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Fenix 6 Barometric Altimeter not working, can I force it to use GPS instead?

DavidBrunner
over 1 year ago

Is there an option to force a Fenix 6 to use GPS for elevation rather than the altimeter? My reason to want to do this is that my barometric altimeter is broken. This is my second Fenix 6 that was replaced for the same reason.  In fact, my prior Fenix 4/5 model did the same thing, altimeter broke and I retuned twice during warranty. I've heard that swimming in Chlorine pools may be the culprit.  Regardless, if there were an option to force the watch to use GPS for elevation/altitude, then I'd be happy. Not sure why Garmin won't add this feature.  In fact, my first Fenix 3 only had GPS for elevation (it had no barometric altimeter in those older models) and it worked perfectly.  It even worked on an airplane at 32,000 feet.  So, is there anyone out there who can help me with this issue?  Thanks.

 Moderator: moved thread to fenix 6 forum.

  • 0 over 1 year ago

    Having this option would save Garmin a lot of money because, instead of repeatedly replacing on warranty, folks like me would be happy with the GPS-only option and wouldn't keep returning. Not to mention customer satisfaction.  I'm so frustrated that this has happened for many years/model, that I (and possibly others) might just consider switching to something other than Garmin after years of being a loyal and happy customer!  Is there anyone out there from Garmin Product Management listening?  I've suggested this feature to support each and every time I've returned a watch to be replaced and my suggestion goes on deaf ears it seems.

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to DavidBrunner

    It is a good idea indeed, I support it.

    Yeah, without barometric altimeter "stairs climbing" cannot be measured, BUT my experience with Forerunner 245 (just GPS for altitude) showed me, that GPS Altimeter is not that bad, when using it outdoors!
    For recorded tracks, altitude will be corrected with help of DEM data of the region anyway (at least in Garmin Connect).

    But to my surprise, when hiking in the Austrian Alps, I added an (GPS-based) altitude field to the activity screen. And the shown altitude was really good, as far as I could compare on marked points of my tracks always within +-10 meters, often even less. So I could really use it to estimate how many meters there would be left till reaching the top of a mountain

  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 1 year ago in reply to DavidBrunner

    Maybe the Fenix 6 forum is a better place for this question. I have the same question, for a Fenix 7. I would also like a GPS-only option very much. I thought that my Fenix 3 had it, but it does not (anymore). There used to be Forerunners without ambient pressure sensor, using GPS elevation always. I think it would be a small change to implement that option. 

    Depending on how broken your sensor is, if you can still calibrate it, you could set the altimeter/barometer to "barometer only" and manually calibrate the altimeter to a correct value before every activity, it should then record a flat altitude profile. Which may be better than an incorrect profile with extreme ascent/descent values. NB I have not tried that with a Fenix 6 for a long time, newer software may handle that differently.

    Swimming in chlorinated pools should not damage the sensor, because the sensor is powered off during the pool swim activity. I think I damaged the sensor in my Fenix 7 by hanging around in the recreation pool after ending the swim activity, The sensor will be powered on during that time. So these days I put a piece of waterproof electrical isolating tape over the sensor opening before going swimming, hoping it won't deteriorate further.