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 issues?

Anybody else having GPS problems? I know that a first time use can take awhile so I had no problem with the watch taking 3-4 minutes to get a lock when I went for my first run, but it's been the same the last two days as well. It's like it's not downloading the ephemera file. I'll hook it up to the computer here and a bit and poke around the file system to see if there's a file there that it's just not using or not.

Thats all well and good but today after taking as long as my old FR10 to get a signal lock it turns out that it wasn't locked on at all. The first mile seemed short but when it signaled 2 miles I knew I was only at about a mile and a half. So I stopped it and started a new run and everything seemed fine pace and distance wise until I got home and looked at the GPS traces.

The first run started about a half a mile from where I actually was and initially went east for a quarter mile before turning south and had me running through woods and across ponds. When I actually went east for about 80 yards before turning south down a sidewalk. The second run started me 100 yards from where I was and did a bit of a loop before finding the plot and being okay the rest of the way.

So far I'm really not impressed with some of the core function of this watch. I love the way it looks and feels and as near as I can tell the updated HR sensor is doing what it should but the soft/firmware isn't ready for prime time.

0 ace_bin over 7 years ago

I got my VA3 last night and tested it with a few walking. I owned fenix 3, and currently have epix and Suunto Spartan. Compared to those watches, I would say the GPS tracks are pretty good although I am not sure if distance is also accurate. Will test more

0 R_Tellis over 7 years ago

So I trolled through the file system on the watch last night and there was an EPO.bin file in the RemoteSW folder which made no sense with the long signal lock times.

This morning when I took the dog for a walk I decided start a walk activity to see how long it would take to get a signal. It locked on pretty quick, not as quick as my Forrunners, but 10-15 seconds. When I got back to the house I saved it and looked at the track and it was good.

I then waited 5-10 minutes and started a run activity and it picked up a signal within 10 seconds while inside. I guess it just wanted to wait until I bitched online before starting to use its ephemera file to make me look stupid.

I'm usually more forgiving and patient when I choose to be an early adopter. I think the workout function being so unintuitive the other day made me a little more critical than normal.

0 Former Member over 7 years ago

I was wondering the same thing, went for a walk yesterday and it seemed like it took forever to lock on to GPS. I'm used to my VHR which never took more than a few seconds. I'll keep guess I will just have to keep an eye on it.

0 GAU8Avenger over 7 years ago

Mine took a while the first time, I'm assuming to get almanac and ephemeris information. Ever since it pretty much syncs in about 5-10 seconds

0 PizzaQueen over 7 years ago

The first time it took my watch at least an hour to get gps signal(glonass on) in open skies by a window sill in a neighborhood full of homes. The second time it took faster 30 minutes to catch a signal, but now it takes 2 min, which is not great, but beats the other times. Maybe version 2.5 or whatever is after 2.4 will improve it.

0 R_Tellis over 7 years ago

Mine was never that bad. Actually it's been behaving as expected on 3 GPS activities today. Fast signal lock and steady tracking and pace.

0 chunkywizard over 7 years ago

On a window sill isn?t the best place to get a GPS lock. You can only see a maximum of half the sky ie half the satellites. Stand in the middle of an open field if you want to get a faster lock! Saying that, the end of my drive is usually good enough to get a lock in <10 secs.

0 R_Tellis over 7 years ago

GPS was back to taking a long time to get a signal this morning. Problem was I didn't realize it until I was done and reviewed the run.

I stepped outside, pushed the button, selected run, and very quickly the watch said "Ready" and I got the prompt to push the button. (any way to get this to go away?)
So I pushed the button and took off although briefly I was thinking to myself "Wait. Was the GPS at the top of the screen grey when I started?" but kept on going regardless. When I hit the point where I knew I should be getting the 1 mile auto-lap alert I checked and the watch was reading 1.02 and I just figured the alert just flaked out and paid it no mind and finished the run getting no lap alerts.

When I reviewed the run on my phone I saw that it didn't start tracking GPS until I was about 12 minutes (1.38 miles) into the run after which it tracked wonderfully and the overall mileage was pretty much correct. I guess I've done enough running with the watch for the accelerometers to be able to gauge my stride accurately enough.

So lesson here kids is wait for the big "GPS" at the top of the screen to go green before starting and don't believe the "Ready" in the middle of the screen. I really think that it shouldn't say "Ready" until there is a signal on activities that use GPS.

Here's the activity. I actually started close the top of the road the runs North of the point where the GPS track starts.
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1991717468

0 jim_m_58 over 7 years ago

I've seen the va3 take a few minutes to get a fix, and it's slow if I'm still in the house or not under "clear sky". (the f5 is better inside)
Yesterday I went out with the va3 and an f5. I started trying to get a fix on the va3 before starting up GPS on the f5, and the va3 got a fix in a matter of seconds. (about the same amount of time as on the f5)

Thinking it might be an "aging" thing as I hadn't used GPS in about a day, I just went out and started trying to get a fix with the va3 and timed it. 11 seconds.

0 R_Tellis over 7 years ago

Yesterday I got a fix 3 times in the 10-12 second range. It probably took 12 minutes this morning because I was moving and it finally got a lock when I stopped at an intersection. However I just went outside while a job was running on my laser engraver and timed it with my phone. I gave up after 6 minutes.

I was hopeful after yesterday that this had resolved itself but now I'm really not that impressed with this aspect of the watch. My old FR10 can get a location fix faster than that.