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Fenix 7X Pro - possible defect with compass and altimeter?

MEGATREON

Hi forum, since a few weeks ago, possibly with a beta update, my watch started acting up.

  • First symptom was a compass not settling in the widget and the mini version of it, it keeps spinning and is way off the "true" north from the map at my home.
  • I distinctly remember it to be spot on and settling immediately when the unit was new, and it could catch a slight z-axis-rotation with tremendous accuracy. Well, not anymore.

Then, during mountaineering and hiking, I notice the altimeter to count too much elevation gain, both up-hill and down-hill. During an activity:

  • On the map, I will see very short lateral "jumps", consistently, but seemingly in a random direction. The location indicator almost immediately returns to the "correct" position.
  • The altimeter seems to act up, see attached picture. The altitude will jump exactly by the same amount, but at random intervals.

Has anybody experienced something like this?

I am aware that these may be two different issues.

For the record:

  • Yes, I recalibrated the compass numerous times.
  • Yes, I restarted the watch.
  • Yes, across the recent beta updates the error is consistent and present.
  • The altimeter port seems clean, and this shouldn't affect the compass at all.
  • The only IQ field I have installed (and enabled in the hiking activity) is the one that records tempe values into a FIT file field, since I want skin temperature and env temperature separately recorded.

Top Replies

  • in reply to trux +1 suggested
    trux said:
    So for example at the end the rose points to some 218°, while the display shows the value 155 (and without the ° sign). Which units do you use? Did you try using the magnetic north instead of…

All Replies

  • 0 in reply to trux
    trux said:
    Seeing that the bezel scale is correctly oriented and showing the same orientation as the other watch, and only the numeric value is wrong, I'd tell either the units are wrong, or the True North value on your watch might have been incorrectly updated. Try setting the Magnetic North Reference, and check the units.

    trux said:
    Seeing that the bezel scale is correctly oriented and showing the same orientation as the other watch, and only the numeric value is wrong, I'd tell the True North value on your watch might have been incorrectly updated. Try setting the Magnetic North Reference.

    Now it gets very weird:

    • I have the unit in Magnetometer mode.
    • I removed the wristbands (but not the springbars, no idea how to do that)
    • I enable the mode to set the true north

    Now I see two values:

    • upper one is the measured degrees - it is jumping like crazy, same as the compass rose.
    • the /lower/ one, indicating deviation when turning the watch, is completely still, and shows a stable value - no jumping at all.

    This is strange, because, if the upper, measured, value is jumping, the deviation should also go nuts?

    I'd conclude that either the magnetometer is not flaky (just the display is) or that the lower value uses the gyro to stabilize the shown value.

  • 0 in reply to MEGATREON
    MEGATREON said:
    I removed the wristbands (but not the springbars, no idea how to do that)

    On Fenix 7 it is a bit tricky unlike on some other models. There are some tutorials on YouTube, though. 

    MEGATREON said:
    upper one is the measured degrees - it is jumping like crazy, same as the compass rose.

    So different than on the video you posted? On that video the rose does not jump at all. It keeps pointing to the same direction even when you turn the watch, which is how it should work.

  • 0 in reply to trux
    trux said:
    On Fenix 7 it is a bit tricky unlike on some other models. There are some tutorials on YouTube, though. 

    ok, I'll try.

    trux said:
    So different than on the video you posted? On that video the rose does not jump at all. It keeps pointing to the same direction even when you turn the watch, which is how it should work.

    Well, the rose was jumping there too, it's just difficult to spot because the variance in numbers is not that high. Here's a video of the the deviation feature, and the spring bars removed. So nope, it wasn't them.

  • 0 in reply to MEGATREON

    I do not see the rose wildly jumping. It points to the same direction. Well, there is perhaps some tiny motion due to the hysteresis, but I do not think it is something critical. What is strange thought, is that the upper numeric value does not correspond at all to the value shown on the rose. So for example at the end the rose points to some 218°, while the display shows the value 155 (and without the ° sign). Which units do you use? Did you try using the magnetic north instead of the "true north"?

  • 0 in reply to trux

    On my watch (Instinct 3), I get the value without the ° unit only when I set the units to "Mils" (milliradians, used in military). The value then indeed tends to change much wilder than degrees, but I see only 4 digit values on my watch, unlike you.  And also, in my case, the scale of the rose changes accordingly too. Check the Display units anyway.

  • 0 in reply to trux
    trux said:
    So for example at the end the rose points to some 218°, while the display shows the value 155 (and without the ° sign). Which units do you use? Did you try using the magnetic north instead of the "true north"?

    Again, very weird.

    • I use letters + degrees display unit (never had the "°" symbol, though, as far as I can remember)
    • Can confirm that with millis the display is more nervous.
    • Now I switched to magnetic north, had the unit stay in this mode for a bit: it was very stable and about 10° off from the true north (paper map value, wall alignment)
    • Then, I switched back to "true" north, and now the value is stable, but shows a similar numeric value. I had expected it to start acting up again...

    I will observe further, but the magnetometer issue seems solved.

  • 0 in reply to clonetrooper

    Yep he is the type of garmin lover who is a little toxic. Has an opinion of everything and restart, hard reset, downgrade software looks like to be the only fix these lovers know. 
    PS I have experienced an compass and altmeter for a long time and to be honest I don’t know exactly why but in my activities I get like 79 floors climbing while the surface is 97% flat and the compass I can’t make it to point true North. I have opened a few tickets with Garmin but nothing so far. There are other posts on the history where people have a much detailed information and tested these specific sensors for a long period of time. While some fixed it by downgrading the software some are not yet sure if is a software issue or hardware or just moisture etc.