Temperature (not weather) Widget

TomFL12 said:

Currently showing 29c but other thermoters in office showing 25c. Last 4 hours 27c - 29c.

If you have Instinct on your wrist, the body heat will influence the reading. And since the watch also generates some heat, it has an impact on the temperature value too. You can get a bit better result if you let the watch off the wrist and in a strong air flow (i.e. using a fan). Instinct also shows the temperature rather reliably in water (due to the much higher heat-condutivty of water).

Thanks for the response.
I suspected the same (body temp causing undue influence) but it does make the metric somewhat useless.

Will give it a test over the weekend on a hike and see if it suffers the same whilst i'm moving versus whilst sat at a desk.

TomFL12 said:

I suspected the same (body temp causing undue influence) but it does make the metric somewhat useless.

First of all, I do not know how you imagine you could measure the true room temperature with a wristmount device. Then, the temperature is still a valuable information, allowing you to see the changes during an activity or during the day. And it is perfect and accurate for swimming, snorkelling or diving.

From my experience, accuracy is acceptable when the air temperature is above 31°C. If I am just sitting peacefully (hence I am not producing much heat), it is sometimes accurate down to 27-28°C. That is comparing against a cheap room thermometer when I am inside, and wheather forecast / street thermometers when I am outside.

I also find it useful to see how my hand temperature changes during activities or how much I am affected when it is hot. As you probably know, you will start feeling tired and uneasy sooner, if your body can't cool down. So, if you manage to get used to the readings, you may be able to find them useful.

Body temp clearly has nothing to do with is.  My temp shows 10-20 degrees F LOWER than the actual temp.

The problem I have with this mixture of ambient and body temperatur is that is directly influences the altimeter. If I start an activity, I sweat, heat is better conducted into the watch and my altimeter readings during runs steadily sink and are useless.

At least that is my current hypothesis after various experiments. 

henzim said:

The problem I have with this mixture of ambient and body temperatur is that is directly influences the altimeter. If I start an activity, I sweat, heat is better conducted into the watch and my altimeter readings during runs steadily sink and are useless.

Yes, that's right, but there are practically only two things that can help - avoiding the contact of the watch with the body, or better temperature calibration of the altimeter in the firmware by Garmin.

Alternatively, wet the wrist and warm up, then calibrate the altimeter, and only then start the activity

Where is the thermometer located? Something tells me it has to do with the second hole on the bottom of the solar instinct, next to the barometer? In which case I don't understrand why one would explicitly want to measure this mixed temperature and not place the sensor away from the skin (on top) to get a more accurate air temperature reading!

(i) not wearing the watch seems like defeating the purpose of a watch

(II) warming up before starting tracking seems like a hassle.

:/

BTW, trux, I did a session today without wearing my watch and it kind of confirmed the temperature as the culprit. Will update other thread tonight. 

henzim said:

(i) not wearing the watch seems like defeating the purpose of a watch

(II) warming up before starting tracking seems like a hassle.

Well, then I am afraid you'll have to live with the issue, or buy a different watch