Open water GPS drifting
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@CroShark
Before the latest update, I had excellent results with the Vertical in open water.
I can honestly say that, compared to people using Garmin (fenix, forerunner ) and COROS (apex pro)devices (swim side by side always freestyle technique), my trackings were equally good — if not better and more reliable — even under cloudy skies and sea wave conditions.I assume this is some kind of glitch or bug introduced in the recent update, as a soft reset hasn’t resolved the issue. I’m confident it’s not a hardware problem, since the watch performs flawlessly in every other use case.
I hope this will be improved in a future update, before I consider doing a hard reset.
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@CroShark
I also did a test using a “ghost” open water swimming activity. When the watch detects that you’re moving too fast for typical swimming speeds, it displays a pop-up message saying that you’re moving at a speed that’s too fast for swimming and pauses the activity, asking if you want to continue.This could be helpful in cases where the GPS reflects incorrectly and shows you’re moving at 90 km/h, so it notifies you with a message.
But didn’t work in my case into the sea- ideally, such issues shouldn’t occur in the first place…
However, I want to try placing the watch inside a swim buoy, though it’s not as convenient as being able to quickly glance at your wrist.
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@gerasimos
Thanks for the suggestions.
During the swim I did get the message to pause my activity, because the watch detected a to high speed for swimming, but I ignored it.
This was the first time I received it during any activity.I sparingly use the swim buoy, but placing the watch on it defeats the purpose of GNSS watch, like you stated.
I hope Suunto will solve this in the near future, I usually swim the most during August.
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Fifth test in open water activity
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I changed the watch to the other wrist (from left to right) in case symmetry during freestyle swimming was the issue.
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I followed buoys in the sea that were in a straight line (500meter in one way).
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GPS signal strength was between 75–85%.
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Weather conditions were excellent – clear sky.
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Brief stops with the hand completely out of the water for about 1 minute, to allow the signal to stabilize.
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Never pressed paused
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Before starting the activity, I waited 5 minutes after the GPS indicator turned green, for better locking, and of course synchronized with the app.
— Unfortunately, still very poor results (after last upgrade), even after a soft reset / profile deletion and creation of a new one same results and with default openwater profile.
Next step: Hard reset and test again…
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Looking at the logbook history, I see much better recordings with the Suunto 9 in the same places several years ago, when supposedly GPS technology wasn’t as advanced as it is today…
Let’s see after my hard reset
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Same experience for me, the track is basically a drunken squiggle. Nothing to be done but wait for a fix.
@isazi do you know if this has been reported?
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@Artus-Diver this such a small deviation in the GPS is (in my opinion) absololutely nomral in a sea or lake enviroment
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@gerasimos
Of course, as I mentioned, I don’t have a major problem, but comparing my previous tracks from before the update, they look much better.
I think Suunto should investigate this.
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I agree, same for me, since December 2024 GPS goes crazy as hell. Previously, I had not noted any problem. Let’s hope Suunto is aware of this and is working on a fix. I have let go the accuracy of this watch in the pool, but if this negative trend continues for open water swimming it will mean that the brand is moving away from supporting disciplines such as triathlon and swimming marathons.
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To give an example:
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I have one better. I started and finished within a few meters of each other, and swam in relatively straight lines up and down the beach, going down ~100m, back and so on. I know the distance because of the grounds on the beach, and can measure it using satellite maps…
If anyone wants to say ‘GNSS soak!’ I cycled for about 30m to the beach, and let the watch ‘soak’ for about 5m while getting ready. It had copied the bike ride to the watch before I swap, so it will have had opportunity to update the A-GPS.
This was with a Race, not a Vertical.
Then this was with a Vertical. Better… but for an out-and-back swim in calm water, not great.
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@Ze-Stuart This is really crazy. Suunto, what happened to your devices…!?
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@Ze-Stuart Exactly the same GPS behavor .
maybe @Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos can give an andvice
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I should mention again that my brother has no problem with Ocean. Ocean’s last firmware is from December? So I would look for a problem somewhere after that time.
🔺Vertical All Black
ex:
Ambit2 Black
Ambit3 Peak Sapphire
Spartan Ultra Stealth Titanium
S9B All Black
Ocean All Black (for testing only)
>>> YouTube Channel <<< -
@Pavlas yes, I think as long as the firmware rollback also rolls back the firmware of the GNSS receiver I think we could have decent OWS again.
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@Ars-Vitae said in Open water GPS drifting:
I agree, same for me, since December 2024 GPS goes crazy as hell. Previously, I had not noted any problem. Let’s hope Suunto is aware of this and is working on a fix. I have let go the accuracy of this watch in the pool, but if this negative trend continues for open water swimming it will mean that the brand is moving away from supporting disciplines such as triathlon and swimming marathons.
Can you share your pool swimming experience?
What do you think about the “new” algorithm?
What are your thoughts on swimming style recognition?Suunto Viper
Suunto HelO2
Suunto Ambit 3 PEAK
Suunto 9 Baro Titanium
Suunto Vertical -
or if anyone try to use the support chat in the Suunto app to find a sotution for this issue.
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@Artus-Diver said in Open water GPS drifting:
Can you share your pool swimming experience?
What do you think about the “new” algorithm?
What are your thoughts on swimming style recognition?@Artus-Diver Swimming in the pool is the most poorly designed activity in SV in my opinion (I also do other sports, so I have some reference as to how SV performs in other fields), nothing here works well. I don’t know if there is a new algorithm, but style recognition is worse than it used to be (about a year ago). I’m not developing the thread here, because it would be off topic, but through my profile you’ll hit the posts where I write a bit more. Generally, they boil down to the fact that I don’t have a good opinion about the SV measurements quality in the pool, and I’ve stopped hoping that it will get better. Although swimming is one of my preferred activities. I feel even more disappointed when, in addition, recent updates have broken SV functionality in open water swimming. I also reported the similar issue with snorkeling in December, it’s all about the GPS signal, I guess. After all, it all worked well, certainly a year ago.
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A Ars Vitae referenced this topic
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@Ars-Vitae check this reviews for openwater
before and after uptdate
very good gnss
2)https://www.correrunamaraton.com/suunto-vertical-opinion-review/now its like before 2023 and sometimes worst… lets hope for a fix
Suunto Vertical Ti
Suunto S9 gen1
Suunto Ambit3 peak -
@gerasimos said in Open water GPS drifting:
before and after uptdate
To save others a trip down memory lane:
Now, we move on to openwater swimming. I’ve done a lot of openwater swimming with the Suunto Vertical – and frankly, none of it is good. In fact, it’s all horrifically bad. On present firmware, the unit has yet to complete a single one of nearly half a dozen openwater swims without failing halfway through. Essentially, if I tread water for even a very short timeframe (such as waiting for my swim buddy), then it’ll lose GPS permanently for the rest of the swim.
Bold is my addition.
