Hello,
So today I did a bike ride with my Enduro 3 watch. A short ride, 1:20:00 with one two stops.
I was wearing my Fenix 3 yeah 3… on my other hand. I wanted to test the accuracy of the GPS, E3 vs F3 with chest strap.
Navigation – GPS
E3 – I started my ride in Auto Select mode the SatIQ
mode.
Well I am riding on well established paths and what really bothers me is that It isnever or sporadically bang on the path. I know that the environment dictates which system it uses but I think the auto select mode (especially when you are riding your bike) lags in recognising the environment and switches it slower, at least this is my impression.
So in a challenging environment in the mountains this will be a problem, if I am doing a multi-day trek. I must be bang on the path if it is foggy or it rains and I am on the ridges it will be bad. In good weather or not tired yeah maybe I will manage because I can stop and look and wander. But those paths here, even some streets under the trees it is like 3-5 meters off the path. It really bugs me.
When I plotted it on few navigation apps it looked not so bad but you can see many places I am next to the path not on it , even in good sky conditions.
Same happened when I did a short hike. Same accuracy.
All Systems
Then I switched to All systems, I was similar, maybe a little bit better accuracy,
ALL+multi band , Maybe maybe, a little bit better accuracy for the last leg of my journey.
Fenix 3 – Well , this bad boy it took him 2-3 min more to find GPS but when it did no issues. And when I plotted it against the Enduro 3 it was a bit less accurate on some place (where the ednuro 3 wasn’t good as well) but not much and on many many places it was bang on with the Enduro 3 on auto select and All systems.
Come on man this should not be happening my Fenix 3 how old is it ??? Come on man it should not be able to keep up so good.
Hearth Rate
I was wearing my old chest strap, which was very accurate. My Enduro 3 was 2-3 bpm slower than the strap.
The weird thing about it was that sometimes I had to shake my Enduro 3 to “bite”.
If I was on a trail consistently riding the strap and the wrist HR monitor was exactly the same rarely 1-2 bpm difference.
Where the strap outperforms the wrist HR monitor is when I was stopping to open cattle gates, or just stop to fiddle with the watch. My heart rate goes down quick and the strap was recognizing the drop way quickly than the wrist. The wrist kept up but way slower. Sometimes I had to shake it (maybe this was in my head but idk). The same was happening when I push from halt and my rate goes up , the strap again recognized it way quicker.
The moment I got consistent ride ahead they aligned every time.
Just to mention my strap ripped off my chest in the middle of the ride, too old but still very accurate. Crazy ….
But the thing is the Fenix 3 should not be close to the ednuro 3. Why are there all those options man they are not good enough. Fenix 3 is this the great product ? or what ? A bit busted and buttons not working properly but still … accurate, And accurate as much as the Enduro 3.
Same accuracy on a 1 hour hike.
I am going to the mountains end of the month for 7 days and it is getting unpleasant. I need a tool I can rely on, to be on the path. Idk if I want to return the watch to get the same with the same issues. I messaged garmin before 3 week no answer.
Battery
On this 1 h hike 3 % battery down 1:20:00 bike ride 3% down ?? Idk if this is normal, latest update and no wifi on no phone searching on only once a day connecting to sync. First night I charged it 100% 3 % down, and now 48% 12 days and it is estimated that 19 days left, but man I am switching off everything, should it be like that …
Idk what to do. I like the watch gave a lot of money ( for my situation). If I return it now probably no tool for the mountains and I booked everything and if I don’t return it until 12 Oct I probably wont be able to do it. #
But a bit disappointed , the Fenix 3 battered should not be able to be the same accuracy as the Enduro 3.
Latest Update on the watch tho.
Please give me advice on it ahah as I said I like the watch man. Am I doing something wrong (yeah I know big question.) Am I expecting too much from the accuracy ? is it enough ? if this is it idk.
Maybe in the mountains is way more open, but there are summits and ridges with forest and open space mixed. I bought the watch the be able just to look at the map and go stick to the route.
Those pictures are the best accuracy I could get
I have plotted this on other maps apps which are more accurate than this one, the Ednuro 3 seems quite accurate on those and you can see where the fenix 3 lags. I am yet to figure out are the Enduro 3 maps not that good and transfering data on the go on them slower, because I live in the UK , OS maps are accurate I am sure of it and on them it looks way better but still on some places is not the best. As I said on my phone when I am always physically on the path as I am on the map.
I will further more test this today and update this post