actually, the main street is very very wide.

I'm using GPS only (no GLONASS) with smart recording. In the past, I tried to change it to GPS+GLONASS and also to record my moves every second instead of "smart", but as far as I remember, this didn't help.

Is there a way to make this better, or I should just accept it as it is, like I've been doing for the last 1.5 years?

Thanks,

Sagi.

Top Replies

AnatoliAngelov over 6 years ago +1

Also change the settings of GPS recording to "Every Seconds".

For sure it is more accurate than the "Smart" mode.

All Replies

0 Tschens over 6 years ago

It is a matter of fact that the gps accuracy became worse with the fenix watch generation. As you already stated, the current pace shown by the watch is very often a bad joke. I compared my Fenix Sapphire several times with the good old forerunner 110. The tracks of the latter, although about 10 years old, are more precise. However, interestingly the total distance is of comparable accuracy in my case, it is just the track that jumps around. I think the problem is the metal housing of the watch which worsens the signal.

0 mcalista over 6 years ago

You may want to try GPS + Gallileo. Gallileo recently (Feb 2019) completed commissioning their full constellation of satellites, so performance may be better than your previous experience.

0 sagybp over 6 years ago in reply to mcalista

GPS + Gallileo? where can I choose that? I only have an option for GPS + GLONASS on my watch.

0 sagybp over 6 years ago in reply to mcalista

Oh, I got it. I need GPS 2.20 to have Galileo and it doesn't update on air, only when I connect the watch to the computer (which I think I've never done).
I'll try it this evening.
Thanks!

0 AnatoliAngelov over 6 years ago

Also change the settings of GPS recording to "Every Seconds".

For sure it is more accurate than the "Smart" mode.

0 sagybp over 6 years ago in reply to AnatoliAngelov

Thanks!

0 Former Member over 6 years ago in reply to mcalista

mcalista said:
Gallileo recently (Feb 2019) completed commissioning their full constellation of satellites,

Not quite yet according to an article from May 2019. When completed, it will have a total of 30 satellites, 24 operational and 6 backups and the projected date is 2020. Currently, Galileo has 26 satellites deployed. 22 which are operational, 2 for testing and 2 listed as unavailable. There are another 2 not counted in the 26 deployment that have been retired. You can still use what's available now, but it's not yet completed.

0 sagybp over 6 years ago in reply to mcalista

Updating the GPS and choosing Galileo actually helped. I ran this morning and it looked much better than before.

0 mcalista over 6 years ago in reply to Former Member

Sorry, I probably used the wrong wording. I meant they achieved Full Operating Capability in Feb 2019, rather than their full constellation. Galileo will continue to launch additional satellites for redundancy.