Suunto 9 Baro Endurance/Ultra Battery mode issues

[David Zunel]

Hi,
I bought a Suunto 9 Baro in December 2020 to replace my still working Ambit 2.

I use it normally for running, trail running and swimming. I’m actually mostly interested in the navigation functions.

So far, I have mixed feelings about it compared with Ambit 2. I’ve been wearing both to compare results and understand S9B functioning. While S9B gets better and faster GPS sync it also tends to lose it easier (no matter which combination of satellites you use). Ambit 2 may have some difficulties in syncing but once done, it shows a tremendous resilience to lose the signal. (I guess something to do with mechanical design or perhaps with the GPS chip). Nevertheless, the differences in battery performance mode are minor: S9B seems to replace the signal absences with Fusedtrack quite nicely.

However, I’ve already used the watch in battery endurance/ultra conditions and what is certainly surprising is that, while the navigator still follows quite decently the route (Fusedtrack seems to complement the 60/120 seconds sampling gap), the autolap registering starts getting crazy and records laps not matching at all the 1 km distance. It seems that it only registers the lap when the GPS sample is taken and so the difference. The error is cumulative and the it can goes as far as a couple of kilometres in a 20 kms run.

Anyone knowing why is it? I’ve tested it several times and the issue persists. It looks like a SW bug, because as said before the navigator still performs well, so why is it that the watch is not using this data to register the exercise properly?

[Brad_Olwin]

@david-zunel Because you are using FusedTrack the auto lap will not be accurate. How can it be when there is 1min between GPS fixes? FusedTrack does a good job with overall distance but will never be as good as 1s fix in Performance mode. Your Ambit would have similar issues on a 1 min GPS fix and give a terrible track as it does not have FusedTrack.

[David Zunel]

Hi @brad_olwin and thanks for your answer,

That I can understand and I didn’t expect the GPS to work differently however what surprises me is that in Endurance / Ultra mode FusedTrack is able to interpolate positions and gives you a quite precise navigator reading, which is great because you don’t miss a turn. Now, assuming that the watch is able to give you this good approximate reading, it would be really easy to fill the data gap from the GPS (1/2 minutes) and give you a decent approximation in auto lapping and therefore in the total distance.

I’ve been looking for detailed technical info on how FusedTrack works but I didn’t get much. Do you (or anyone) has more detail about it?

[Dimitrios Kanellopoulos]

@david-zunel keep in mind, if you use the navigation screen the mode will switch to GPS best.
Then after 5mins of exiting that screen it will switch back to endurance etc.

[David Zunel]

Hi @dimitrios-kanellopoulos and thanks for your answer,

Now I don’t get it, because in these tests I run almost 100% of the time using the navigation screen, so It means I’m using GPS best (I don’t perceive a worse performance in the battery though, I would have run out of battery according to the watch pre-run estimation) so autolap should be accurate. Am I missing something here?

[Łukasz Szmigiel]

@dimitrios-kanellopoulos will S9 turn off navigation screen automatically after 5 minutes when using 1 min / 2 min battery modes to conserve the battery or does the user need to do it manually?

[isazi]

@łukasz-szmigiel you need to leave the screen.

[Łukasz Szmigiel]

@isazi so in principle, you can set the watch to Ultra but if you’re going to stick to navigation screen 100% of time, it’ll be on Performance 100% of time, correct?

[Dimitrios Kanellopoulos]

@łukasz-szmigiel correct

[Dimitrios Kanellopoulos]

@david-zunel now I dont as well… Do you have a link for me ?

[Fenr1r]

@łukasz-szmigiel

you can set the watch to Ultra but if you’re going to stick to navigation screen 100% of time, it’ll be on Performance 100% of time, correct?

And if you have ETE/ETA and/or Distance to WP/POI/End data fields enabled, regardless of whether you have a route (or POI[?]) loaded and which screen you’re on.

From the man himself.

[Dimitrios Kanellopoulos]

@fenr1r he didn’t say that, I I think the ETA fields will make it to best only if a route is loaded

[Fenr1r]

@dimitrios-kanellopoulos Did you follow those links?

[Dimitrios Kanellopoulos]

@fenr1r yes

[Fenr1r]

@dimitrios-kanellopoulos My apologies (& to @Brad_Olwin), he didn’t say “regardless” but he didn’t say “only”, either. And isn’t the result the same? BEST will be applied without a route loaded? That was the experience that started the thread, no?

Alternatively, is it just ETA? Or ETE, Distance to (WP/POI/End) and ETA?

[David Zunel]

Dear @dimitrios-kanellopoulos,

here you can access the latest activity where I experimented this behaviour.
https://www.suunto.com/move/davidzuelballester/608484c3a8ea142553edb692

It’s an almost flat, circular route, along both banks of Saar river. From the link you can see that the registered distance was 18.47 Kms while the actual one is 17.15 Kms. Now, looking at the graphs I’m realising the the total distance reported there is the real one (just moving the cursor till the end of the graph), 17.15 Kms. Moreover looking at the splits (1 Km), it looks like they are somehow modified. Duration and pace don’t match, pace looks right to me.

And now, in the attached picture, you see the recording in the watch, when you can see that readings where probably taken only at the 1 min sample rate (endurance mode).

FYI. I had the route loaded and I was following the route (not necessarily looking at it all the time)

[Dimitrios Kanellopoulos]

@david-zunel only the last part is with wrong data right (regarding pace etc) ?

In most of the run from what I see the endurance mode was used

[Brad_Olwin]

@david-zunel The other issue is a 1.5 h run is quite short to get an idea of battery life for the extended battery modes. A 5-6h run would provide a much better idea based on consumption.

[Łukasz Szmigiel]

@dimitrios-kanellopoulos so, let’s say you’re running 100+ km ultra race and have S9 set on Endurance or Ultra and have route loaded and there’s also ETA field on base screen. Will the FusedTrack engage correctly and stay engaged or will watch default to Performance?

[Brad_Olwin]

@łukasz-szmigiel I believe will default to Performance, I avoid any ETE/ETA fields for waypoints or for finish on my Custom Ultra Sport modes. The Altitude Route Profile will not cause the GPS switch, only the route profile page. I typically only use the Altitude Profile. My comments are vaiid for when a route is loaded. Otherwise, it makes no sense to have ETE or ETA fields on the screens.