Elevation Gain Issues

Former Member over 5 years ago

Hello all,

My Garmin Fenix 6 is calculating my elevation gain very incorrectly according to the running courses I have been making. The elevation gain reported after the runs has been more than one thousand feet less than the elevation gain reported by the course when I make it. Which is right - the course on my computer or the run calculated from the watch? If it's the watch, why is it off by so many feet?

Thank you,

Basil

Top Replies

5693709 over 4 years ago in reply to Legrangeandre +1

I'm not sure if the cause has been identified, but there are some theories. One theory is sweat gets into the holes on the side of the watch and blocks the free transfer of air (pressure) to the sensor…
Lanek over 4 years ago in reply to 5693709 +1

I'll see in the next activity, but it has never happened to me in Fenix 3 in a few years.

All Replies

0 silentvoyager over 5 years ago

Perhaps not exactly the same issue. But this morning I planned a course on a moderately hilly terrain. Garmin Connect shows zero elevation gain and zero elevation loss for the entire course, which is obviously wrong. When I uploaded the course on my F6X it showed something like 5500 ft for the entire course. I've noticed that the elevation profiles shown on Climb Pro looked very jagged with constant small changes in elevation.

The actual elevation gain at the end of the run was about 1200 ft which sounded about right and consistent with my previous runs in the the same area. So something is definitely going on with both Garmin Connect and the watch's ability to properly estimate elevation gain for the entire course.

0 Legrangeandre over 4 years ago in reply to TobiasLj

I’ve got a similar problem with the “nervous” elevation gain profile causing it to over estimate the total elevation gain completely. What was the problem? And if it has been discussed in another thread please post a link as I have been unable to find it.
Very frustrating for paying so much for a premium watch and then having all these issues, never had it on my FR920.

0 Lanek over 4 years ago in reply to Legrangeandre

Today, for the first time, the same problem.

0 5693709 over 4 years ago in reply to Legrangeandre

I'm not sure if the cause has been identified, but there are some theories. One theory is sweat gets into the holes on the side of the watch and blocks the free transfer of air (pressure) to the sensor. This has been somewhat substantiated by a user who put various coverings over the holes to prevent the sweat from entering that area, and found that to fix the problem. He also wore the watch on the other hand, so the sensor holes would face away from his hand and be less likely to accumulate sweat, and that seemed to help as well. I think he also wore the watch on his belt or something other than his wrist, and that also helped. He eventually gave up and returned the watch, so I'm not sure if his experiments were 100% consistent or not, but they did seem to support his theory.

The symptom always seems to be similar to your graph, where it doesn't start until 20-30 minutes into the activity. There are also several of us who have reported that our watch doesn't do this, so it appears to be a problem that's common to many, but not all, users.

0 Lanek over 4 years ago in reply to 5693709

I'll see in the next activity, but it has never happened to me in Fenix 3 in a few years.