Suunto 9 with the recent GPS firmware was among least accurate GPS watches in today's 25K trail race

[ollemelin]

As an GIS-engineer and survey-educated I understand why bad reading accurs. Running around with a reciever on the arm in different positions, and with trees is not ideal for good GNSS-readings.

Iv’e been using suunto watches for years and they Always recorded a bit on the short side compared to Garmin.

Lately iv’e been running with my wife on the same road out and back. She is using garmin 735xt and me S9B (GPS+glonass on both). We measured the distance with high accuracy. Every run with no exeption my Suunto records too short distance.

When I analyze the Pace-data it’s clear that the Garmin get better readings. My suunto shows spikes the whole route. I can also see during the run that the SB9 cannot show correct pace due to bad readings. It the tries to compensate…but my km-splits are then not correct.

I would expect this in the woods here in Sweden but not on roads with clear views.

For me, it doesn really matter in the end, but my opinion is that there is some kind of hard-to-fix-problem with SB9 and GNSS readings.

[Egika]

@ollemelin have you tried using GPS only?
For me Glonass interferes sometimes. GPS only I usually get better results.
Other have reported they get the best accuracy using GPS+Beidou.
Would love to see your results with these here

[Łukasz Szmigiel]

I always get some zig zagging with glonass. Beidou in my experience is prone to offsetting (which resets after turning directions) but is best in terms of how quickly it gets back on track after some signal loss. But still (even after Beidou introduction) I think that galileo is a monster - to me only galileo will stick to the map perfectly and overlay tracks on top of each other when running the same path twice in the workout. However, in tough terrain, glonass provides the best availability (somehow Beidou is worse in this regard).

In my experience, with my S5 and where I live. Your experience may be different.

Nevertheless - it’s good to check other systems and even try plain GPS as it’s really good after last firmware update.

[ollemelin]

@Egika

I have tried every combo exept the chinese system. Sweden is high altitude which should favor GLONASS but who knows.

Me and the wife also compared on track n Field and her garmin is spot on.

However on long trail-ultras i find my suunto to be accurate over many hours.

I will try Beidou next then.

[ollemelin]

No better with Beidou :(.

My S9B still measure too short of a distance. Yesterday, clear sky and 400 m track n field. It’s of by 20-30 meters every single lap. Sometimes more. I dont remember having this issue with my old ambit.

[Dimitrios Kanellopoulos]

@ollemelin we hear you

[Bulkan]

@ollemelin said in Suunto 9 with the recent GPS firmware was among least accurate GPS watches in today's 25K trail race:

No better with Beidou :(.

My S9B still measure too short of a distance. Yesterday, clear sky and 400 m track n field. It’s of by 20-30 meters every single lap. Sometimes more. I dont remember having this issue with my old ambit.

For these cases could be useful a new sport mode “400m track” some other watches have it and I think we could see it in our watches…

[stromdiddily]

@Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos GPS update coming then??

[cosme.costa]

@ollemelin said in Suunto 9 with the recent GPS firmware was among least accurate GPS watches in today's 25K trail race:

No better with Beidou :(.

My S9B still measure too short of a distance. Yesterday, clear sky and 400 m track n field. It’s of by 20-30 meters every single lap. Sometimes more. I dont remember having this issue with my old ambit.

Here I have to agree…I usually run with a friend that uses an Ambit3 Run and I’m always short in distance comparing to him. I hope Suunto addresses o minimize these differences. Depending on the run and terrain around 200/300 m for 11.5 / 15 km. But I can say my altitude is better

[Brad_Olwin]

@stromdiddily I agree with @Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos

[ollemelin]

I’m an esri-sweden employer and work with GIS field apps. We have a streaming mode on our application Collector. I will try that And my S9B and compare the results :).

[stromdiddily]

@Brad_Olwin agree w him that Suunto has heard the complaints and are addressing it w a near future update?

[Dimitrios Kanellopoulos]

@stromdiddily in some cases the distance can fall short. That said not shorter than stryd.

It’s a matter of balance between smoothened track vs more precice and maybe longer distance.

[stromdiddily]

@Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos said in Suunto 9 with the recent GPS firmware was among least accurate GPS watches in today's 25K trail race:

@stromdiddily in some cases the distance can fall short. That said not shorter than stryd.

It’s a matter of balance between smoothened track vs more precice and maybe longer distance.

I haven’t seen S9 consistently falling short but do concede there is a fine balancing act. Coros (as you mentioned in another post) has the “best” because they go heavy on the smoothing which makes your tracks look good but also means the watch is very slow to pick up changes in pace/direction/etc

My last long run is a good example of my main complaint. For 90+ percent of the run the track is very very good. Then the last mile it loses the plot a bit (plus gave me a storm warning when weather could not have been more perfect :D).

[ollemelin]

Just did a road run for 5 km with S9B on one arm and garmin 735xt on the other. S9B is about 40 meters behind om every km. So Garmin recorded 20:04 min and S9B 20:22.

Ofc it could be garmin thats off but it does not seem that way. Ive tried this on a single 1k straight road with clear sky and its a about 40 meters difference.

I can also see on the pace graph that S9B has a lot of spikens. The 735xt graph is more smooth.

I just find this very intresting :).

[jw cou]

An interesting article from TrainingPeaks https://www.trainingpeaks.com/blog/how-accurate-is-your-gps-watch

Looks like a “fair” comparison to me.

[stromdiddily]

@ollemelin which way were you turning? which side of the road were you on? These things will all make a difference (ie if suunto is on left and most of your turns are left, it will likely be a bit shorter than any watch worn on your right wrist).,

FWIW - I am constantly comparing watches and have found that strapping it around the palm of your hand is fairly comfortable and provides the most accurate comparison

[Brad_Olwin]

@jw-cou said in Suunto 9 with the recent GPS firmware was among least accurate GPS watches in today's 25K trail race:

An interesting article from TrainingPeaks https://www.trainingpeaks.com/blog/how-accurate-is-your-gps-watch

Looks like a “fair” comparison to me.

It is, but dated. I downloaded the published manuscript. For fenix, the newest was the 3 and for Suunto newest was Spartan. No data for Sony chipset.

[zhang965]

@jw-cou said in Suunto 9 with the recent GPS firmware was among least accurate GPS watches in today's 25K trail race:

An interesting article from TrainingPeaks https://www.trainingpeaks.com/blog/how-accurate-is-your-gps-watch

Looks like a “fair” comparison to me.

another study:

[Dimitrios Kanellopoulos]

@zhang965 that study is also sponsored by polar.

Interestingly both studies are not updated or fair for the competition.

Imo