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GPS accuracy really poor (example map included)

I am very disappointed in the GPS accuracy of my Vivoactive 4 (first Garmin I've bought). Here is a link to a run I exported (blue line) and the actual course I ran (red line, accidentally made it two lines). As you can see there are certain parts where accuracy is really disappointing, not something I expect from Garmin. It was measured using GPS and Galileo. Is there anything being done by Garmin on the software side to address this? I bought this watch because of Garmin's reputation for GPS tracking and accuracy.

 https://drive.google.com/open?id=1YagGpb1iEPGLwnHVdjLzHFtNBp4_QrHO&usp=sharing 

  • That doesn't strike me as that bad.  You'll probably see a better if you have 1 second recording vs smart (the default),.  Also, if the red line was defined as "stick to roads", just running on one side vs the other could show a different.  Plus, the GPS accuracy is at best only a few feet.

    How does the total distance look between the 2? 

  • Thanks jim_m_58. This is using every second recording like you suggest, and the red line is not stuck to roads, it's my actual course I plotted out. I'm including a couple of screenshots here highlighting some of the worst parts of the route, where the difference is greater than 60 and 70 feet - which I don't think is acceptable for a 300 dollar watch. Distance looks pretty okay so that's good at least Slight smile

  • La configuración mas precisa que he probado es con satelites GPS- Galilieo y grabación por segundo, prueba asi

  • Honestly I think the code needs rolling right back to I forget the number, but December ish. It seems more suited to cycling than running. I have a foot pod, but it seems to prefer the GPS for pacing which is a shame with all the about turns required at the moment.

    This is currently subpar for the hardware, but what I'd really like to see on a watch is dual frequency GPS especially with so many metrics based on it.

  • It seems fine to me.

    For reference, here's an example from the Netherlands (using GPS + Glonass). 

    I took a bike trip where I passed the same road twice, on different sides of the road. The road is ~7 meters wide with bike paths on both sides, the GPS track clearly shows my position accurately.

  • As I mentioned above it's fine for cycling, but try the same route walking or running.

  • Same experience here, the running or walking map accuracy is quite bad sometimes terrible. I'm often running on water canals according to this map, im running in open fields or through houses in the city center, the inaccuracy is almost the same. Also, in the city area, it often suggests that i am running through people's home, backyards etc.. I live in netherlands so i used GPS+Gallileo which should be a bit more accurate than GPS+Glonass but i found the exact same problem with all possible combinations on my VA4. This also always makes me question the kms, calories etc suggested by the watch. I feel like any info on this watch is a qualitative suggestion than quantitative information which is strange, I got that from my fitbit versa, 130euros more i get the same, no better.

     

  • Just an update here, I reached out to Garmin support (who were very helpful and friendly) and am getting a replacement device to see if there's a hardware issue. I'll try post a comparison once I get it later in the week.