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Edge 820 / 830 / 1030 underestimate elevation (systematically)

Hi,

I have an Edge 820 but my friends have a 830 and a 1030, same problem for everyone.

We have big gaps between our elevations compared to the real one given by strava or my suunto ambit 3 watch. Our high-end Garmins are all underestimating the elevation of the ride by around 20-30% which is A LOT!

We all set the Garmin Edges to 1s recording to make sure the GPS is recording with the best accuracy but it does not change anything.

I had a look at the professional riders on Strava and when they end a race (the same one of course) those using a Garmin Edge have a VERY underestimated elevation (around -50%!).

Example:

Thibaut Pinot is using a Garmin Edge 1030 on this race: https://www.strava.com/activities/2441786636 His elevation is 864m.

Laurens ten Dam is using a Garmin 820 on the same race and gets 850m https://www.strava.com/activities/2441722380

The real elevation of this race is 1795m... https://www.francebleu.fr/sports/cyclisme/criterium-du-dauphine-2019-3e-etape-le-puy-en-velay-riom-1558354625

There is obsiously something wrong with Garmin Edge and elevation at the moment.

Please take a look at this issue. My Suunto watch is not supposed to perform better than a premium Garmin GPS, and yet it is.

  • My ride today was again very good (2,234' vs Strava's 2,242') but my big ride yesterday was way off.  83 miles and 4,754' vs. Strava's 5,225'.

  • Any solution before I sell my garmin and buy the Hammerhead?

  • My problem was solved when SW 7.00 was installed

  • Why do you think Garmin is wrong and Strava is right?
    You need to think about how it works.

    First - do a valid test yourself.  You don't need any bit mountains for that. Just a hill with a definite height by a map you are able to discover both for the top and your starting point. And then ride it several times. Then you will get an impression how accurate it is.
    For me with the last changes it is more over-estimate on flat tracks just with bridges etc. but still accurate with "real" elevation.

    Secondly - and more important, you need to understand the technology. It is using a barometer and that is a good thing because this will be much more accurate then GPS.
    BUT there is a dependacy on weather conditions - barometric airpressure. So there must be deviation in some weather condition. Otherwise it would be inaccurate.

    Third - you need to understand how Strava and other similar tools showing your GPS are working for elevation calculation.
    They are comparing your GPS postion with a map. Expecially when there is really elevation it could fail a lot. Because that usually causes your GPS receptioon a bit worse. BUT here it would need to be more precise. On a steep path having the GPS point 10 m apart could make a bit difference.
    Further STRAVA in that conditions calculate always in a way being convenient to the user, because STRAVA is just about comparing your *** with another. So they try to avoid customer complain about underestimate, as you see here.

    I tested mine on a hill with definite 50m elevation. It never fails more than 5%. In most case more accurate. For flat tracks it for me OVER-estimates.

    So please test it and do not assumption comparing it with STRAVA

  • Hello, please try with a track with more than 500m total climb.

    I have my device tested several times with all weather conditions, comparing with my friends GPSs and also with the same track done in the past.

    Also tested doing an official UCI race track that states a total climb and my Garmin keeps showing half of it.

  • What should be the difference doing it in one climb or 10 times 50m?
    I am sorry in my area I can't find any climb that high - I would if, but I don't think it will make a difference.
    Another idea could be, they changed hardware for the sensor. Which would explain some user have issues some not.
    I bought mine quite early after release.

  • Hello, because me and my friends are only facing the error after the 400m total climb. In other hand, with a bigger approach the bigger the error and confirmation.

    The problem is that in the past it was ok. But I don’t know since when it stopped working with consistency.

  • hustler - I watch my total elevation gain pretty closely when riding using my Garmin Edge 820.  A lot of my riding is on cross country mtb courses, so a lot of shorter ups and downs along the way.  I can go through long stretches of numerous ups and downs where the percent grade displayed shows the climbs and descents of each hill.  It will lag a bit as is normal while it adjusts to the quick grade changes, and that is fine, but it definitely knows that I am going uphill or downhill at least somewhat for each rolling hill.  Even with all that, the total elevation gain shows almost nothing.  It is clear that I had gone up and down a fair amount over that distance, and the garmin even knew I was doing it since it recorded the uphill grades along the way, yet it doesn't record much, if any, total elevation gain over that distance.  If I do the same ride with my Garmin 735, it shows just about all of the climbing along the way.  My Edge 820 is typically 25-40% below what my other device records.  

  • Garmin guys keep deleting messages. Has anyone fixed this issue?

  • They definitely have not fixed the issue.  I did a ride yesterday.  Strava estimated 2800' elevation, RideWithGPS route planner says it's 2550 and my Edge 830 listed 753'.  The device is basically useless for elevation.