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Anyone never have barometer/altimeter issues?

mrscientist
over 4 years ago

Hi all, I've had more than a few Garmin watches that have had barometers, and, at some point, almost all of them have failed. From my last conversation with Garmin, it is most likely from my swimming two to three hours a week.

My question is, are there any Fenix owners out there who swim consistently over two hours a week that have never had problems with their barometer? Full disclosure, I've never followed the steps here, Clean barometer ports, which may be my problem. I currently do everything with my Fenix 6, but swim with my 245, but have found the 245 OHR is not great, and, I can't use an external HR strap with it. I'm considering going back to swimming with my Fenix, and following the barometer care instructions more faithfully.

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  • 0 over 4 years ago

    You shouldn't have any issues as long as you follow the cleaning instructions.

    I'd also recommend diluting some dish soap in water, and soaking your watch in that occasionally, maybe every month, for an hour or so (then rinsing it off really well with clean water afterwards). That'll help dissolve and clean out any mineral buildup inside the port.

    If you don't do those cleaning instructions at least occasionally, your barometer will almost certainly fail after a while.

    A lot of people also have good luck just wearing the watch in the shower, and giving it a good rinse under the shower head each day.

  • 0 over 4 years ago
    mrscientist said:
    From my last conversation with Garmin, it is most likely from my swimming two to three hours a week.

    I've been swimming in sea and pool with Garmin watches since it was possible - 310XT an up and never (well only when software caused problems) had issues with the altimeter/barometer like some have reported. I do ensure it us rinsed in fresh water after each swim. I also wear it in the shower after each activity and make sure it is dried off afterwards.

    I have never taken specific steps to clear the barometer ports but it is more than likely that my post-activity regime is sufficient to prevent issues.

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    i had a 245 and the ohr was really good and i am anal about it and i could connect ant+ or bt chest strap to it. why can you not use an external hr strap ?

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    Mine also works ok. Only soft 13.20 caused a variation in height. version 15.20 seems to solve this problem and the howling are a few meters without calibration

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    I've had 3 different Garmin watches with barometers and haven't had any problems.  Same for my hubby.  We usually spend about two hours a week swimming for 5-6 months out of the year.  We both clean ours as C.sco described, but we usually do it once a week.  We shower with our watches and we see the white calcium build up on our shower heads and the iron stains around our outside water spickets from our municipality's water.  Those minerals can build up in the barometer port too.

  • 0 over 4 years ago
    C.sco said:
    A lot of people also have good luck just wearing the watch in the shower, and giving it a good rinse under the shower head each day

    Dr Phil said:
    I also wear it in the shower after each activity and make sure it is dried off afterwards.
    tess said:
    We shower with our watches

    Thank you all for your responses. I have always showered with my watches on, but never really let the water go into the ports. After my swim today with my Fenix, I made sure the let the water go into the ports, then I ran it under the faucet for a bit as well. I'll also make sure to soak it more when I'm washing dishes.

    Pierrotsc said:
    why can you not use an external hr strap ?

    I can use an external strap for every activity except swimming. The watch will connect to my HRM-SWIM, but it doesn't correctly receive the HR data after the swim.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to mrscientist

    really strange. when i finish swimming and stop my activity, it says that it is downloading data from my hrm-tri. something is wrong there then.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to Pierrotsc
    Pierrotsc said:
    really strange. when i finish swimming and stop my activity, it says that it is downloading data from my hrm-tri. something is wrong there then.

    I believe that's the correct behavior. Since the HR strap cannot communicate with the watch under water, the strap stores the data during the swim and then downloads the HR data to the watch.

  • 0 over 3 years ago

    Hello,

    How is your Fenix doing? I also had barometer malfunction after 1,5 years and I got a refurb. Now I don't know whether I should swim with it or not... Why would 10ATM rated watch have altimeter issues? It should be protected from water. What did Garmin tell you?

    Cheers!

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to ted360

    seen loads of issues around this on more than just Garmin models - Suunto has similar issues too.

    Most on suunto forums just take a very soft worn toothbrush to the altimeter/barometer hole, and have often found that cleaning out the hole assist and improves readings.