GPS is still so bad on the Fenix6 for years from Sony chipset: Garmin please enable BeiDou for North America before discontinuing updates?

I dont think the international version of the fenix 6 has beidou or at least it is not being used.  On my european 6 Pro I have the option of using gps with glonass or galileo.  But yes the Sony chipset is dated.  When the 6 came out it was an improvement on previous watches that I had used.  I recently bought a Forerunner 255 and that is so much better in GPS accuracy and has a more usable wrist HRM.  However it has its own issues with lactate threshold detection.

Well it's a double-whammy because not only Sony chipset but the metal case on all the Fenix series somehow always causes a weaker GPS signal

The same Fenix innards in the plastic models always works better, it's been like that for a decade

For lactate threshold detection you gotta use a HRM, they aren't trying to do that with optical are they?

I get a new lactate threshold detection every time I try to run threshold at the end of a run, for the first time in years I got the same HR/pace three times in a row so that was interesting

pace from GPS is also iffy so that makes LT detection problematic but I use my stryd for consistency

Garmin should have bought Stryd or also made a footpod with windspeed years ago, the HRM-PRO can't compete

…“The new chip by Sony supports GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, BeiDou and QZSS constellations but not all are supported by Garmin. It’s possible to use GPS only, GPS + Glonass and GPS + Galileo modes.“…

http://www.f-blog.info/garmin-fenix-6x-pro-disassembly-or-teardown-whatever-you-say/

Just to stop replies like this where people think the Fenix6 has never supported Beidou

Like I've said in the first post the NORTH AMERICAN release of the Fenix6 skipped Beidou support

But the Fenix6 ASIA release has supported Beidou since version 3 of the firmware and they are up to version 26 just like the North America release so they keep it in sync just a few months behind

For anyone that doesn't believe this, just go look at the Garmin page for the fenix 6 in ASIA like Taiwan

https://www.garmin.com.tw/products/discontinued/fenix-6-sapphire-carbon-gray/#updateTab

3.10

1. Added support for Beidou

4.30

1. Fixed some UI issues with Beidou.

So all they have to do is copy over the code from the Fenix 6 ASIA for Beidou support and then allow the daily sync of the GPS shortcut constellation map to also include Beidou like the ASIA release does in CPE.BIN

rinserepeat said:

Almost every run is guaranteed to have GPS drift and speed errors, at least 1% up to 10%

(the errors are obvious but hidden in the FIT files which can be examined)

The FIT file uses a combination of GPS points and accelerometer data.

A possible source of error is poor calibration of the accelerometer. You can recalibrate it by performing a factory reset and then doing some running activities under good GPS conditions.

lol no 

GPS has nothing to do with accelerometer, you can literally see the lat/lon dropout in the FIT file as the signal is lost

and then the "speed" is sometimes wildly calculated wrong from doppler signal miscalculation/dropout

Garmin hides these kinds of errors from display even in Connect but you can take apart the fit file and see them

and "factory resets" are the stupidest thing ever

after 10 years of Garmin GPS errors I just got a stryd for distance accuracy and let the GPS just goof out

oddly the best GPS I ever had on a garmin was the original Vivoactive in the thin plastic case for best reception 

every Fenix model I've ever owned loses GPS signal because of the metal case and American GPS system has so few sats compared to other networks

Beidou has twice the number but unless Garmin finally enables it in North America we can't use it

Fenix7 and Fenix8 have Beidou so it's not a policy issue and the watch has the chip support

so they just need to copy the GPS firmware from the ASIA/APAC model before they discontinue it entirely

rinserepeat said:

GPS has nothing to do with accelerometer

I did not claim that GPS has anything to do with the accelerometer. I said that Garmin uses an algorithm that links BOTH GPS data and accelerometer data. It is what it is. The position data in the FIT file is the result of that. (track). If you want to get the pure GPS position data (points), you have to convert the FIT to GPX.

alright well I appreciate your attempt at being helpful but it's not at all the point of this thread and actually distracting

(there's no need to convert the FIT to anything, it's easily possible to extract all the point records but of course if there is GPS dropout like I experience daily, there are many records with missing points)

Simply asking Garmin before they completely shutdown firmware updates for the Fenix6 to put the same modular GPS code they have on the ASIA/APAC versions onto the NorthAmerican (aka WW) release so it has Beidou support and can use the ability of the same Sony GPS inside to see the two or three dozen Beidou sats

and it occurred to me today as I noticed the red moon because of sunlight going through earth's atmosphere that the seasonal change probably tilts the earth slightly off from the sats so VS winter months the signal may be more straight line of sight but now bounced off more atmosphere/buildings

so already weaker signal in the metal case on the Fenix6 just can't handle it and too many errors

btw this is what dropout and gps speed errors look like when you take apart the FIT file

Here's a classic example from today why I am begging Garmin to enable Beidou on the ROW/WW North American Fenix6 like ASIA/APAC versions with the same sony chipset

Open clear skies, no weather, no real traffic because it's 5am on a Saturday

Traveling from South to North in almost a straight line on the right side of the road with clear sight of the skies and not under trees

Should be almost a straight line gently turning slightly west (left) 

Look at HOW INSANE the GPS points and how many errors and drift and hopping back and forth 

(1 second recording)

Only time the Fenix6 ever gets it right is like the dead of winter in December where there is absolutely no wind and no traffic at all and I suspect the angle of the earth to the GPS/Galileo sats is very different than almost April

If I wasn't using a Stryd for distance it would have been an absolute disaster of result for distance/pace/vo2max etc.

(this is maybe 1km distance)