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Altitude changes over night while sleeping

iosint
over 2 years ago

Hi!

Sometimes during the night I see the altitude of my watch either drops very far down or goes up a lot. (Can be up to around 100 meters) Even after it does it’s automatic recalibration it still continues changing. Garmin Support AT is telling me that +/- 120 meter accuracy is completely normal and that I should read about how to clean the watch and recalibrate every hour or so, and I stopped getting answers from their support E-Mail. This occurs regardless of what firmware I’m using. I’m comparing it to an Apple Watch S7, it doesn’t have the same issues of fluctuating altitude like mine does (I don’t have any other Garmin Devices to compare to, happily sold them). During activities (if i manually recalibrate at the start) it works fine.

I’m attaching some screenshots I took. Altitude where I live is 590 meters. I've been using Garmin devices for 10 years, it doesn't seem normal to me.

Thanks

  • 0 over 2 years ago

    the same thing happens to mine, even during the day I always go back to the same place 

  • 0 over 2 years ago

    Devices can get altitude from maps (searching for the location by gps coordinates) or from barometric functionality. The latter is the case of 955 and it's generally considered better than gps but air pressure may change due to altitude or due to weather variations. In a short workout time the weather variation may be not noticeable but during a night you'll see its effect in full.

  • 0 over 2 years ago

    Have you set the abc sensor mode as altitude mode?

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to Alberto_Sacchini

    Didn't notice this happening when I first got the watch. The altitude differences are just way too high, I know that it fluctuates due to weather but this is a bit much? Also, how come the Apple Watch isn't affected at all then?

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to 7929043

    It's been set on Auto as always, but I've never had issues like this before.

  • 0 over 2 years ago

    Issue still occurring even during the day. Weather is constant too, so not due to pressure changes. 

    After calibrating the altitude remains constant as it should.

    Sensor is often cleaned too and I calibrate it quite often. 

    Support still saying that this is normal. JoyJoyJoy

    At least the altitude is fine during runs. 

    Maybe someone cares. (I'm tired of climbing and descending at home)

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to iosint

    Your behavior is not normal at all. I would insist on technical support to help you.

    I have Altimeter set to Auto Cal. -> ON and Sensor mode -> Auto. FW 15.19.

    I get single auto calibration event during the night, usually around 4 AM. Other than that, the altimeter stays perfectly flat when I am not changing altitude (which I am not during the night).

    Here in adjacent thread https://forums.garmin.com/sports-fitness/running-multisport/f/forerunner-955-series/334732/altimeter-inaccuracy#pifragment-1279=4 

    there is a link to official guidelines to "Clean the Sensor Port on the Watch" by soaking the watch in the water for 5 minutes. Have you been instructed with this after contacting the support?

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to ethcz

    Yes, I've read that thread and I've properly cleaned it multiple times now. Garmin Support did not help me at all in my case and dismissed my issues. Warranty is already expired. Guess this is a loss for me. Thanks Garmin

  • 0 over 2 years ago

    This may be silly, but are you in a "modern" building with climate control systems?  If so, could the building air pressure be changing when the system is running?

    If you set the ABC to barometric mode, I wonder what the air pressure readings look like for that time period. Do you have any other ABC device to compare readings at the same times?

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to 6125703

    No, my house doesn't have that. I've been comparing my watch with an Apple Watch S7. The S7 was always working correctly.