Related

Open Water Track

7536738
over 4 years ago

Hi,  How accurate is the Open Water GPS with the Fenix 6 Pro?   I will be coming from an Apple Watch so the bar is very high.   Is anyone prepared to share a strava track for me to view?

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to philipshambrook
    philipshambrook said:
    I have posted a number of swims with my F6 Pro Sapphire throughout this past southern summer that clearly show this not to be the case.

    Philp, I am noticing a pattern with you as you seem to systematically reject other issues that people are having simply because you are not seeing it yourself.  What do you suggest I did wrong that the watch picked up and extra 1/2 mile on my swim which led to wrong pace average, but the track looks good?  Maybe you linger with your hand out of the water longer and you seem to get by?  In other words we can all have a different swim styles but the point is that I had the F5, the F3 and more and none had this issue.  If I look at the pace graph there are sections where it thinks I am swimming at 2 sec per 100 yards.  I am good (not really) but not that good.  The point is, this is far worse than any other Garmin I used in open water and requires Garmin to take a look.  This is where you tell us that it must be us, our swim style, how we wear the watch, etc, that this is not an issue because you are not seeing it :)

  • +1 over 3 years ago in reply to avikoren1

    I am not systematically rejecting other view points. Where I take issue is when people suggest there is a systemic flaw based on their experience and that of one or three others. I accept, and have said on several occasions, that there might be problems with some watches. But equally, there might be something wrong with swimming style.

    If we’re going to get personal, I could equally reply that you and others who apparently have nothing but problems hate that some of us don’t and feel that attacking us is a good thing.

    There is unlikely to be a systemic problem.

    BTW, I still don’t have 10.10. I’m guessing there must be something wrong with the update process. I'm not taking that omission personally though.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to philipshambrook

    Mine's not working as a swim watch. It's a replacement for one that doesn't work. I'm going to ask for my money back if they can't fix it. It simply doesn't do what it says it should do. 

    What's the software/firmware version in yours?

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to EYabsley
    EYabsley said:
    What's the software/firmware version in yours?

    All latest public release except on 10.0RC as 10.10 not made it to NZ yet.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to philipshambrook

    Hmm v9.0 on mine and auto update isn't offering anything else. Is your watch a Fenix 6X Pro or 6x sapphire? Or something else?

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to EYabsley

    By the way, iam in the exact same boat as you.  Distance is too long, in a two mile swim it will register 3 miles but the track is spot on.  I tried soaking the GPS and tried Glonass and Galileo.  All attempts produced the same results, too long on distance.  For me it seems obvious that there is something wrong and I can try to explain.  I have my watch set to vibrate every 500 yards.  As I start to swim I get the vibration every around 10 minutes which is great, thats about the right pace.  Then I get to a point where I stop, see how far I am and turn around.  During this time my hand is out of the water and appears like the watch is getting a better fix on SAT.  From this point forward trouble starts. As soon as I resume swimming I now can get a vibrate every 1 to 3 minutes, meaning the watch thinks I have advanced 500 yards every 1 to 3 minutes.  I think there is double dipping going on.  They seem to do a good job with distance while I swim under apparent sub-par SAT signals.  Perhaps they make adjustments on this poor condition but they do a good enough job.  Until I stop and the watch gets a good SAT signal, then it makes additional corrections (based on a good SAT fix) on top of the prior adjustments which now grossly over shoot my total distance by too much.  At any rate, Garmin is sending me a new watch to see if it will resolve the issue  I do see that my track are mainly straight lines which I believe means there was poor signal during that duration so maybe I do have a compromised signal reception issue.  Time will tell

  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 3 years ago in reply to avikoren1

    The comment about swimming in straight lines resulting maybe in compromised signal reception is interesting. As is holding one's wrist out of water to get a better fix. I do both of those. I swim *** stroke all the time so wrist is always under water and, unless I do the hand out half way through, it doesn't track at all. It's like a Catch 22 situation. I also did just wonder whether there is some kind of constant error that shows up more on shorter distances. My swims are around 500 to 800m only but it always has me swimming well over a 1000m. What gets me is that it should be so simple - press a button, go for a swim. In fact I had a previous device the Moov, where you didn't even have to press a button to start the activity as it was clever enough to recognise one was swimming. It didn't have GPS though

  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 3 years ago in reply to Former Member

    Haha, I love how it's edited breaststroke as offensive!

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to Former Member
    I swim *** stroke

    Sadly you’re not going to get joy with any GPS watch that records OWS; the GPS signals just don’t penetrate water, so you have to do a stroke where the watch momentarily leaves the water during a stroke https://support.garmin.com/en-GB/?faq=AnrKqtOX8FAzmF9yXaIXe6

    Tips to Improve Accuracy of Open Water Swim Activities

    When recording an open water swimming activity, following some best practices will ensure that the watch will provide the most accurate information possible. Here are some of the best practices to remember to ensure that the device is ready before beginning the activity.

    • Sync your watch
      • Syncing with either the Garmin Connect app or Garmin Express will allow the watch to obtain the latest satellite position information resulting a faster signal lock.

    • Wait a moment or two after you have acquired a signal
      • Waiting an additional minute or two before jumping into the water allows the watch to further triangulate your current position.

    • Swim with a stroke where the wrist comes out of the water
      • Depending on form and breathing pattern, it may be best to place the watch on the other wrist
      • Avoid strokes like the breaststroke and swimming underwater
      • If you stop swimming, keep the watch above the surface of the water
      • Try not to hold the watch underwater for more than 3-5 seconds

    • Wear the watch under a swim cap
      • For absolute best GPS data, it is recommended to wear the watch in a swim cap or to tow it in a dry bag that rides on the surface of the water.

    • Change GPS Recording Frequency
      • Changing GPS data recording to every second or a similar setting can improve GPS tracking in open water. See your owner's manual for more information. 

    Following these practices will maximize GPS accuracy when swimming.