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Fenix 7 Open Water Swimming OWS accuracy - any improvement?

DanielR1972
over 2 years ago

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

  • 0 over 2 years ago

    My fenix 7 with 13.22 firmware can not working good. Lake Balaton swim 5,2km but garmin measured 7,2km!!!! I swam ***, back and fast. It is quite a serious error, even if the data is not approximately.

  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 2 years ago in reply to 9518879

    My watch is already counting meters on the shoreGrinning

    Very bad

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to 9518879
    9518879 said:
    I swam ***, back and

    You cannot, nor should you, expect any accuracy when swimming breastroke. Even backstroke can be dubious without a perfect stroke. To expect anything useful swimming in the open water you need to be using only freestyle and even then, the stroke needs to be reasonable. 

    https://support.garmin.com/en-US/?faq=AnrKqtOX8FAzmF9yXaIXe6

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to Former Member
    My watch is already counting meters on the shore

    All GPS watches will accumulate meters when static in any activity where GPS is active and the timer started. 

  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 2 years ago in reply to Dr Phil

    When I swim 100m, my watch shows 400

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to Former Member

    That's very big error. I'm not great swimmer, but recently I swam two-times 1km in sea and it seems +-accurate compared with measuring in map. Next few 500m swims in river was also ok. I only noticed in the river, if I swim 250m and then return, the return distance is always about 30m shorter. I think this is caused by better GPS reception at start.

  • 0 over 2 years ago

    Having dabbled around in simply detecting the GPS signal during my PhD studies using a multi-million network analyzer the size of a fridge, I think the fact that these tiny watches are even able to record something resembling my swim track is just amazing. So far the OW swim recordings have been nothing than spectacular for me and I had plenty of issues with my F7SS when it comes to increased battery usage, so not a fanboy at all.

    The usual disclaimers apply:

    • get a good GPS fix at least a couple of minutes before starting, especially if the watch isn't connect to a phone and needs to potentially update almanach data from the GPS signal
    • use the auto setting
    • swim front crawl with a reasonable cadence - the watch can only use the brief time it is above the water to get a lock
    • expect issues if you thread water, so if you rest e.g. with a buoy either keep the watch above the water or pause recording
  • 0 over 1 year ago

    I have the same problem with my Fenix 7x. Does anyone have experience if it is better with the new watches with Multiband GPS?

     

  • 0 11 months ago in reply to DerDembo

    If turning on the GPS minutes before use significantly improves accuracy, why doesn't Garmin add a datafield that shows signal strength or the number of satellites? ...