Bumpy and inaccurate altitude data with new Suunto 7

[BrunoH]

Hi @daltonthomas , unfortunately that error has been reported here in the forum numerous times. My own dialogue with Suunto support didn’t result in any concrete resolution. One possible reason might be the barometer hole being blocked. I wish Suunto could fix this. I ended up changing my Suunto 7 to another model with less “smart” features and more sports stuff. Altitude was not my only concern; there were stability problems too, some of which have been fixed already in a newer firmware!

[freeheeler]

@daltonthomas
I think it’s reasonable to send it to Suunto once again with this data, comparison and detailed description.
I hope you don’t loose trust in Suunto. I think they’re fantastic watches and maybe you “only” received a “monday morning” model.

@BrunoH
I know the issues of blocking baro holes from my old Suunto Core and now from my S9B. The S7 (my very own opinion as a development and design engineer) has a much better baro hole design to prevent the blocking and hence wrong measurements.
But I learned how to buckle up my S9B to my specific needs and never had problems since

[daltonthomas]

Thanks for your help!
The watch is packed and will be send tomorrow to Suunto service.
The experience with this Suunto7 is not the best but the experience i had and still have with my old ambit2 is great. Therefore it will need a while till i will change the brand…:).
If i would buy again a new Suunto watch i guess i would go for the S9 because of battery and sensors and hopefully less issues with the altitude measurement.

[themrdjj]

I’m sending my watch back tomorrow as well. What I don’t understand is how they can just send a watch back to you within warranty that clearly isn’t working properly. I hope that doesn’t happen to me and it actually gets fixed or replaced. Before this I had a Polar watch but I really wanted one with full maps and the Garmin ones were too expensive for me. Let’s hope I don’t end up regretting my choice for Suunto.

[daltonthomas]

@themrdjj
Hopefully we both get a properly repaired watch back. I guess that standard suunto test procedure didnt catch the failure of my watch and they didnt read exactly my descpription of failure. Having the full maps was also the reason i changed from my old Suunto to Suunto7.

[themrdjj]

The watch just arrived back from Suunto, much faster than expected. However, it came with the following comment: “I have tested your device for the faults reported in the fault description and performed all the necessary tests but discovered no fault with the pressure sensor.” That’s what I was afraid would happen. Well, I’m not sure what to do now. I’ll do more testing over the next week and post the results here again.

[Mff73]

@themrdjj
i may have not read all the post carefully, sorry in advance, but :
do you have tested your non faulty S7 alone and yourself ?

i think you have tested :
you wearing faulty S7 --> you got issue
you wearing faulty S7 + someone wearing good S7 --> you got issue + someone didn’t
you wearing faulty S7 + you wearing good S7 --> you got issue on faulty S7 and good results on the other.

Could it be an issue influenced by your way of wearing the “main” watch (near the wrist, or…) and the second watch is worn “better” ?

[freeheeler]

@Mff73
I remember he did a test with both watches attached to his backpack, too… same results

[Mff73]

@TELE-HO said in Bumpy and inaccurate altitude data with new Suunto 7:

@Mff73
I remember he did a test with both watches attached to his backpack, too… same results

OK.
Maybe a backpack issue ?
Or some magnetic gloves ?

[Dimitrios Kanellopoulos]

@themrdjj send it again and pm me with the case number if it still does not work ok.

[daltonthomas]

Just for information, i`ll get my watch back the next days. I got following information from service.

“Dear customer, I have replaced your device with a replacement unit that will come with a three (3) month service
warranty, which applies if the original devices warranty has expired”

I`ll let you know how correct the sensor is working as soon i did the first tours.

Cheers.

[themrdjj]

@Mff73 I haven’t compared it with another Suunto 7, just with my old Polar watch, my phone’s data and the Strava-corrected data. I will do more tests this week and pay even more attention to wearing it correctly, let’s see.

@Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos Will do, thanks!

@daltonthomas That’s good to hear!

[Mff73]

@themrdjj
Sorry, i mixed with @daltonthomas

[freeheeler]

@Mff73
me too

[themrdjj]

Here’s another thing to try out. Can some of you who have a S7 please download this app :https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.taxilearn.phi.hoehenmesser and compare it with the following video of what it looks like on mine? The amplitude of the pressure change seems to be around 0.1-0.2 hPa.

https://youtu.be/sD4pk6ZnfZ0

[pilleus]

@themrdjj my S7 is jumping between 972,88 and 972,92 hPa. I calibrated to the correct pressure at sea-level.

The identical amplitude on my Casio WSD-F21HR and Skagen Falster 3.

[themrdjj]

I did some more testing over the last week, here are some altitude profiles where I compare the raw data from the S7 to the Strava-corrected data (the colours are mixed up, but it’s clear which one comes from the watch). Sometimes it’s worse, sometimes better, but the overall magnitude is wrong and it’s pretty bumpy (and no, those bumps are definitely not correct).

I made sure that the watch was always synced and I did frequent reboots as well. I always waited at least 1-2 minutes after the GPS connection was found, often longer. The GPS tracks in all of these activities were pretty good, so the GPS certainly isn’t the problem.

While wearing the watch (on my left arm, a few cm away from the wrist), I always made sure not to cover the barometer hole. I don’t sweat much either, don’t have very hairy arms and didn’t use the watch in muddy or particularly wet conditions, so I’m quite sure that the barometer itself just isn’t working properly, perhaps in a way that is overlooked during the standard Suunto lab tests.

I’m sending in the watch again this afternoon. @Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos I’m going to send you the number by PM now.

@daltonthomas Any updates on yours?

[freeheeler]

@themrdjj
good luck, dude!
I hope they find the issue or at least change the sensor

[daltonthomas]

Hello,
today my wife tested the watch back from service with new replacement unit.
Because bluetooth adress changed, i believe really the unit was changed.

Its unbelievable, the first tour ( she climed a mountain from 841 m altitude to 1516 m altitude), the watch showed 3824 m ascend and 3832 m descend. She wore the watch correctly on her left arm.
We are starting of thinking that we are too stupid in using a Sport watch correctly…:)
What we know is that the last 5 years with the Suunto Ambit2, we never had issues with the altitude.

Enclosed the more detailed data of the track. I have no idea how the wrong data comes from because the altitude itself is more or less correctly (apart from the descent-parts during climbing up). During the tour the data of the watch was not checked, therefore i don`t know when the wrong altitude started.

Data of the track:
https://quantified-self.io/user/rxqh5UVb9LhOn2n6zRIh2gHKXMH2/event/9gLkppcytWZHY1uCZMnx

[freeheeler]

@daltonthomas
if you zoom in you see a lot of spikes in the alti graph. I saw something similar today with my S9B. Wet condition, watch worn relatively loose on the wrist with the body over the jackets cuff.
It gave me 721m instead of reality around 520m.

Back to “if you zoom in”: you gain over 27m within 20 seconds. This would result in over 4’800 meter per hour
Maybe something covered the sensor unintendedly.
I would give it some more tries