Instinct - incorrect altitude recording

PhilFrance over 2 years ago

Dear All,

experimenting a lot of incorrect Altitude recording I try to catch some clues here with your help.

My Instinct record each time this time of infos below with a "bump" at the beginning and following flat.

the "real" graph should be

Reading the forum it seems that there some problems with the Altimeter and Barometer

I recalibrate Altimeter and Barometer with the GPS without any positive changes

I'm now in V17.5 product version but there's no changes

could you help me ?

Top Replies

Presi Patidors over 2 years ago in reply to PhilFrance +1

Hi, version 18.10 Beta works better, but not enough... We are expecting for an official version that correct altimeter/barometer issues.
trux over 2 years ago in reply to XMCE +1

XMCE said:
Right after manual altitude calibration, sitting indoor by the computer without movement, my altitude reported changed 70 meters in 3 minutes, up to 120 meters in next 3 mins as I am writing…

All Replies

0 serjmac over 2 years ago

Avoid version 17.50. Look here https://forums.garmin.com/outdoor-recreation/outdoor-recreation/f/instinct/303254/altimeter-negative-spiking-after-17-50-upgrade-causing-gigantic-errors

I had some time in summer as I was on vacation, Garmin didn't seem able to fix so downgraded to 17.00 which works acceptable (error margins are about +10% of added climb).

I disabled automatic updates in the Instinct settings, to avoid automatic updates to newer versions that we cannot rely. Unfortunately Garmin is using us as betatesters. I would not recommend Garmin anymore as serious manufacturer. In fact, for already some years I have had bugs in all Garmin devices I had (forerunners).

At least stuck at 17.00 version I can live with that error margin. As soon as I finish the activity, in Strava, I moddify the activity and set to correct altitude with Strava data, which uses the recorded track to generate terrain mesh total climb, which should be so much precise.

Unfortunately again, Garmin does not allow this setting directly from mobile Garmin Conect App. You can only use this altitude climb corrections in the Web version of Garmin Connect, every single time.

So in summary, my advice:

- Rollback to 17.00

- Use strava or any other app that allows you to easily fix total climb, to fix the minor error margin that still is generated from the Instinct @ 17.00.

- Or use Garmin Connect Web version every single time to set the elevation correction.

- As you can see, the Altimeter from the Garmin Instinct, is more like a toy, a entry level quality.

- At this stage, don't expect big fixes, they always expect you to buy a higher tier device with the hope of fulfilling expectations.

Pretty sad, isn't it?