Floors not counted + altimeter / barometer behaves strange (FW 22.10)

Today I had a step climbing activity (in a place I've done similar activites and I know that then the watch measured everything on the spot) and the watch counted 0 floors. It was outdoors (though probably it doesn't use GPS) and between the lowest and heighest floor there are 24 steps and we did it 20+ times up (we were running down not on the steps)

I tested now at home (same place where in the past we made floor climbs with the kids so I know the watch worked) and here too it detects 0 floors.

Then I tested the altimeter (ABC widget), and it doesn't show any change as I climbed the floor (in the past it did)

Then I tested the barometer (ABC widget) and this too in the past displayed changes not only when I climbed the floor but even when I raised my arm from the floor to 2m high, and now it does not show any difference.

So I thought it might be that some dirt blocks the sensor, but it looks clean, I blew some air into it to clean it, but nothing changed.

Then I came to the forum and typed all the above in.

Then I removed the watch from my wrist and did the "raise from the floor to 2m height" test and now it worked when I looked at the altimeter, but still no change whatsoever when I look at the barometer. How does it detect 3 seconds after I raise the watch from the floor to either 1m or 2m height without detecting any change in the barometer?

I put the watch back on my wrist, and do the floor to 1m ans 2m heigh test, and now it only detects 1m when it should detect 2m.
I remove it from my wrist, and now it detects both 1m and 2m height correctly. What's going on? Looks like the fact whether I wear it on my arm or not affects the altimeter more than the actual height. And the barometer doesn't show any difference (I remember in the past when I climbed the floor in the house I saw it was changing)

When I look at the ABC widget then both the altimeter and the barometer plot shows changes in the last 4/6 hours.

I went to do one more test: now I did not climb the floor while looking at the ABC widget as previously but started a floor climb activity. This time I can see on the data field that I'm climbing from 21 to 26 meters (I even did it twice) but still the floor count is 0.

Some info that might be needed/helpful:
Fenix 6 (regular) FW 22.10, Sensor Hub: 18.02. All the tests except the 1st climbing activity were indoors (but as far as I know it should not use GPS anyway)
Altimeter settings: Auto Cal: on, Sensor mode: auto
It's hot here (27 C now at midnight)

0 trux over 3 years ago

flocsy🤠 said:
It was outdoors (though probably it doesn't use GPS)

I do turn the GPS on, at the Floor Climbing activity, when climbing floors outdoors. The accuracy is usually better with the GPS. Hard to tell whether it makes a difference with the floors count, but I found that the total elevation gain was more credible with it. And additionally, if the GPS elevation was not accurate enough, you can enable the Elevation Correction in Garmin Connect Web, and you get a corrected value, using the topographical model.

flocsy🤠 said:
Then I removed the watch from my wrist and did the "raise from the floor to 2m height" test and now it worked when I looked at the altimeter, but still no change whatsoever when I look at the barometer. How does it detect 3 seconds after I raise the watch from the floor to either 1m or 2m height without detecting any change in the barometer?

The watch shows the MSLP (Mean Sea Level Pressure), not the ambient pressure, hence it would be wrong if it changed.

Otherwise, there are some tips, that may help to get better results with the floor climbing, in the thread What's the secret to tracking stairs accurately?

Some of the same tips are included also in the official document: My Floors Climbed credit is not accurate. What can I do?

0 flocsy🤠 over 3 years ago in reply to trux

Thanks, I read both, indeed there were important things so I hope I'll do better from tomorrow. However there's one missing piece from the puzzle: can you send a link to some official Garmin docs where they tell that the Barometer widget displays MSLP? To me that makes no sense. What would it help me to see the sea level pressure on my watch while climbing a steep hill? Can it be you confused the displayed pressure with the pressure you need to set during manual calibration?

0 MattNoir over 3 years ago in reply to flocsy🤠

With the MSLP it's easy. If it showed ambient pressure, it would show much lower values than what it shows you, based on altitude. For example I am around 220m above sea, so my ambient pressure should show something around 986 hPa, but it still shows ~1015 hPa, which is normal sea level pressure.

That being said, floor counting is wonky with my F6X as well, sometimes counting, sometimes not. I had the same route yesterday and today, yet it shows different values. Not to mention that during activity the gauge does not go up, only numbers. It's weird as my previous Vivoactive 4 was showing it all correctly

0 trux over 3 years ago in reply to flocsy🤠

flocsy🤠 said:
can you send a link to some official Garmin docs where they tell that the Barometer widget displays MSLP?

MSLP is the standard used in meteo. You won't see many places using the ambient pressure. Most probably you will see it mentioned in the manual of your watch. In mine it is here:

https://www8.garmin.com/manuals/webhelp/GUID-31D23DBB-57C2-4DF7-A0C9-8D1A00AB4BE7/EN-US/GUID-53F2E412-E939-4B29-B5B3-3F3CCAA0ECAB.html

Calibrating the Barometer
Your watch was already calibrated at the factory, and the watch uses automatic calibration at your GPS starting point by default. You can manually calibrate the barometer if you know the correct elevation or the correct sea level pressure.