Altitude is very incorrect

so your case about it working normally doesn't really hold up.

Relevant altitude information? This is from the support page.

It is not uncommon for satellite heights to be off from map elevations by +/- 400 ft.

Let me give you an example. The elevation of my residence is 470'. GPS has shown me to be anywhere from 200' to 700' depending on the amount of satellites and their signal strength. Fortunately, I can calibrate my 935 correctly and then save that location so I don't have this issue anymore. I use to be able to do that with a VA3. Currently, you are subject to starting an activity at my location in the 200' to 700' range. To add to this, if your barometer isn't calibrated correctly, once you start your activity and the barometer adjust to the the correct pressure, this will change your elevation readings. A .05 inHg change of pressure is equal to about 50" of elevation. So, please explain why you think my case about the watch working properly doesn't hold up?

Not sure if this is a VA3 only problem. My buddy has a 935 and we both recorded a 17 mile mountain bike loop ride. After a loop to the same starting point, my VA3 was down by 100ft. He was also down by 100ft after 2 loops (he rode a loop before a showed up). Now that most of the major issues are fixed in the VA3, hopefully Garmin is still working on making this better. I imagine they are going to sell a bunch of these during the holidays hence more complaints.

It's not a fault and it's actually performing as it should. If you look at your graph you'll notice you peaks and valley's are about the same. This means your altimeter is working properly displaying your elevation gain and loss. The reason your total elevation decreased even though you ran the same hills is because your barometer was rising, which in turn decreases elevation. This may have been caused by an actual increase in barometric pressure, temperature (actual or body) rising, or a combination. This is why I say it's important to calibrate the altimeter and the barometer prior to an activity with the watch temperature as close to the actual temperature the activity will be performed. If Garmin restores manual calibration again, and you pay attention to these things before, during, and after a workout, you'll know why you have this readings and they'll make perfect sense.

It might be completely explainable from a technology perspective (I work in tech; i know computers are hard :p), but that doesn't mean it's not a fault. If the device were performing as it should, then it would be accurately recording my altitude. The peaks & valleys are not about the same; the valleys get greater as the run goes on, and I get less elevation gain than I should.

The fact that the barometer sensor is so badly affected by temperature is a bug, and the lack of compensation for it in the firmware or other methods to work around it makes the VA3 a much less useful device to me. It's basically not fit for purpose in the subtropical climate where I live.

IMHO, this is really the only last big issue with this watch. And Garmin has made some improvements in the last firmware releases. One thing that would really help is if Garmin gave us the ability to default to enable elevation corrections in Garmin Connect. This would make my workflow easier. Finally, send that corrected elevation info to connected 3rd parties like Strava. Then I don't need to enable elevation correction in both places.

I'm very unhappy with Garmin's response. Essentially, they're saying, "Because you didn't pay us enough for this watch, you don't deserve to have this feature working that we claimed it supports."

IMHO, this is really the only last big issue with this watch. And Garmin has made some improvements in the last firmware releases. One thing that would really help is if Garmin gave us the ability to default to enable elevation corrections in Garmin Connect. This would make my workflow easier. Finally, send that corrected elevation info to connected 3rd parties like Strava. Then I don't need to enable elevation correction in both places.

So true! Such a simple implementation for Garmin and so needed!

I spent about an hour on a chat session with a helpful Garmin support individual explaining some gross failures of the pressure altimeter. It is consistently short by 20+% and I have demonstrated proof of it in EVERY fit file from the VA3. I have a number of bike rides that I tracked both with the VA3 and my Edge 520 and gave them access to my account so they can see both files. The Edge 520 data is nearly identical to the elevation gain that Garmin Connect shows if I enable it to do the correction. I also know what the gain is on some of those rides as it is a simple up and down in the local mountains so we know the bottom and top of each climb with little rolling hill to mess with it. She was very helpful.

I understand the benefit of the pressure altimeter for everyday activity like stairs because you don't want to be firing up the GPS constantly for altitude, and it won't work inside larger or metal buildings. But when doing an activity that is already running the GPS, I highly suggested they record the GPS altitude data not the pressure altitude data. That is what their bike computers do. It is going to give a more accurate result. Or at least give the user the option in Garmin Connect Mobile configuration.

kgarten's suggestion of enabling Elevation Correction in the GCM app is a great idea. I notice for activities that I've enabled it in Garmin Connect online, the corrected data is still not shown when looking at the activity in GCM. That's bad too. The idea of giving us that option to turn on correction in GCM is much needed, then in whichever place it was enabled, it should show in the data presented in GCM.

The barometric altimer is really bad: during all my crossfit training sessions (indoor without GPS) the altitude drops during the activity!!! In addiction every training for the device is set in a different altitude from 160m to 310m but the gym is ofcourse always in the same place (this is due to the impossibility to manually calibrate the altimeter!!!!

The attached images say it all: the elevation gain and loss as TMK17 explains above are acceptable, while my total elevation decreased. Strangely my running mate's VA3 device is correct in both gain and loss and total elevation display. Might it be the defect sensor in my device?ciq.forums.garmin.com/.../1457271.jpg