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Fenix 7 Open Water Swimming OWS accuracy - any improvement?

Hi, Has anyone been able to verify if the Firmware updates for the Fenix 7 have improved / fixed the terrible accuracy of OWS, over the past year. 

From the last conversations e.g. this one: https://forums.garmin.com/sports-fitness/running-multisport/f/forerunner-955-series/298162/open-water-swim-distance-differs-from-the-track-recorded-todays-swimrun-352m-vs-approx-750m-unacceptable?pifragment-1279=14#pifragment-1279=14

we were waiting for those with this issue to test it again when they started swimming OWS.

After enormous frustrations with Garmins lack of care around this issue, I have moved to an Apple Ultra, which is incredibly accurate, but I do miss elements of the Fenix 7 

Thanks

Dan

  • Hi.

    Since no one have given you an answer i think you should check up on Matt Legrand newest YouTube test Epix 2 pro vs Apple Watch ultra. Fenix 7 and the new epix should have same gps chipset (i might be wrong). He tested open water swimming where the epix 2 pro was the most accurate 

  • There is a reason why no one if confirming that it is improved and it is not mentioned as fixed in change log - because it is not fixed. 

    Garmin's lack of accountability when it comes to serious issues is surprising to me as well.  

  • I'm not a swimmer, but my previous F6Pro was very bad in open water. Now my F7 without ss was better, but Garmin send me new one in february, because of dead pixel. Since that,I got much more better GPS. Even while walking, running or swimming. I don't know if it was caused by new FW, which was released while the watch was in reclamation, or new HW revision of watch, but I noticed improove on first run with replaced F7 and till today it's the same good accuracy.

    Today I jumped to the water during walk just for test. River was colder than the ocean on holidays, just 17°CUpside down. Then I checked the distance on our local maps and I got exactly same distance.

    So it seems that is very accurate. Also in hotel pool on holidays I got very accurate distances compared to the measured distance on maps lately.

  • There is a reason why no one if confirming that it is improved

    You don’t think it might be due to time zone differences then? Or that people might not be as quick as you are to post something? And, as has been common with posts from some people, offers nothing but condemnation of Garmin based on no actual knowledge.

    FWIW for the OP see this thread as it pertains to the F7 specifically forums.garmin.com/.../1372535

    I’m finding the F7 just as accurate as my F6 for distance (had no problems there anyway) but with a much better track. I’ve been swimming since September in the sea averaging about 2.5km each swim without any concerns. This is the most recent output - 

  • I was not talking about this particular post, but on previously posted topics about OWS issues which remained uresolved.

    Good for you that you do not have issues. It is shame that not all users have same experience.

  • but on previously posted topics about OWS issues which remained uresolved.

    How do you know they are unresolved? Do you have any evidence? Have you got any open water swims to post with your F7? Are you able to show a comparison swim with an F6 and the same swim with an F7?

    There is improvement in OWS with F7 and has been continued improvement since the F7 was launched. But there will always be people who will have problems most likely due to swimming style. Perhaps you could share some of your experiences with open water swimming.

  • The same way I know that buttons on fenix/epix are problematic and that last several software updates introduced new bugs while some of the old ones remained unresolved. By reading forum amd changelog..

    How do you know it is resolved? You did not have issues with OWS, so you cannot know if it was fixed. And stating that issue does not exist just because you do not have it is nonsensical.

  • Apple Watch Ultra Open water GPS tracking - Apple Community

    If there were no issues, there would be no forums.

    If you see 10 to 20 people on a forum with the same issue, that seems like a lot but how does it compare to units sold and the number of people who don't have problem. No one is suggesting that there  are no problems but the scale of the problem can not be accurately judged from forum posts and the manufacturer has to prioritise resources to deal with problems. A lot of the 'bugs' which appear after FW updates seem to be the result of corrupt installation and seem to be resolvable in the worst case scenario by a master reset. Other problems may be related to the physiology of the user and in rare cases the feature just doesn't work.

  • stating that issue does not exist just because you do not have it is nonsensical

    Where has that been stated by me?

    But more to the point you don’t appear to have any direct experience. 

  • I have experience with people requesting proofs all the time while disregarding proofs writen on this forum for a long time. You know what I am talking about.