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Fenix 6X Pro - why do my GPS tracks have straight line sections?

geoffmozz
over 3 years ago

My brand new Fenix 6X Pro watch (Xmas gift) is recording tracks with straight line sections in them. Should I return the watch to Garmin?

I use the watch in the Lake District hills (UK) to navigate planned routes and record my tracks.

I'm using 'every second' and have tried smart recording too. I have also tried GPS + Galileo and GPS + GLONASS. Nearly all the tracks contain sections where my movement was not being faithfully recorded. I was always under a very open sky. My phone was also tracking on one occasion and it had no trouble at the point where the Fenix track straight-lined.

Auto-pause is off.

Any clues? I'm on the point of returning it.  My Garmin eTrex 20x has never missed a beat over many years use.

  • 0 over 3 years ago

    I think, that some erroneous trackpoint filtering algorithm is the culprit. Yes, tracks look a lot smoother than on my older Fenix 5x, but now we have this issue as the downside. And whenever I encounter this problem, the newer Fenix is able to reaquire my position very quickly and accurately simply by changing satellite system or performing "pause - resume later - resume" sequence without speed increase. So the solution for Garmin is pretty obvious here - add forced position update after some reasonable distance or time threshold. It is clear why not so many people encounter this issue, simply because they don't use the watch in such "prolonged low speed" scenarios, and not everyone is so meticulous when analyzing their track data. But this is outdoor recreation device as well and it should perform adequately in such situation. Even my relatively old smartphone does not suffer from this.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to Dima

    It certainly looks like an algorithm at work. When the watch is tracking properly it's accuracy is OK and its 'time to first fix' is fairly quick which suggests no reception problems.

    I use the 'Navigate' widget because I want to navigate with it. Unless I can rely on it to show the GNSS receiver-derived location it's no good for navigation.

    I can understand an algorithm having some utility for avoiding nesting for fitness types or similar, but when 'navigating' the arrow absolutely MUST mark where the GNSS receiver says the watch is.  If I was avoiding cornices coming off the summit of Ben Nevis it wouldn't be wise to use a plotted route on the watch in case it decided not to track the watch's motion. Aaaarrrgghh.

    I was out yesterday and today in the Lake District hills. I watched the arrow stay still whilst I moved.  No good.

    My phone will record a trackpoint every second. It's fine. Never misses a beat.

    C'mon Garmin. A setting for the 'navigate' widget that allows the watch to navigate!

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to geoffmozz

    Garmin might be doing something with the files, recording on the 6X is once per second!

    GPX download link here for you, if it works! 

    right click to dl?

    I have sent this off to Garmin support. Will be interesting to see what kind of reply I get!!

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to Keith Robertson

    Just to update everyone. Garmin UK have forwarded this issue to Garmin Engineers in the US. 

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to Keith Robertson

    Following with interest. Please keep us informed :-) I've gone to Garmin support. The support agents initially suggested it was environmental factors or gps drift. They clearly hadn't understood the issue or looked at the problem.  I pointed out that these two things wouldn't produce the results we're getting and they now claim to have 'reviewed' the information. I've been asked to do a full reset. I will do that but doubt it will make a jot of difference. It's always had the bug from new and through a firmware update.....and as I now know I'm not alone and the fault can be reproduced on other watches too.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to geoffmozz

    Yes, full reset hasn’t done anything for me. Crucially on the example I sent them I was actually watching the map screen to stay on track while we were walking uphill as it was easy to loose the path in the bog. The GPS was tracking very well, just not recording my progress as I discovered afterwards.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to Keith Robertson

    @geoffmozz @Keith Robertson

    I was able to reproduce this today on an ascent up Whiteside East Top starting at Lanthwaite Green. I see the jagged steps in my hiking track - its a slow ascent and a scramble in places and first time I ever saw it. 

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to 5135968

    Going slowly seems to cause the problem to appear. Were you using 'smart' data recording or 'every second'? I'm heading out with a fully reset watch tomorrow for a two day trip in the Lakes with a wild camp in the middle. I will be tracking with several devices to see how they all compare. I'm not al all optimistic that the Fenix 6X will behave differently. I will be climbing up the East ridge of Nethermost Pike with a heavy backpack on. That will be slow in parts and has caused the Fenix to stop following my position in the past. The ground is not unlike the scrambling ground you've shared here. I shall report back here and will be updating Garmin with the results. It's clearly a bug.

    My hope was that I could use the watch for navigation. Most of the time following the highlighted purple line works well. However there are places where you want the device to be accurate. I don't think it's just the trackpoints as written to file that are the problem. Last time out I saw the heading bug stay still whilst I slowly descended a tricky section of path. A minute or two later it suddnly jumped to a new position.  That's not the behaviour you want to see if you're navigating near cornices in the mist!

    If you open the FIT file that the watch records in Garmin's free Basecamp software you can examine the data recorded with every trackpoint. I get silly leg speeds of 30km/hr to 60km/hr when it's going wrong. Examples here. https://photos.app.goo.gl/vqxCEpQA5a8mu54o8 One from me and a couple from Keith.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to geoffmozz
    geoffmozz said:
    Were you using 'smart' data recording or 'every second'?

    Every second.

    I also recorded with a Coros Pace 2 at the same time - too be honest, I think I see the straight lines there too - same Sony chipset. So I think it's Sony being weird, not Garmin doing something 'odd'

    Garmin in purple, Coros Pace 2 in light blue zoomed in

    Overview

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to 5135968

    Interesting. Thanks for that. I'd be interested to see the two FIT files. Any chance of making them available? I'm hoping it's a firmware issue that could be fixed but if it's the Sony GNSS chipset then that's probably unfixable.  I wonder if the Fenix 7 suffers the same problem. I won't be relying on my watch for any delicate navigation. Coming off the summit of Ben Nevis in the mist springs to mind. Some care is required to avoid those cornices over the north face. A frozen heading bug would not inspire confidence!