Suunto Vertical Altitude difference problem

saidi

hey hey,

a bit more than 4 weeks ago i ordered a suunto vertical after my long time use of the suunto spartan ultra.

till now, i loved my new SV, but today i found a bug that is out of the question for a mountaneering watch.

i was on a mountain trip all day and collected about 1875 meters in altitude difference.

nearly at the end of the route i decided to take a short stay in a cold mountain creek (dont know if its the right word for “gebirgsbach” in english). of course i kept my suunto on the wrist.
before going in the cold water i had about 1875 meters altitude difference.

when i got dressed again to start the last mile to the car my watch showed 2739m in altitude difference (!) wtf…

my girlfriend also tracked our route and we did not collect morw than 2700. the planned route in the app has 1702 altitude difference.

so what happened while the watch got plunged im cold water?

very disappointed.

p.s. cant add pictures of the wrong results vs the right results (from my girlfriends garmin watch)

isazi

@saidi the altitude is measured with the barometer, water pressure is higher than air pressure, so you jump in the water and get higher pressure, the watch interpreted this as lower altitude, then you get out of the water, pressure goes back to normal, altitude is back, you get the ascent.

saidi

@isazi thank you for reply.

if i dived meters into a lake i would understand, but: please take a look at my picture, it shows the creek with running water and with ficus on my legs you can see that the depth is about 30-40 cm.

is it really the case that a 600 euro watch cant handle it when the arms hide in a creek that really isnt deep and adds about 800 meters in altitude difference???

dont get me wrong, i love my SV, but this is not acceptable. that means every time i dunk my wrist/arms into flat water i have to pause my watch?

i have four photos to explain better.

photo of the creek:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/18Qzo0aeBn4ZaqVqvyP3UxQo1lcoGbZDp/view?usp=drivesdk

wrong SV watch results:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/18WCbf3_1xab9dz3pR8JreL9RYSdCMFOK/view?usp=drivesdk

garmin results (no wrist in creek):
https://drive.google.com/file/d/18ZWOUb_yQnf5FiQlnsr_2SeISwg3hP7F/view?usp=drivesdk

tour planning data:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/18eEYNrJmK1V51Z5gffLakFNELbuRal6W/view?usp=drivesdk

thanks in advance!

isazi

@saidi the altimeter has a resolution of centimeters, so yes being submerged under a water column of 30 cm is a lot of pressure that can be interpreted as many meters of descent.

saidi

@isazi again thank u for your reply.

i have never had that problem with my spartan ultra. there were times i wore it on a tour and dived in a lake. no wrong results.

surfboomerang

Here is an example of how sensistive the pressure sensor is. This is part of a windsurf session recorded by the Suunto Vertical. The small drops and peaks are caused by wind (it even reflects the directions). The big dip at the end is caused by submerging the watch in water for a couple of cm.

All this wobbling results in a 400m ascent and 400m descent for this activity. I can assure you, the water was pretty flat that day
Luckily Suunto ignores altitude for this kind of sport.

maszop

@surfboomerang I have been writing for a long time that for some activities the barometer sensitivity may be a bit too high.
Of course, I mean in strong winds, not submerging the watch in water.