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Altimeter negative spiking after 17.50 upgrade, causing gigantic errors

serjmac
over 2 years ago

After the latest 17.50 firmware upgrade, my Instinct seems to gone totally useless in regards to the altimetry.

Until now, it was more or less usable, as a lot of people had reported, it usually record more positive climb that should (maybe between 10% to 20% excess).

But now look at the altimetry record. Those negative continuous spiking caused that about a 890 meters total climb, the device recorded 6600 meters total climb !! That is so insanely wrong.

I have done this route several times, never happened before.

Device was calibrated prior to start, the start altimeter is right at about 1050 meters.

Does anybody know why the barometer has gone this wrong?

But

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to 69BG

    @69BG have you noticed that this bug was not happening until recent firmware updates?

    OK I will answer you as I respect the time you put in writing.

    Yes I tested in right arm. Yes I verified and cleaned sensor openings. 

    Results were the same.

    Ahh guess what? As I also said, this happens in the first meters of climb , before I'm actually sweating. Ah, speed is about 8-12 km/h in the video, if you think that can cause a bug to the pressure sensor Garmin can close their business.

    As I said, I have been using the Instinct for running and biking for long, this bug has not happened for the first 13 months. Then now suddenly after fw updates this is happening. 

    While this is fixed, can someone tell us if there is a way to downgrade the Instinct?

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to serjmac

    Yes, I also have observed that with previous SW versions, the altidude measurement was not that bad as it is with 17.50 (or 17.00). I'm unable to tell, when it started to get worse, I think it was beginning with SW 16.xx.

    I wrote my last reply with the sole intention to point out some potential "workaround" which may help minimizing the negative effects.
    And I totally agree, the design of such watches (mainly the location and detail shaping of the pressure port) should be in such way, that that it is not subsceptible for these pressure issues.

    Btw: I still have my "proven-in-use" etrex Vista HCx (built in 2010!) and this has never given any problems in terms of altitude measurement till now...

    W.r.t. "downgrading": you'll need an older version of the firmware (say 16.50) and put it with file name "GUPDATE.GCD" in the "\garmin" folder of your watch (connection via USB with your PC, Garmin Express shall not be running). Then disconnect the watch from the PC and restart it. Now the watch should ask you if you really want to install an older version than the one currently installed on your device.
    NOTE: this will reset the watch to its factory settings, i.e. you'll loose all your personal "customizations". So before downgrading, make sure you will save your settings, see the post of Trux: => Can I Back up My Information and Settings on My Garmin Device? | Garmin Customer Support 


    Then refer to the post above written by RDIFRA:

    "download the 17.00 Beta, inside you will find two folders:
    System_1700 containg the beta version
    System_Backdate_1650 contatining the 16.50 stable version

    here is the link:

    https://download.garmin.com/gsup/006-B3126-00/17.00/full/rel/7a694638-8303-4a84-9dbe-daa306c2b4e7/Instinct_1700Beta.zip"

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to 69BG

    Ready 16.50 on my watch, tomorrow I'll tell you how it goes.

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to 6143472

    Checked, with the 16.50 it goes much better, I would say almost perfect.

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to 69BG

    Thank you for the downgrade tips. I installed 17.00 and recovered activity and user settings by putting the .fit files in the Newfiles folder after 17.00 booted, and it worked, I have my Instinct back at 17.00 with everything configured.

    Did a well known 30 km. with a 860 m. total climb route, and... bug is not present. Altimeter profile recorded 1005m. without spikes, where it should show about 860m. That's back to the usual Instinct altimeter error margin. I have an activity screen with both GPS and baro altimeters, and they were usually near, 20-30 meters away, without spiking.

    So I'll stick to 17.00 for now. I can assure 17.50 altimeter is bugged.

  • 0 over 2 years ago

    If anyone is looking for another stable version, I am still at 16.00 and it is working flawlessly, no matter how much I sweat or if wear the watch "correctly". I think it is the last one before people started complaining about the altimeter. Unfortunately, I don't have the beta .zip file, so I can't share it. Disappointed

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to 4857931

    can you stop with this spam?

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to RDIFRA
    RDIFRA said:
    can you stop with this spam?

    It is not a spam, it is the firmware. Just the user unfortunately selected a bit obscure file server with a stupid 100s waiting loop. He could have easily uploaded the file directly here, using the function Insert » Image/Video/File, instead.

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to 69BG

    @69BG: Thanks for the step-by-step. Worked!

    Cheers!