Open water GPS drifting

gerasimos

Fifth test in open water activity

I changed the watch to the other wrist (from left to right) in case symmetry during freestyle swimming was the issue.
I followed buoys in the sea that were in a straight line (500meter in one way).
GPS signal strength was between 75–85%.
Weather conditions were excellent – clear sky.
Brief stops with the hand completely out of the water for about 1 minute, to allow the signal to stabilize.
Never pressed paused
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…

gerasimos

@CroShark

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

![alt text]( image url)

Ze Stuart

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?

gerasimos

@Artus-Diver this such a small deviation in the GPS is (in my opinion) absololutely nomral in a sea or lake enviroment

Artus Diver

@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.

OWS 1.jpg

I think Suunto should investigate this.

Ars Vitae

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.

Ars Vitae

To give an example:

Ze Stuart

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.

Ars Vitae

@Ze-Stuart This is really crazy. Suunto, what happened to your devices…!?

gerasimos

@Ze-Stuart Exactly the same GPS behavor .
maybe @Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos can give an andvice

Pavlas

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.

Ze Stuart

@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.

Artus Diver

@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?

gerasimos

or if anyone try to use the support chat in the Suunto app to find a sotution for this issue.

Ars Vitae

@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.

gerasimos

@Ars-Vitae check this reviews for openwater

before and after uptdate

https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2023/05/suunto-vertical-review.html

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

Ze Stuart

@gerasimos said in Open water GPS drifting:

before and after uptdate

https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2023/05/suunto-vertical-review.html

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.

Theo Lakerveld

I’ve just downgraded to FW 2.40.44 as the GPS drifting during OW swimming is quite annoying in 2.43.12. The previous FW was better, according to my experience.

Ars Vitae

@gerasimos Look, I’ve been using this watch regularly since November 2023, so I can’t comment on those tests in this review (by the way , great thorough review):
https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2023/05/suunto-vertical-review.html
There may indeed have been some improvement in measurement accuracy for open water swimming, as I was able to note a good gps signal especially in the summer of 2024 in particular (something in between updates 2.33.16 and 2.35.34) . But the reviewer’s tests summary is significant:

But it’s awesome to see Suunto matching Garmin on dry land. Hopefully they can do the same in the openwater swim realm.

So let’s hope Suunto is up to the task.

gerasimos

@Ars-Vitae yup! very good GPS results before surely one or two updates.
In the land i think there’s no opponent against SV (in my opinion) is the best and more precise adventure watch,out there.