Suunto 7 Altitude Issues
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I decided to do a “balcony test” myself to try and figure out the issue I’ve had with choppy altitude. Left the watch hanging outside for 1 hour, and this was the result
https://quantified-self.io/user/DUrrVK0qMVZO5TtAP0r6Ox2HVLD2/event/0221b481fde831df8bcae7ef74e3e69133541d41664a45bbe5d6e78b748cc30d
I’ve cleaned the watch a few times now. I’ve no idea what acceptable diff would be, but this seems a bit “jumpy” to me
I also gave the watch about 5 min with a gps lock before actually starting the activity.
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@aleksander-h
looks very “active”… first question could be: is it windy? then after either yes or no: how is the satellite reception, does the track show one spot or did it paint a nice mandala around your balcony?
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@freeheeler Honestly not sure about the wind. I’d say “not much”, but I wasn’t paying that much attention to it. As for sattelite reception, I got a nice little square.
If you look at the activity on quantified-self, the movement seemed to take place at 2 places. Rest of the time it seems to know its not moving (if I’m interpreting this correct, no guarantees there).
[edit] I suppose I could find some field to go and sit in
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In my experience, the altimeter on the Suunto 7 works best when the watch is strapped to my wrist. And it also works very well (maybe even better) when I’m wearing it under a jacket.
I think that the simple, but probably cost effective design (compared to the Suunto 9’s more sophisticated and costly design), with one hole in the watch case for the barometric sensor could mean that even the slightest wind can influence the altimeter. And when wearing it on my wrist my arm works as some sort of a wind shield.
I have made tests where I walk 100 meter on a flat open space and then back to the starting point. First with the watch on my wrist and then holding the watch by the strap in my hand. On the wrist the watch only measured 1-2 meters ascent/descent. When holding the watch in my hand, it measured 30 meters ascent on a 100 meter walk. I will however do more tests before I conclude.
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@aeroild said in Suunto 7 Altitude Issues:
I have made tests where I walk 100 meter on a flat open space and then back to the starting point. First with the watch on my wrist and then holding the watch by the strap in my hand. On the wrist the watch only measured 1-2 meters ascent/descent. When holding the watch in my hand, it measured 30 meters ascent on a 100 meter walk. I will however do more tests before I conclude.
Unfortunately no such thing as flat surfaces around here
. Maybe I can put it in a box with holes in it on the balcony. That way it should shield it from wind -
@aeroild
that is a crazy weird observation…
I think the S7 baro hole design is actually very good and in some cases even better than S9B.@Aleksander-H
you mean “fortunately no flat areas”
I would expect the watch can filter gusts because of the recording interval and FusedAlti.living sideways
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@aleksander-h
your balcony altitude values doesn’t looks good and not coming from a baro sensor. are you sure you have a S7baro ?
or some wind during the test ?Suunto Spartan Ultra (since 2016) FW: 2.8.24 (retired)
Suunto Vertical all black
Wife : S9PP
SA: Always the latest beta :)
Android 13, Galaxy S205G -
@freeheeler I can assure you that I am not crazy
On this screenshot the first walk to the turning point and back was with the watch on my left wrist. Then I shifted the watch to my right wrist and took the same walk. All the time with a stable altitude. Then I held the watch in my hand and that’s when the ascent starts. Then I put the watch back on my left wrist and you can see a sharp descent, then a slight ascent and then a stable altitude as I walked to the turning point and back. And finally I once again held the watch in my hand and walked and you can see another ascent.
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@mff73 said in Suunto 7 Altitude Issues:
@aleksander-h
your balcony altitude values doesn’t looks good and not coming from a baro sensor. are you sure you have a S7baro ?
or some wind during the test ?Doing a new test now with the watch in a box with ventilation holes. That should protect it from any wind.
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Still a bumpy ride it seems, despite protecting it from wind.
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@aleksander-h
let me do some testing with my wife’s S7 and my S9B tonight. I’ll post it here -
@freeheeler much appreciated
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@aleksander-h I also tried to leave my Suunto 7 on the balcony for 15 minutes. It was quite windy outside 4-8 m/s. The correct altitude should be around 80 meters. I left the watch in a box without a lid. The result is very different from yours, but still just as bad.
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@aeroild I’d say yours is worse!
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@aleksander-h Yeah, but the strange thing is that it worked well on my run earlier today.
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@aleksander-h
this is what S7 and S9 did stationary on the balcony for 17 minutes.
S7 is red, S9 is green
S7 is darker green, S9 is yellowish-green (Edit: I know from Dimitrios, that temperature drop can affect the altitude to some extend)
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@freeheeler so the S7 stayed within 2 meters during those 17 min. Quite a bit better than mine then. I’ll test again tomorrow in case the weather was some how affecting things.
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@isazi Hi, thanks for reply, app version is 2.1.0 (8785) on ios 12.5.1 iPhone 6… and 0m is on Trail Running, Walking or Trekking activities. Also It happened few days ago when I was walking uphill - S7 started to decrease altitude…I was up around 40+ m and on the watch was shown something like -18 m…
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@mikulass the 0 meters issue will be fixed, from what we read today in the forum, with the next software update.
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@aleksander-h Hi, thanks pointing the other thread, yes this is my case… and as @ISAZI pointed I see the graph
with ascent, but summary “table” shows Ascent 0m 
…(apologize don’t know how to resize pictures in forum online editor)…
