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    Danger of an elecronic compass not calibrated

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    • Mister PYCM Offline
      Mister PYC Silver Members
      last edited by

      Pb compass 0.jpg

      Recently, I made a suggestion of an ANGEL mode (see here : https://forum.suunto.com/topic/6767/angel-mode-when-your-watch-detect-you-are-lost-and-are-out-of-route/34?_=1626677942637)
      and during the discussion it was said that there is already a SAFE mode existign … so I decided to test it …

      It was in a super small trip (just 30 minutes to see the sungset on geneva from Saleve mountain) … I was super astonished that the direction of the starting point was totally erratic … was it this mode or the compass …
      …
      So today I tested the compass with also my old one as a reference … and I was super surprised about what I saw …

      NO WAY TO GET THE NORTH !!!

      I decided to redo the calibrate of the watch and all became back to normal.

      So …

      Conclusion …

      When you start your journey and you want to rely a minima on your electronic devise, not only calibrate your ALTIMETER, but do the same again also on the COMPASS, it will avoid you bad surprises …

      See the small video I just posted on my test done today :
      https://youtu.be/QKmhLNWGzfc

      PS : one could say it is a bug, hummm let’s not say it like that, I’m sure that any electronic watch have the same limitation here version an “analog” magnetic old compass.

      So nothing of bad here, just share your thougg about it
      I’m interrested to see what your think/

      Just a remark … still I’m obliged super super often to re-calibrate the compass … is it normal doctor ? 🙂

      All is possible in IT
      Driven by you fear you stay on the ground, driven by your dreams you fly

      Dimitrios KanellopoulosD isaziI 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • Dimitrios KanellopoulosD Offline
        Dimitrios Kanellopoulos Community Manager @Mister PYC
        last edited by

        @mister-pyc on activity mode once static it will ask for calibration. On all other cases it uses the gps bearing

        Community Manager / Admin @Suunto
        Creator of Quantified-Self.io
        youtube.com/c/dimitrioskanellopoulos
        https://instagram.com/dimitrioskanellopoulos
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        Mister PYCM H 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 1
        • sartoricS Offline
          sartoric Moderator
          last edited by

          I guess somewhere in the manual it’s stated to recalibrate the compass after charging.

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          Mister PYCM 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
          • Mister PYCM Offline
            Mister PYC Silver Members @sartoric
            last edited by

            @sartoric
            No idea what happened … have you seen the video I posted on Youtube … it may not bring many help to catch what happened but show the pb

            All is possible in IT
            Driven by you fear you stay on the ground, driven by your dreams you fly

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            • Mister PYCM Offline
              Mister PYC Silver Members @Dimitrios Kanellopoulos
              last edited by

              @dimitrios-kanellopoulos
              Hum … have you seen the video I posted on Youtube … it may not bring many help to catch what happened but show the pb

              All is possible in IT
              Driven by you fear you stay on the ground, driven by your dreams you fly

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • isaziI Offline
                isazi Moderator @Mister PYC
                last edited by

                @mister-pyc I would not test an electronic compass (and sometimes even a magnetic one) indoor.

                Watch: Suunto Vertical Ti

                Blog: isazi's home

                Mister PYCM 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                • Mister PYCM Offline
                  Mister PYC Silver Members @isazi
                  last edited by

                  @isazi

                  Hello Isazi I was doing the test before in my garden but with the ambiant light the watch screen was not visilble, when I did again the same inside … I obtained exact same results

                  All is possible in IT
                  Driven by you fear you stay on the ground, driven by your dreams you fly

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                  • H Offline
                    halajos Bronze Member @Dimitrios Kanellopoulos
                    last edited by halajos

                    @dimitrios-kanellopoulos said in Danger of an elecronic compass not calibrated:

                    @mister-pyc on activity mode once static it will ask for calibration. On all other cases it uses the gps bearing

                    For me sometimes it doesn’t ask for calibration, when I use navigation and the direction of the route is displayed wrongly. As a workaround, it would be very helpful to be able to calibrate the compass during excercise.

                    Mister PYCM 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                    • Mister PYCM Offline
                      Mister PYC Silver Members @halajos
                      last edited by Mister PYC

                      @halajos

                      Hello halajos … this is preciselly why I did a test.
                      I was inside an exercise the day before, with the S+ SAFE activated to validate what Dimitrios told me about this screen and it is was at that moment that I realized that moving by 90° the compass was moving erratically …

                      Should the compass beign re-calibrated during an exercise ? it is a good idee !!!

                      Again … if there was this COMPASS screen available in the exercise view, then it willl have allowed to better discover this wrong situation and as Suunto as some contextual menus with a long press on the crentral button , why not to offer a calibrate feature here ?

                      It’s a good idea you have here ?

                      All is possible in IT
                      Driven by you fear you stay on the ground, driven by your dreams you fly

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                      • Jamie BGJ Offline
                        Jamie BG Bronze Member
                        last edited by

                        not just electronic compasses, should regularly check and calibrated mechanical compasses too.

                        Always amazes me when I get on a boat that has had a recent refurb and ask if the compass has been calibrated and the owner says no, only to find out its way out due to all the addiitional refurb work that has been done. Even had one where they replaced the binacle and didn’t bother!!! And that is serious stuff. There have been times when satnav has been down and we have only had a compass to work with (hence my paranoia about it).

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