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Elevation consistently inaccurate (reading too low)

Radek
over 5 years ago

I'm having issues with the Instinct reading lower elevation than it should, which results in considerably lower elevation gains than what you should be seeing. One might be tempted to blame this on sweat, poor weather conditions and what not, but that's actually not the case. I'm noticing this on a very short ride (roughly 11km). Start and finish elevation are typically within 5m of each other (which is IMHO fairly accurate). I've had three different devices prior to this one (cycling computers)

After looking more closely at the graphs, I've noticed that the Instinct just plain out ignores certain elevation gains, and instead chooses to think I'm riding a flat profile. It does so very consistently and given that the starting and ending point read the same elevation, I'm inclined to believe this is a sofware issue. Naturally, the watch mode is set to altimeter. 

So my question is whether this is a known issue and whether I can expect a fix. Difference of 40m in 11km is pretty big in my opinion. 

  • 0 over 5 years ago

    Got my watch a couple of weeks ago. It was at firmware 2.6 and elevation seemed ok. Now it has updated to version 4 the elevation is doing exactly what this thread describes. Is there a way to revert the firmware and see if it fixes the problem again?

  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 5 years ago in reply to RobertRehnmark-RawViking

    Hi. I do not see that option for my Instinct. Where might I find it please?

  • 0 over 5 years ago

    I hope this might help some of those having this problem.

    I created a discussion conerning similar things a few weeks ago (see "too smoothed elevation profile") and my conclusion is that it is not a software issue but a watch design issue with the barometer.

    The barometer hole is very close to the skin on the right hand side of the watch. Thus it is really subject to sweat accumulation into it and to artificial pressure increase (and then elevation glitches) if you fold your wrists back and block the hole.

    In addition if you take off your watch when having a shower (what I do to avoid skin irritation due to moisture) I guess some of the salt of your sweat will be accumulating in the barometer each time you go running creating some kind of a buffer (pressure measurement will take some time to get the actual value) and the watch will not see small elevations/descents parts of your run.

    I really can't understand why they put that hole at that place...

    Now I am wearing the Instinct on my right wrist (this is really disturbing) and I give it a bath with warm water regularly and my elevation curves are much better.

  • 0 over 5 years ago in reply to dav.dc

    I read that post but I don't tend to wear the watch on my wrist when mountain biking but use the Garmin bike mount.  I did try soaking the device to give it a bit of a clean out but didn't work for me.

  • 0 over 5 years ago in reply to tafuk2

    Ok, sorry it didn't help

    I hope you will find how to fix this !

  • 0 over 5 years ago in reply to dav.dc

    Have had a go at giving it a good clean before I swap wrist and I would definitely say that there is an improvement. I'll see how I get on with running and biking this weekend Slight smile

  • 0 over 5 years ago

    Same issue here too. I'll try the spa treatment

  • 0 over 5 years ago

    On my last 2 bike rides, I've seen massive improvements in elevation gain accuracy by wearing the watch over a wrist band (cutoff sock top).  I was pretty certain that sweat was impacting the altimeter sensor, as I had been seeing issues after 20-30 minutes of a run or ride activity.  I wear a chest strap for most runs and rides, so blocking the OHR is no issue (doesn't work well for me during those activities anyway).

    These rides were also during cooler temperatures, so I hope this improvement continues once I'm out in the heat again.

  • 0 over 5 years ago

    I’ve seen my total ascent and descent be 3x off what it should be usually while mountain biking.  Recently I did a ride that was about 1000ft elevation gain and the instinct tracked a 3000 foot gain.  The graph shows spikes that quickly reverted to expected.  I think Garmin is over valuing the barometric altimeter reading instead of also using gps elevation to double check the readings.  I’m convinced a software fix could alleviate this problem.

  • 0 over 5 years ago

    I’ve seen my total ascent and descent be 3x off what it should be usually while mountain biking.  Recently I did a ride that was about 1000ft elevation gain and the instinct tracked a 3000 foot gain.  The graph shows spikes that quickly reverted to expected.  I think Garmin is over valuing the barometric altimeter reading instead of also using gps elevation to double check the readings.  I’m convinced a software fix could alleviate this problem.