Track run mode distance way off

No HRM. I called support today and they're replacing the watch. The problem seemed to have gotten much worse in the last few days. My guess is that the accelerometer went bad, and its data wasn't able to offset the GPS track which swung back and forth wth the arms. Should actually be getting the new unit tomorrow!

I think this might prove the GPS distance calculation is OK, but IMHO the question is not about that but about the track detection feature. So next time you pass there try to do the same thing without manually pressing the lap button and see if it detects the laps as accurately as last time.

She's always just used the auto lap feature. I was going to test out the watch by having her press the lap buttons but never got around to it. She'd prefer to not have to do that in an actual race, so even if that did work, she'd never use the watch the way.

We got the new watch today and it has a similar problem (:  Two laps around the track came out to 1,000.00 meters the first time we used the watch. Has to be a firmware issue if the data is zeroing out to the hundredth's place. Tried the "Run" feature for 1/2 of the distance around the track and that was spot on. There appears to be a glitch with the "Track Run".

Tech support had me send them reports from both watches using Garmin Express.

I vaguely recall reading in these forums that 'maybe' Garmin collects data on outdoor tracks from a number of different users and uses that to refine the track data. Is it possible that some other Garmin watch user is also using this track but has a wrong setting in their watch, like the incorrect lane number for instance?

Maybe the watch will eventually work correctly by measuring the mileage obtained by the UPS truck when both of these watches possible get returned pretty soon :)

Wait a second! You ran on a track for the 1st time with auto track/lap? I never run on a track since the feature came out, but if I remember correctly what DCR told in the video then there are 2 cases: either the track is in Garmin's track database in which case you should be able to see it at the beginning of the activity, OR it's an unknown track, in which case you NEED to "teach" Garmin by using manual laps for a couple of times, and only in the next track run activity it should know how to auto detect the laps.

I think it's here: https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2024/01/running-measurements-rabbit.html

If it's part of s walk activity then the discussion IMHO is less relevant, as the auto lap detection should only work if you started a Track run activity

I just wanted to see if the distance and track worked with GPS and arm swing ok. Nothing more nothing less. I was on a casual walk and did it just as a point of reference. To use track run I would have had to calibrate etc which requires time that I didn't have. I may have time today , if the rain stops :-)

Did you do the calibration?  I'll see if I can try this on the local track today if time and weather allows. Never used it before.

So i went today (rain and all) to my local track. i followed the Garmin Support note to the letter.  It worked perfectly. It is important to calibrate the track on your watch at the outset as set out in the instructions.

I did this :

1. Ran to track using normal run activity. stopped and saved it.

2. Selected track mode , set to lane 1, set lap at 200m , and once had GPS soak etc I started the activity at the start line. I did 4 laps in lane 1. Stopped and saved the activity.

3. Selected track mode and did 6 laps doing various paces across the laps some fast 400, some slow 200 fast 200 , some walk , some run very fast. it measured 2420m which seems fair to me as I stopped it after the line. The track is perfect on GPS. Saved Activity. It shows nicely each 200m as I was running , quite a nice feature actually.

4. I selected Run activity and ran home.

Here is the support note linked again for ease. And a support Video

https://support.garmin.com/en-US/?faq=eH8V1VwjN338uo8C5PgDJ7

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCd93m5VKaA

Hope that is helpful!

Some of these things are interesting to understand how we get different results :-) Hope it works out.