Related
This discussion has been locked.
You can no longer post new replies to this discussion. If you have a question you can start a new discussion

Garmin 955 Altitude Problems

2796681
over 2 years ago

I was really thinking long about buying a watch in that price range, but my upcoming vacation in switzerland tip the scale and i bought one.

During the Vacation i was very upset about the Altitude Measurement, it was regulary wrong... When i make GPS calibration it was precise and correct, but after short time (40-60) minutes i have 30-50m drift. Most times the watch show 30-50m less altitude than it actually was. I calbrate and check on waymarks and cabins and the GPS calibration values always matched with the waymarks and the altitude lines on the map.

So i investiated more in barometric values and if they could be the reason. On the days we went hiking the weather was very stable. So i am very sure that the barometric weather changes were not the reason.

Here i have some examples from a tour and the barometric changes on that days and especially in that short times frames are very limited and can not be the reason for that big drifts.

Here you see after 45 minutes i make GPS calibration and the value goes 38m high to the correct values of 2390.

connect.garmin.com/.../9282976959

The weather was stable and there were no big changes.

Here are similar examples, i dont know why this hole happend? i have recalibrated at minute 42 and 57

connect.garmin.com/.../9247367856

weather also stable

relabration at 1:27

connect.garmin.com/.../9228951580

stable weather

Is this a bug or is the barometric sensor crap? Any idea about this? thanks

  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 2 years ago

    I am planning to buy a new watch, so I opened my fr 935 yesterday to see what went wrong with the sensor.

    Membrain on sensor is totally destroyed. I don't know how this is possible but probably years of intensive sweating since the sensor hole on all forerunners is realy on wrong position.

  • 0 over 2 years ago

    Yesterday, at home the watch was showing almost the same values (pressure) as my old (analogue) weather station and correct altitude.

    Today it shows 270m, about 10 or more meters higher altitude than real and the pressure is 4 mb less that what the weather station is showing.

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to Cuba1hr

    This is unfortunatelly totally expected behaviour

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to Former Member

    so what watch are you going to buy? :-)

  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 2 years ago in reply to qx

    I was divided between Garmin and Suunto. I really like Suunto App and I have good experiences with altimeter on old Suunto Core. Also they offer spare parts and their watches can be easily repaired. If the baro sensor would die, it could be replaced for 40eur in one afternoon (suunto dealer/repairer is close by in my case.) Yesterday I was already decided that I will order Suunto peak pro, so I went to the store to check how it looks on my wrist. Unfortunately, this watch is very small and looks too fancy for my taste. Additionally, I found it uncomfortable. Buttons are sort of sharp and placement of the middle one is a design failure. It just cuts in the wrist. I would not imagine doing push ups with it :) Anyway, in shop they also have garmins.


    Fenix ​​7 – to heavy for my taste and expensive.
    Fenix ​​7s – to small and expensive

    In the end I chose fr 955.

    I would also go with 255 but they didn't have it in the store and Ive had enough of thinking about watches every day, whole day for a month now and just bought what they had.

    I hope the sensor on a new watch will last longer. I will not shower with it, only rinse it with tap water after training and avoid swimming pools (chlorine). I will test the altimeter in the following week and come back with results. I really hope that altitude will work fine. For now, I am very satisfied with fr955.

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to Former Member

    Hi guys, I just wanted to let you know that soaking the watch in the warm water for 20 minutes helped a lot in my case. Tested it today and it was spot on, in the meter precise on the peak. It wasn't dirty or clogged before, but I guess it helped.

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to qx

    I have tried thed also to turn off the barometer mode when i was in holiday in the mountains and had not the feeling that it was much better. But i am live unfortunatly to far away to test it again ;). I think you have the possibility to decide between barometer mode because garmin has build in warning for stormy weather. When i was hiking/climbing steep terain i always got this warning, because the watch didnt think that the barometer change was made by but by bad weather ;) This dissapeared when i turn off barometer mode...

    But i think also that temperatue is weighted to heavy in the algorithm. Here how you can test: choose indoor climbing mode, because this is without GPS. You can generate temp. differences with ice pack or when indoor and outdoor temp. has differences..

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to Cuba1hr

    I continued to check and calibrate altitude every time since soaking it and every time it is at least 10m less than real altitude at the peak. I don't want to soak it every time. I haven't been able to go to higher altitudes due to bad weather or other errands during the weekends.

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to Cuba1hr

    Hey - this last post was a couple of months ago, just wondering if you had a chance to get out again to test? Mine has always been set to auto and until recently I didn't actually realise how far off it was from reality! Going to test altimeter only on the weekend.

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to 6331447

    The mode you're referring to (auto, altimeter, baro) should have no effect on activity. It is used only to determine altitude outside of activity.