Track run mode distance way off

I don't think it matters unless you do the calibration in a track run activity. If it was run or walk or anything else then I don't think Garmin looks at it as it was a track

Tech support is still working on this issue. I called them today to ask if either the firmware, or Garmin Connect, saves information on a particular running track. The tech lady said that the track info is NOT saved anywhere.

That doesn't make sense to me, or else, the calibration would be useless. The whole idea behind the one time calibration is to get an accurate measurement of a particular track that then is remembered for any subsequent runs.

The reason this is important is that I wonder if there is a way to delete the data about any one particular track. I think our previous watch had a bad accelerometer, so the data recorded at this particular running track got corrupted. Let's say for example that the running track is save in Garmin Connect. That would mean that corrupted data is getting carried forward in use with her new watch.

In any event, I wonder how I might delete the track data that is obviously stored somewhere, despite what tech support is saying.

OK, just got back from another test walk. I set up a new account in Garmin Connect and did the 4 initial laps for calibration. The last two laps measured 400m exactly! That would seem to indicate that 'somewhere' was corrupt track data stored on the old account.

We'll try it tomorrow with my daughter wearing the watch to see if the good accuracy continues or if there is some reason why the watch doesn't work well on her wrist.

Update- I was told by tech support that 'maybe' by deleting the activity from the watch that it will delete the existing running track. That appeared to work, and we then went back to the same track to try and calibrate. After 4 laps, the watch will still measuring the track at between 420 and 460 meters. I wore the watch, my daughter wore the watch, and then we tried wearing on our ankle.

This piece of garbage just doesn't seem to work. Tech support seems to find any reason for a delay in getting this problem solved. 

I came by a track and I am literally testing this right now. I'm walking in lane 1 and the laps are spot on. In fact as I'm nearing the end of the lap and looking at the lap distance it feels like it's auto correcting itself every lap:

When getting closer I see 380m, 390m, but usually there's less than 10m left. But as I pass the line it jumps to 400 in no more than 5m after the line, and usually even closer.

Now I can't say for sure if this is thanks to the track run feature or it's just an illusion and I have simply exceptional GPS reception.

Thank you for reporting on your experience. My daughter is now wearing her old Forerunner 55. We only had a chance to use it for an 800m race walk and it was still measuring about 420m for each lap. I'm hoping it gets better as she uses it.

Tech support keeps requesting that we try different things, but we've simply run out of time to be their free beta testers. Not enough time to actually use the damn watch for training purposes as well as going around to different tracks and trying different lanes, and different users. At some point, tech support needs to do the work on their side. Fortunately, I have a stopwatch that never fails me, so we've been able to still train the old fasioned way.

Garmin has access to year's worth of non-track data to analyze and they just refuse to. I'll be looking at a refund for this watch and will be buying another brand.

I've been a Garmin GPS user since the 1980's and the company's lousy support hasn't changed during that entire time.  They need to narrow down their product line and stop "updating" their products and just get the existing product line to work correctly.

1. fr55 has a cheaper GNSS chip than fr965, that can make a difference

2. After I saved the activity I looked further into the activity settings and I noticed that it was set on lap alert based on distance (and for stange reason the default distance was 1600m, I have no idea why) and there's also an option to set it to be position based. If the same setting is present in fr55, then I would try to see if it makes a difference to change it.

3. I can relate to your tech support experience. I only use Garmin for 5 years, but my (plentiful, 'cause I report every bug) experience with them is very bad too. Most of the agents have no clue, many times I had to "teach" them how the device they're supposedly support work. And it's also a bit of luck on which agent you fell. There are a few I already know by name that are never helpful, and when I see their name in the chat I close it and hope that a few minutes later I'll be contacted to someone else. I hope they'll get fired soon...

4. Your last sentence is not encouraging at all. This means that contrary to what I feel (and see in other's comments here) things are not getting worse with time (in which case there would be hope that it'll also get better in the future) but that Garmin intentionally don't care. And why would they, if their stock in steadily going up...

flocsy🤠 said:

(and for stange reason the default distance was 1600m, I have no idea why)

Yeah it's kinda dumb, but also, I kinda get it. You can almost see the thought process when the Track Run activity was created:

"What should we use for the default autolap distance? The normal default of 1 km or 1 mile (based on the distance unit setting) does not make sense for a 400m track."

"Hmmm, 1600 metres is the closest integer multiple of 400 metres to 1 mile (~1.609 km). Let's go with 1600"

For further context, decades ago, American high schools replaced the traditional 1 mile track race with 1600 metres, when their sports association adopted the metric system (1600 metres being the closest "round number" to 1 mile.) It's kinda like the autolap distance for Track Run was chosen according to a similar thought process.

Having said all that, a default autolap distance of 400 metres would probably make the most sense. Not to state the obvious, but 1 lap around a standard 400m track is literally 400 metres.

In a support article for Track Run, Garmin explicitly documents that the default auto lap distance is 1600 m, and that it can be changed, which kinda leads me to believe they know it might be an unexpected choice. That's Garmin for ya tho.