GPS gone to hell with 10.10

Settings: GPS + Glonass
CPE: Current.


Before 10.10 when leaving my house for a run it would take a minute or two to get GPS lock and the tracking was close to the route I run. Since 10.10 it takes 5 to 10 minutes to get a lock and the tracking is completely screwed. And yes, I have both soft and hard reset. Map data is up to date and I sync with connect before heading out.

  • I am not yet on 10.10, still 10RC, but I believe the advice after firmware upgrade is to let GPS soak before use, maybe for 20 minutes or something. Ideally I think this would be static, so just leave it in a window or out in the garden etc to sort itself out, even if you don't plan to use it immediately, but maybe an hour or even a day later.

    Even without a new firmware my watch definitely benefits from a couple of minutes soaking, after the GPS Indicator goes green, if I want an accurate start point and early track accuracy. If I don't soak and just set off immediately then my start point might be off by 10m or so. With a short soak it might be less than 2m in error.

  • I have. After the upgrade, I went and sat in the park for about half an hour. Didn't make a blind bit of difference. I mostly run 5ks and it's pathetic that it's now taking longer to get a reliable GPS signal than it takes me to actually run the 5k.

  • Fair enough. Sorry to hear that. No doubt I shall be finding out for myself soon enough.

  • Mine is very fast with 10.10. It takes now only ~6 seconds to get GPS lock. (GPS+Galileo). Checking the accuracy today but I think there is no update on GPS from RC  10 sw so expecting to get the same.

  • Mine is superfast too, about 3 seconds for GPS fix with 10.10.

    GPS + GLONASS

  • GPS + GLONASS here in europe, working as fast as usual (< 1 minute).

  • the advice after firmware upgrade is to let GPS soak before use

    Which is the right way to do it? Starting an activity or only opening it and wait for GPS fix? The watch have to be perfectly still (without detecting movement) or this is not so important?

  • I find it good enough to have the watch ready on the screen for a GPS activity - e.g. HIKE - but no need to start recording the activity.

    If you stay in one location it might speed things up, but I don't think the watch must be motionless. If you wear the watch while you sit or stand that will be easily good enough. I think even walking will do no harm. In fact nothing will do actual harm, it might just slow the process a bit, but any soak before starting activity should help.

    Typically, when I walk/hike/run from home I just set the watch to Walk/Hike/Run indoors while I get ready and then walk slowly from the front door to my start point before starting to record. It is good enough. For a timed and measured race it might be wise to be a little more patient and thorough. If you use a footpod I think this is less important unless you want a "perfect" track recorded.

  • Here is an example from a 5k dog walk today, with the start/finish almost perfectly aligned at the car. The watch was soaking for maybe 5 minutes as I drove to the car park, but once there I did not wait.

    The wiggly bits at the beginning was with the dog on the lead and sniffing delays causing a wobble. Once on the move the tracks are smooth and mostly where they should be. Tree cover does throw things off at times.

  • That's what I've been doing and it's always been good enough until after the 10.10 update. This morning, I went for a 10k run. Walked to my start point with the watch ready to start my activity - usually by the time I get there, the watch has alerted me to a GPS lock - but nothing, not even red. I then spent 5 minutes doing warm-up stretches. Still nothing. Then it finally kicked in and I gave it another 5 minutes before I started my run and the first couple of miles were awful.
    Got back, had a shower, went to go out again (walk this time) and again it was appalling slow to latch onto the gps and even when it did - well... see for yourself!