Fenix 7x solar - Open Water Swim - correct GPS Track but bad distance

Hello, new owner of a fenix 7x - i am a triathlete and do ows and pool swims regularlly. I swim in a lake for years now with a lot of other guys and we all have garmin watches (from 920xt - to fenix 5,6,7 - swim 2 etc). all other watches give the correct distance (the only difference is the gps track line - in older models is straighter than in newer models) - but my fenix7x displays correct contur on the gps map but the distance is always shorter with around 500m or more. If i export the .gpx track the distance changes corectly on strava, but the time is different. It's frustrateing since my old 735xt had no such problems and i upgraded exactly for more gps acuracy and tracking. In the picture one loop has aproximatley 900m. I also noticed that the moveing time is different from the elapsed time even tho i didnt stop for a second and i didnt press the Lap button. Please let me know if these is a bug or i have to return the product.

Thanks.

Top Replies

renton82 over 1 year ago +2

Sad story... you can however upvote here :

forums.garmin.com/.../open-water-swim-activity-under-report-distance

Tiked was also created here:

https://forums.garmin.com/beta-program/fenix-7-series/public…
Adrian M over 1 year ago in reply to Ben S +2

thanks for the solution. But my solution was Garmin fenix 7X when i bought it (i have a 735xt that works decent, and has a decent acuracy, well working gps, distance/acuracy is ok in ows) - the upgrade…

All Replies

0 Vizi over 1 year ago

it is is a knows bug which Garmin was informaed about even on this forum.

They said it will ne fixed, nut now new in that department yer.

0 Adrian M over 1 year ago in reply to Vizi

How is these posible?, since they had similar problems with older watches. You spend a ton of money on a watch and it's not working how it suppose to...

0 renton82 over 1 year ago

Sad story... you can however upvote here :

forums.garmin.com/.../open-water-swim-activity-under-report-distance

Tiked was also created here:

https://forums.garmin.com/beta-program/fenix-7-series/public-beta-reports/i/public-beta-8-17/open-water-swim-activity-under-report-distance

and here:

forums.garmin.com/.../open-water-swim-activity-under-report-distance ,

They don't care about it.

0 Ben S over 1 year ago

I think a useful way of rectifying open swim accuracy would be to have a "tow float mode". Essentially using a device in a tow float (mandatory in a lot of locations and highly recommended in general) to act as GPS. This is broadly how fitbit devices used to do activity tracking, but in this case using a device which was never blocked by the water. The watch would sync to the phone or even Edge in the way it does with the swim HRM and then align the data at the end. It could use arm motion to provide context on movement.

Alternatively, given that many open swimming locations have fairly fixed laps, have a "track mode" much like the running track mode.

0 Adrian M over 1 year ago in reply to Ben S

thanks for the solution. But my solution was Garmin fenix 7X when i bought it (i have a 735xt that works decent, and has a decent acuracy, well working gps, distance/acuracy is ok in ows) - the upgrade was for better not for nothing . I didn't pay a small fortune to try and find solutions. Hope my answer didn't upset you, but i am really pissed on the product and the company. Thanks for your alternatives, and sharing the thoughts.

0 avikoren1 over 1 year ago in reply to Adrian M

Iam in the same boat, older watches (F5 and before) worked fine and since the F6 and now Epix OWS is a problem when it comes to accurate distance. I believe it starts with the more battery efficient GPS chips which were introduced with the F6. Of course i like the improved battery but don't love the fact that my OWS is now crap. I am not very optimistic that they will relive this although i did make some improvement suggestions on another post.