Altimeter over reading during high winds

Look at my multiple posts about spikes in elevation profile...

I had bad experience with the over reading of altimeter...  I think a design flaw with sweat pushed into the baro holes, as I documented. by running with the air flow face towards the baro holes when the watch on left side.

I had to sold the Fenix 6X after one year of claims with Garmin without any feedback. They replaced twice the gps in warranty and had always the same... they didn’t care about analyzing the issue, they just replaced w/o caring of the customer.

All useless, no answers from Garmin. I got a rid of the brand going back to Suunto, much more reliable products bug free, and not testing products with customers on the market.

Thought you'd left.

Hadn't realized Suunto was such a good watch. I'm guessing these posts aren't identifying bugs or problems then:

forum.suunto.com/.../ios-issues-bugs

Elevation issue here -

 forum.suunto.com/.../general-elevation-drops-in-fit-file-from-suunto-app

That's quite a run so kudos to you both.

GaryMort said:

Would the huge difference in elevation be expected if the sensor is open to high winds?

My personal thought is no. I've been out in windy conditions on summits with my watch worn the same as you and not seen anything out of the ordinary.

It's hard to know for certain why there is a difference and so many people have speculated about so many things that can cause elevation problems without really knowing any more than you or I. The first thing would be to check that all your software versions are identical  and both have the same settings for the altimeter and barometer. 

Next time before you run check to see what the elevation is on both watches. If the settings are the same then the elevation should be very close between the two.

If you have the same problem again then perhaps reach out to Garmin Support.

Suunto? Reliable? Bug free? Maybe years ago, but now they are among the worst products out there. Hardly anyone even posts on the Suunto forum anymore.

I experimented with placing mine in front of a large fan that was blowing in the range of 20-25mph and as I rotated it in every possible orientation I could get it to vary by a few feet, but not much more than that.  For the most part it had no effect.  I'm sure you could reach higher winds than that on a mountain summit, but I doubt it would make much difference and you wouldn't be running in a continual 50mph wind I suspect.

I experimented with placing mine in front of a large fan that was blowing in the range of 20-25mph and as I rotated it in every possible orientation I could get it to vary by a few feet, but not much more than that.  For the most part it had no effect.  I'm sure you could reach higher winds than that on a mountain summit, but I doubt it would make much difference and you wouldn't be running in a continual 50mph wind I suspect.

That's interesting because I sometimes have issues with my F6 sapphire reporting too high elevation, and sometimes pretty much nails it compared to the expected route...
Did you have the same altimeter settings on your watches ? Automatic calibration during activity / at start ?
As Philip mentioned it's quite tricky and there are lots of things that can cause a false elevation reading.

All things were equal. Same model of watch - Fenix 6 Pro, same software, same settings. Only difference was which wrist the watch was worn on, one sensor port being more open to wind. I’ve seen this happen before during high winds but never when lower in altitude and away from high winds.

The forecast was 40mph winds with summit gusts at 60/70mph. We were close to being blown over at point. 

Coming down one fell I could see the elevation on my watch increase as I was heading into the wind but always descending. I then covered the watch and it seemed to stop. 

It's a pressure sensor.  If the pressure changes the watch thinks you've gone up or down.   I've literally had mine and my partner's watches both say we dropped 500' and then climbed back up that 500' feet over the course of an hour.  On a 400meter track.  Why?  Because a high pressure front moved through the area and both watches recorded it as a descent.   It's basic science. 

I also had problems with measurement errors of my Garmin Fenix 6 when cycling - it often gave twice as much elevation gain than my other tools (bicycle computer of myself en those of my cycling buddy).

I bike (mtb and race), I don't sweat on my arm and if I do the wind prevents my arms from becoming sweaty. So the too large elevations recorded by my Garmin were not caused by moisture entering the space with sensors. 

I ran some experiments, 3 with the watch covered, 3 in my cabrio car and then compared total elevation gain with the measurement of my cycling computer (sigma Rox 11) and the measurements of my cycling buddy's bicycle computer (Garmin) and his Garmin watch (Fenix 5).

Covering the watch did the trick - no large differences were observed when I covered my watch. Also in the cabrio car (where wind near my watch is absent) were also accurate (my watch still gave 5% too large elevation gains - but I would say that is acceptable). 

Since most people wear their watch on their left arm - I think it is a design failure to put the opening of this sensor on the right side of the watch - however... I must say that I also ran 2 experiments wearing the watch on my right arm - this did not sign. improve the results. 

What are your experiences when you replicate my experiment?

Kind regards, 

Erwin