Fenix 6 sapphire ski calories way off.

Well I'm in Switzerland and the watch doesn't calculate well my calories after skiing!!i did 3 hours only on black slopes and a did push myself a lot..it wrote 97 calories burned,I friends of mine he was skiing next to me with his Apple Watch his wrote 647...please garmin help !to much money for not doing the basic stuff.Also the altitude is far some times ..I need to but a running mode to find my altitude and then I'm closing the mode.

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0 TobiasLj over 4 years ago

Can you post a link to the activity? One big difference is that I think Garmin just calculates for the time being active (=skiing). I doubt you spent 3 hours skiing downhill in black slopes?

This is from a skiing activity I did with my four year son:

We spent 1½ hour on the skis but just 24 minutes skiing. The rest was in the lift or standing still.
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/4363003069

I haven't used the F6 for any personal skiing activities yet but used my F3 and it behaved the same. Check this one: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/3445025508 more than 6 hours skiing but only 1100kcal based on 2h active skiing.

0 renton82 over 4 years ago in reply to TobiasLj

However, altitude is way off from the correct value, I calibrated it before first descent and after 2 or 3 ride, altitude was about 200m lower! I calibrated altimeter again but it remained stuck even if I was climbing on a ski lift... Ski app is totally bugged in my opinion.

0 JRMiler over 4 years ago

Your watch is probably much closer to being correct than the apple watch. Skiing doesn't burn many calories because you just don't spend all that much time actually doing it. In a pretty serious resort ski day where I hit the first lift, skip lunch, and head in after the lifts to the more remote terrain close down, I might do 30,000 vertical feet of mostly black and double blacks. My total skiing time is usually less than 90 minutes. Most people ski about 20,000 vertical feet in a day. Keep in mind that you don't just have to subtract the lift time; you also have to subtract any time you spend on the slopes not actually skiing. Few people are skiing 1000 vertical feet without stopping.

Anyway, it has nothing to do with money or "getting things right." It's simply not possible to come up with a very accurate calorie estimate from a watch. The only activity where you can get a really accurate calorie estimate is running, because it's directly proportional to body weight and distance. Pretty much everything else has too many variables, so the only way you'd know is by actually measuring the gas exchange (how much oxygen are you consuming). Heart rate doesn't tell you that.

0 TobiasLj over 4 years ago in reply to renton82

Verify your settings for altitude calibration, https://support.garmin.com/en-GB/?faq=bq8ukuBFY02hCQVUueiH56. If you have continuous calibration during activity set it may give the results you describe. Since you will be sitting in a lift that is several meters above the ground DEM calibration will set the wrong altitude. If the lift is a gondola or cableway it may be very off.

I haven't used the F6 except for small mountains but with the F3 the Skiing app was very good with respect to altitude.

0 morey000 over 4 years ago in reply to JRMiler

Exactly what I was going to say JRMiler. So- since I just had a full day of skiing today, here are my numbers. 36,000 vert. Mostly black diamond bump runs. total downhill "moving" time- 2:16. Rarely got my HR up to even mid-zone 2. It does say 624 calories burned tho, which seems about right. I'm 135lbs and 55 years old.

That said- my legs are fatigued. :) Worked hard today. But it was one of those beautiful sunny days, with a few inches of fresh powder. Nice. so, maybe not exactly 'work'.

0 renton82 over 4 years ago in reply to TobiasLj

I owned Fenix 2, 3, Epix, 920XT, Fenix 5X, Fenix 5X Plus, 945, and now 6X Solar, so i have a good base to compare with. I know how barometer/altimeter works, i can say that that's something wrong with altimeter in ski app, it works exactly like this :

https://forums.garmin.com/outdoor-recreation/outdoor-recreation/f/fenix-6-series/213601/ski-app---wrong-elevation-and-number-of-laps-v5-0-and-6-0

I tried many times to calibrate altimeter also when i was waiting for the lift not only "on" the lift, and i noticed that soon after i recalibrated altimeter it remained stuck for almost one minute even if i was climbing. This kind of behavior remember me a similar 2 years ago Fenix 5X's bug when altimeter was very slow to react.

0 TobiasLj over 4 years ago in reply to renton82

renton82 said:
I owned Fenix 2, 3, Epix, 920XT, Fenix 5X, Fenix 5X Plus, 945, and now 6X Solar, so i have a good base to compare with. I know how barometer/altimeter works, i can say that that's something wrong with altimeter in ski app, it works exactly like this :

Have you opened a support case with Garmin?

0 renton82 over 4 years ago in reply to TobiasLj

I have reported it to outdoor beta team

0 TobiasLj over 4 years ago in reply to renton82

It sounds like a big issue and I think it would be good to also create a support request. The beta team probably only prioritize things that they did change in a beta or issues that should be included in a beta.

0 renton82 over 4 years ago in reply to TobiasLj

I something talk to them and i noticed that seems to prioritize some bug and leave behind others, i don't know by what criterion...

I'm off topic but:

for example i'm reporting this bug :

https://forums.garmin.com/outdoor-recreation/outdoor-recreation/f/fenix-5-series/139809/projected-elevation-profile-still-wrong-since-v-7-10-when-navigating-a-route

https://forums.garmin.com/outdoor-recreation/outdoor-recreation/f/fenix-6-series/172029/projected-elevation-plot-when-navigating-an-auto-route-is-it-correct-on-the-f6-looks-like-not-fixed

and i made also a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r30lqy2T2rU

since almost 3 year (a very critical bug), bug even if they reply me that they are working on it, nothing changed...