Suunto 9 with the recent GPS firmware was among least accurate GPS watches in today's 25K trail race

[ollemelin]

I’m an esri-sweden employer and work with GIS field apps. We have a streaming mode on our application Collector. I will try that And my S9B and compare the results :).

[stromdiddily]

@Brad_Olwin agree w him that Suunto has heard the complaints and are addressing it w a near future update?

[Dimitrios Kanellopoulos]

@stromdiddily in some cases the distance can fall short. That said not shorter than stryd.

It’s a matter of balance between smoothened track vs more precice and maybe longer distance.

[stromdiddily]

@Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos said in Suunto 9 with the recent GPS firmware was among least accurate GPS watches in today's 25K trail race:

@stromdiddily in some cases the distance can fall short. That said not shorter than stryd.

It’s a matter of balance between smoothened track vs more precice and maybe longer distance.

I haven’t seen S9 consistently falling short but do concede there is a fine balancing act. Coros (as you mentioned in another post) has the “best” because they go heavy on the smoothing which makes your tracks look good but also means the watch is very slow to pick up changes in pace/direction/etc

My last long run is a good example of my main complaint. For 90+ percent of the run the track is very very good. Then the last mile it loses the plot a bit (plus gave me a storm warning when weather could not have been more perfect :D).

[ollemelin]

Just did a road run for 5 km with S9B on one arm and garmin 735xt on the other. S9B is about 40 meters behind om every km. So Garmin recorded 20:04 min and S9B 20:22.

Ofc it could be garmin thats off but it does not seem that way. Ive tried this on a single 1k straight road with clear sky and its a about 40 meters difference.

I can also see on the pace graph that S9B has a lot of spikens. The 735xt graph is more smooth.

I just find this very intresting :).

[jw cou]

An interesting article from TrainingPeaks https://www.trainingpeaks.com/blog/how-accurate-is-your-gps-watch

Looks like a “fair” comparison to me.

[stromdiddily]

@ollemelin which way were you turning? which side of the road were you on? These things will all make a difference (ie if suunto is on left and most of your turns are left, it will likely be a bit shorter than any watch worn on your right wrist).,

FWIW - I am constantly comparing watches and have found that strapping it around the palm of your hand is fairly comfortable and provides the most accurate comparison

[Brad_Olwin]

@jw-cou said in Suunto 9 with the recent GPS firmware was among least accurate GPS watches in today's 25K trail race:

An interesting article from TrainingPeaks https://www.trainingpeaks.com/blog/how-accurate-is-your-gps-watch

Looks like a “fair” comparison to me.

It is, but dated. I downloaded the published manuscript. For fenix, the newest was the 3 and for Suunto newest was Spartan. No data for Sony chipset.

[zhang965]

@jw-cou said in Suunto 9 with the recent GPS firmware was among least accurate GPS watches in today's 25K trail race:

An interesting article from TrainingPeaks https://www.trainingpeaks.com/blog/how-accurate-is-your-gps-watch

Looks like a “fair” comparison to me.

another study:

[Dimitrios Kanellopoulos]

@zhang965 that study is also sponsored by polar.

Interestingly both studies are not updated or fair for the competition.

Imo

[johann.fuehrer]

@Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos Thatt’s the problem with such studies, they are always outdated, never on the latest firmware and always sponsored by someone. But I have/had five of this eight watches (the Garmins and the Vantage were sold, Polar V800 and S9B are still here besides A2 & A3) and the result matches well with my experience.

The V800 is besides the A2 & A3 the watch with the most accurate GPS I ever had, the FR935 was also pretty good, then the S9B and last would I rate the F5X plus.

The Vantage went back, because of the poor navigation capabilities, the Garmins were sold because of the software issues which went worse with each update and it sucks to update every 1-2 weeks not to know if you get more fixed or more new bugs…

The V800 and A2/A3 will stay as I like them as they are

The S9B is my all day and workout watch now …

[freeheeler]

shouldn’t scientists work to uncover the truth independently from a sponsor?
I would expect that from the phd’s and bcs’s in magglingen…

[Brad_Olwin]

@TELE-HO said in Suunto 9 with the recent GPS firmware was among least accurate GPS watches in today's 25K trail race:

shouldn’t scientists work to uncover the truth independently from a sponsor?
I would expect that from the phd’s and bcs’s in magglingen…

I would hope so too, the only thing I can think is they donated watches? I am a publishing scientist, not in this field but it is hard for me to imagine why the study was sponsored. It is possible the sponsor paid for the salary of a student or technician. If it is peer-reviewed, which these are I trust the reviewers as they new the conflicts and assessed the data.

[Egika]

Only because some company ordered a study at a scientific organisation, this does not mean it is wrong.
Maybe the setup and boundary conditions are biased, so take these with precaution, but I would trust the result itself.

[Dimitrios Kanellopoulos]

As Bradley said it, I think it’s about the “free watches”.

The study had 3 polars vs the “rest” which the rest were just a few.

[zhang965]

Same place, same distance, same configuration, one year later

[johann.fuehrer]

@zhang965 sorry, maybe I have missed something above - what do we see here (except the obvious that the latter is better in GPS quality)? Which watch & which GPS settings for first and second picture? Thx

[cosme.costa]

@johann-fuehrer If you see the pictures there is a timestamp, and the newer is worse than the older.

[johann.fuehrer]

@cosmecosta said in Suunto 9 with the recent GPS firmware was among least accurate GPS watches in today's 25K trail race:

@johann-fuehrer If you see the pictures there is a timestamp, and the newer is worse than the older.

Sorry, yes! - you are right, I didn’t check this. All clear now…

[Dimitrios Kanellopoulos]

@zhang965 Beidou?