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

rinserepeat
3 months ago

If I had not invested in a Stryd years ago my Fenix6 GPS would be almost unusable certain times of year

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)

We know it's the Sony GPS chipset in the 6 series which they abandoned for good reason

But there might be one last fix Garmin can give us:

the Chinese BeiDou GPS system is available over North America

and the international version of the Fenix6 series has the option for that system, just not the Fenix6 sold in North America?

Please enable it before discontinuing firmware updates?

Glonass from Russia is an option so it seems silly BeiDou is not

Other watch brands have BeiDou option in North America and the Fenix8 has it enabled?

garminrumors.com/.../

payloadspace.com/.../

> The Space-Based PNT Advisory Board put it bluntly in its 2023 summary report saying, “GPS’s capabilities are now substantially inferior to those of China’s BeiDou.” 

  • 0 3 months ago in reply to rinserepeat

    The only times my 6 Pro ever tracked that badly was in heavily built-up cities.  Out in the open it performs OK using GPS with Galileo.  GPS on its own is pretty poor though but it is ancient technology.

  • 0 3 months ago in reply to ronand
    ronand said:
    The only times my 6 Pro ever tracked that badly was in heavily built-up cities.  Out in the open it performs OK using GPS with Galileo.

    Correct.
    Tactix Delta (corresponds to the fenix 6x) - Identical in construction. A hike ! Which usually gives even less accurate readings than running due to the lower speed.Outward and return journey on the same road : 

    +

  • 0 3 months ago

    same route today Sunday at 5am with no traffic and same crazy behavior, just look at how bad

    should be completely on the right side of the road going from south to north

    but nope the GPS has me jumping 20 meters or more from side to side

  • 0 3 months ago in reply to bluefish

    slow motion like walking tends to sample GPS many times per second in almost the same location so better results

    running 10mph is very different than walking 3mph

    my city is less than 100,000 people so not that "built up"

    and this is at 5am in the morning on a Sunday with almost no traffic at all

  • 0 3 months ago in reply to rinserepeat

    What has traffic got to do with signals coming from the sky?

  • 0 3 months ago in reply to rinserepeat
    rinserepeat said:
    slow motion like walking tends to sample GPS many times per second in almost the same location

    That is correct.

    rinserepeat said:
    so better results

    That is not correct.

    Because there is no EXACT GPS point. EVERY acquisition has tolerances. And in every direction. The so-called GPS drift. It can therefore happen that measurement 1 is 3 meters in front of you, but measurement 2 is 3 meters behind you. Or next to you. This results in a difference of 6 meters.

    The slower the movement, the greater the error,  as the watch does not average the waypoints, but takes the distance between all recorded points (thus adding them up).


    …“If your watch is recording a GPS location every second and you do not pause an activity while standing still, your watch can record up to 180 meters (590 ft) in just 1 minute.“…

    https://support.garmin.com/en-AU/?faq=CC5azODuBd9BhRbKvp82JA 

  • 0 3 months ago

    I thought maybe it was just solar flares last week but still just as bad if not worse today

    even tried GPS+GLONASS instead of GPS+Galileo but just as bad

    is there any hidden way to make the fenix6 use ONLY Galileo  and not GPS+Galileo 

    I've read the Galileo constellations can be superior to GPS

    so the fenix thinks GPS is fine and doesn't even try Galileo 

    but I'd like to try forcing Galileo only

    I wonder if the ASIA/APAC firmware has Galileo-Only option, will have to search for screenshots