Fenix 7X Tracking Issues, Pace & Distance Inaccurate

Hi everyone,

I'm having an issue with my Fenix 7X. I've synced Garmin Connect with Strava, and after each run, my activities upload to Strava without any problems.

However, I've noticed that my Garmin seems to be underreporting my pace. After a few tests, including today's run, I found a significant discrepancy. My Garmin Fenix 7X recorded 9.35 km with an average pace of 6:19/km, while Strava (recorded simultaneously on my iPhone) showed 11.68 km with an average pace of 5:03/km. That's a huge difference.

I'm struggling to understand which device is tracking my distance and pace more accurately, the watch or my phone. I've already gone through some insights shared in this forum, adjusted my settings, and enabled All + Multi + Band satellite tracking, but the issue persists.

Interestingly, when I use my watch for swimming, it tracks everything perfectly. Also, I use Garmin HRM PRO PLUS, can I use advantage of it so my distance would be tracked more accurately and represented on my garmin watch screen whilst running?

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get my Fenix 7X to track pace and distance more accurately?

Thanks a lot!

Top Replies

9195431 4 months ago +4

Since software versions 20.16 and 20.22, this exact thing has been happening to me.

I usually run the same routes during the week, and I've measured them very accurately with other Garmin watches, like…

mamak_runs 4 months ago +2

20.22 software is trash !!! Data and distance is WAY off. I’ve been pleading and begging for 19.41 software back ! So frustrating

9195431 4 months ago +1 suggested

Well, after spending days where the watch was showing me the wrong mileage during my workouts and my pace was a disaster, since installing 20.22.

The only solution I found, after downgrading to 17.28…

All Replies

0 Yerk 4 months ago

Have you tracked GPS with both devices? The shown tracks on a map might give a hint on which is more accurate.

When syncing the Garmin data directly to strave (without recording in strave additionally), the pace and distance might still vary a bit, as strave interpretes the raw data differently.

If you run with GPS the HRM shouldn't make any changes to your pace and distance. If you run without it might be more accurate on steps (and stats on every step) and an estimation on the distance - but that needs calibration.

0 9195431 4 months ago

Since software versions 20.16 and 20.22, this exact thing has been happening to me.

I usually run the same routes during the week, and I've measured them very accurately with other Garmin watches, like a 5x Plus.

Just today, the watch showed me 13 km when I really knew it was more than that. When I synced with Strava, it gave me what I thought: 13.90 km.

What's more, I had a 30-minute block on the Z4 where I usually run at 4:00/4:10 min/km, and the Fenix 7x Pro was giving me paces of 4:45-4:50, and I knew it wasn't correct.

I don't know how long it will take Garmin to fix this, but it's terrible that such an expensive watch can't even do the most basic things properly.

Best regards!

0 9195431 4 months ago

Well, after spending days where the watch was showing me the wrong mileage during my workouts and my pace was a disaster, since installing 20.22.

The only solution I found, after downgrading to 17.28 and seeing that the GPS was still faulty... was to do a hard reset, and today I went out to train and it FINALLY nailed the mileage and pace.

There's something the 20.22 firmware does that's messing up the GPS and not displaying the data correctly.

I hope this helps, best regards!

0 6435204 4 months ago in reply to 9195431

How did you do hard reset? Using the menu or the hardware buttons?

0 9195431 4 months ago in reply to 6435204

Hardware buttons.

0 6435204 4 months ago in reply to 9195431

Is it possible to write step by step instruction?

0 mamak_runs 4 months ago

20.22 software is trash !!! Data and distance is WAY off. I’ve been pleading and begging for 19.41 software back ! So frustrating

0 6435204 3 months ago in reply to 9195431

I can confirm that downgrading and hard resetting solve the problem :).

0 mamak_runs 3 months ago in reply to 6435204

I don’t have a computer to find the old software :( this is seriously so frustrating!