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

GPS Distance is wrong

Former Member over 7 years ago

A segment that is a loop around my neighborhood is 1.7 miles long. Prior to purchasing my 520 about a year ago I used my iphone/Strava, which is how I created the "segment".

I've been using my 520 for the past year and it too has always posted the distance of this loop as 1.7 miles.

Today I rode the 1.7 mile segment three (3) times and my total distance was posted at 4.0 miles; just 80 percent of what I expected to be 5.1 miles.

Ever since upgrading to 12.3 (I'm currently at 12.5) this device has been behaving strange. At first it started out as it got in a boot loop, which I somehow managed to get around. Then I had issues where it wouldn't record the ride while in the woods (with no leaves). I deleted the "training" profile that I was using and it seemed to fix that issue.

Has anyone had issues with this device as a result of recent updates?

Full disclosure: I ride a unicycle, not a standard bike. I typically have the unit mounted on a T-bar handle that is mounted below the seat. I've used this device for about a year without an issue, until lately.

Thanks,

0 s_orange over 7 years ago

did you have GPS lock at the beginning of the ride ? can you post a link to the activity in Garmin Connect ?

0 Former Member over 7 years ago

Hi S_Orange, yes, the GPS was locked in before I started the ride. Here's a link to the most recent GC ride: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/2385760062

Thanks!

0 s_orange over 7 years ago

set to private ?

0 aweatherall over 7 years ago

Do you use an external speed sensor?

0 Former Member over 7 years ago

set to private ?

Sorry, I didn't realize... that must be the default. I opened the rides up.

aweatherall, I assume you are referring to some sort of magnet bolted to the spokes that passes over a sensor? No. I rely on the 520 to provide ground speed.

Another unicycle rider in the strava forums indicated his 5.5 mile ride is registering as 5.0. It may not be just me.

0 Former Member over 7 years ago

Martin The link still seems to be private.

0 Former Member over 7 years ago

What am I missing to make these rides visible? Settings==>Privacy Settings==>Who Sees my activity? ==> Everyone

0 AllanOlesen67 over 7 years ago

Let's try this: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/2385760062#.Wj1T8H9UVrA.link

Is that a cat painted by Picasso?

0 Former Member over 7 years ago

I captured today's ride with my iphone/Strava app and the Garmin Edge 520. STRAVA distance is 6.4; Garmin distance is 6.31 miles. The delta of .09 is perfectly acceptable, imo. The one variable between this ride vs the last ride where the known 1.7mile segment was reported as 1.4... I had the 520 in my pocket on the last ride; this time it was mounted on my T-bar (unicycle). The garmin speed on the segments is about 0.2 slower than what Strava recorded... That seems significant but I don't have any baseline data to compare it to. Regardless, I would not have raised a post on that delta alone.

I'll keep an eye on this for a while... If I'm the only one posting the concerns it may very well be the fact that the unit was in a pocket OR the relative slow speed and lateral swaying of the unicycle may contribution to variations. Maybe a "runners" gps is better suited for unicycling.

Thanks to all who participated... laterz.

0 s_orange over 7 years ago

FWIW that track looked pretty bad - seems like you're garmin didn't have good lock last time - probably because it was in your pocket. This means that the garmin cut corners and didn't actually track you with any kind of decent accuracy - hence the discrepancy with the distance.

case closed on that particular problem IMO

the 520 works fine even at slow speed - I've used mine for hiking in the past - it just needs a decent view of the sky