Elevation gain is too conservative on rolling terrain - comparison between multiple watches
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There is an established 18.5 mile (30 km) loop near where I live that over years I’ve run many times. It is a 70% trail and 30% pavement loop, which can be characterized as moderately hilly but still nearly 100% runnable.
So far, Suunto Race and Race S seem to be outliers in terms of the measured total ascent on this loop. These are the only two devices that measured the ascent at under 1600 ft, which is even less than Strava estimate of 1622 ft when plotting this course in Strava route editor or when correcting the elevation gain in Strava. Strava estimation of the elevation gain is known to be a bit conservative.
Here are total ascent numbers for different watch models. All numbers are in feet (1 ft = 30.48 cm):
Suunto Race: 1512
Suunto Race S: 1594
Suunto 9 Baro: 1783, 1789, 1804, 1825 (this was recorded using earlier software versions of Suunto 9 Baro before I switched to 6X).
Suunto Abmit 3 Peak: 1692, 1841, 1985
Suunto Ambit: 1706, 1756
Fenix 7X: 1601, 1647, 1650
Fenix 6X: 1611, 1663, 1696, 1742 -
@sky-runner I think to remember that the new algo was push for the S9 peak and for me it was far more précise (before it was incremented by 3 meter I think).
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@Kramble I just got a Suunto Race S at the beginning of August. For activities like trails runs with a lot of up/down I’m finding it to be low on elevation gains versus the mapping Apps I use - up to ~10%. If the activity is long hills it’s pretty close to other apps.
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@JamesInTahoe Yes that is my general experience as well. It seems to lose (under-count) ascent on transition from ascent to descent due to what seems to be an over-smoothed elevation profile. I think it counts mostly correctly, considering that it uses a 3 meter threshold, but I think the output of the current elevation itself is delayed and lacks details, so when running through rolling terrain, peaks and deeps are missed. I found that I have to raise my hand to make it count the last few meters of every small climb on a rolling terrain, which is kind of ridiculous to do. But when you have dozens of those rolling climbs in a single run, they add up.
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@sky-runner it’s investigated. Known aka.
It can also be due to the latch mechanism if you remember what we are talking about.
