S+ Strava live segments don't seem to work anymore
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I had a race with 3 laps today and wanted to track each lap as Strava Live segment to see how I performed in real time against my previous PR on the the same race course.
Well, at the race start, segment tracking didn’t start. As we can see on the map the point where I hit Start was about 2 meters after the segment start, so perhaps that is the reason segment tracking failed. However I’d argue that is still very much within the segment tolerance so this should have still worked.
However, on the second lap I went right through the segment start, within 1 meter of as you can see on the map screenshot. The watch had notified me about the upcoming segment, but the tracking still didn’t start.
After that I got disappointed and turned the S+ Segments guide off, so I didn’t try on the third lap.
Does anyone use Strava Live Segments S+ guide on the watch? Does it work for you?
Here is the screenshot from Caltopo that shows the segment (red) overlayed with my activity (blue).
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I did a bit more testing. Strava Live Segments do work but in a limited way and not the same way they used to work in the past.
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Start of the tracking of a segment on the watch seems to be less reliable
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When a tracked segment ends, there is no longer a summary that tells me my time. There is simply a popup that says “Off Segment” as if I didn’t finish the segment successfully.
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I suspect the code that tracks the segments internally is now different and perhaps overlaps more with route tracking. When I try to use live segments at the same time with following a route I get strange notifications, like telling me I am back on route when a segment ends even though I’ve never left the route - that’s not how it worked before. I wonder if this perhaps is the the reason segment tracking didn’t work in the case I described in my original post - in that case route starts at the same point as the segment so perhaps the the watch picks the route rather than the segment and the segment tracking doesn’t start.
Furthermore, I wanted to mention quite a disappointing experience with trying and failing to use Strava live segments. I am registered for a popular local race called “Tiger Claw”. It consists of three different loops going up the mountain and returning back. Runners can choose an order in which they run these 3 loops, so there is a bit of strategy involved. The local community created three Strava segments that match the race loops, and local trail runners often use these segments for training and assessing their performance on these loops. The problem is that with a Suunto watch there is absolutely no way to tell which of the 3 segments the watch is going to start. All 3 segments naturally start at the same place at the trailhead. As you approach the point where these 3 segments start, it simply tells you that a segment is close but it doesn’t tell you which segment and, obviously, there is no way to choose. The only way to use this feature is to go to Strava and make that only one of the segments is starred at a time before you sink with the watch. But then it makes it very difficult to find these segments on Strava again - it is not like you can go and unstar one segment and star another. And if you want to hit more than one segment (that starts at the same place) in the same run by returning back and running a different way - bad luck because that isn’t supported. On other platforms like Garmin and Coros you can dismiss a segment that you don’t want when you approach it, and that makes the watch to switch to another matching segment if there is one nearby. But the Suunto implementation is super simplistic and there is no choice, which makes the feature unusable in some cases as I explained above.
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@sky-runner I cannot even find the s+ app anymore. Seems like they removed it from the SuuntoPlus store? Maybe that’s the reason why it’s not working well?
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@SamuelP It isn’t in the store. It is an S+ guide not an app. It shows up once Strava is connected and the watch is synced.
“How do I use Strava segments on my Suunto watch?”
https://share.google/VrYtrNaqKU5jRVKJUBut I think because this feature is implemented as a guide, that’s why it is so limited. The S+ guide API simply doesn’t allow anything more elaborate that feels more built-in. This feature was totally an afterthought from the beginning.
Too bad because I think for trail running this is one of the most useful training features. It is especially useful when running on variable terrain because otherwise there is no way to compare efforts in real time while running.
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@sky-runner oh you are right! sorry, my bad, I thought there was an app for segments
Hope you get some answers!
