Suunto 9 Baro total ascent vs. other watches

[sky-runner]

I know this has been discussed multiple times in the past, but I was wondering if the situation has changed in recent firmwares. I just did a 100 mile race which, according to the organizers, had about 22,000 feet of vertical gain. I thought it would be interesting to compare the actual measured gain between Suunto 9 and other watches. I used Strava Flybys to access other activities.

Here is a list of what I could access sorted by elevation gain in feet:

Suunto 9 - 19738
Suunto 9 - 19812
Suunto 9 - 19839
Suunto 9 - 19905
Garmin 5X - 20108
Coros Pace 2 - 20285
Garmin 5X Plus - 20299
Garmin 6X - 20367
Garmin 5X - 20620
Coros Apex - 20659
Garmin 6X - 20669
Garmin 6X - 20689
Garmin FR945 - 21165
Suunto Ambit3 Peak - 21659
Garmin Fenix - 21704

Suunto 9, sadly, is still a clear outlier in this list.

I wonder if Suunto 9 Peak is more accurate in this regard? What about future Suunto watches? Is this going to be addressed? Too conservative total ascent is one reason I moved to another brand, however even F6X that I have now appears to under-count total ascent compared to Ambit3 Peak.

[Dimitrios Kanellopoulos]

@sky-runner it’s already better on s9P but the next firmware will bring a different algo.

[freeheeler]

@sky-runner
I always wonder how the organizers measure the vertical gain? Did they use a watch, too? Or is this based on a specific planning tool with topo maps? obviously all devices measured less ascent… that sounds a bit suspicious

the future should be like this: 2 independent sensors that measure the pressure and communicate to find the average, supervised by a 3rd sensor and corrected by GPS FusedAlti if required

[Patrick Löffler]

@dimitrios-kanellopoulos Good to hear. DCRainmaker also mentioned he received a firmware update to improve the open water swimming. So this upcoming update is already rich in content. When can we expect it?

[Dimitrios Kanellopoulos]

@patrick-löffler typically Suunto releases SW update at fall

[Patrick Löffler]

@dimitrios-kanellopoulos Thanks. I knew you would answer that but hoped for e.g. 2nd September. I am super excited about that one. Looking forward to the better total ascent algo and hopefully a fix for the body resources.

[dombo]

@dimitrios-kanellopoulos will this new algo bring some update on quick elevation change? personally I see calculation of elevation gain (finding local minimal/maximal elevation) OK for walking/slow running, but for fast cycling on “wavy” roads/trails it cuts out a lot. also vertical speed is kinda delayed and averaged too much for me.

[Bulkan]

@dombo I think so.

[Łukasz Szmigiel]

@dimitrios-kanellopoulos is the algo update valid for baro-enabled devices only or non-baro as well?

[Dimitrios Kanellopoulos]

@łukasz-szmigiel only baro

[Dimitrios Kanellopoulos]

@dombo yes

[dombo]

@dimitrios-kanellopoulos perfect! I can not wait for new FW, even it will take some weeks for me to recover from injury to test it

[surfboomerang]

Suunto World Vertical Week is near…

[Brad_Olwin]

@sky-runner Good list, interesting that the Sony chip is common to all under-reporting. As @Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos said there are improvements for gain/loss coming.

[sky-runner]

@dimitrios-kanellopoulos Glad to hear that and a strong reason to consider a Suunto watch again.

Now, while we are there, please allow first day of week to be changed from the locale default too.

[sky-runner]

@freeheeler I don’t know, but this is an established race with 23 years of history. The way I’ve done that in the past myself is that I loaded an elevation graph, zoomed to it, and manually added ascent from all climbs. That takes time but produces the most accurate result. That requires an accurate altimeter and a calm weather without a strong wind when recording the run.

[MiniForklift]

@sky-runner Agreed, I’d love to manually be able to change mine to a Monday. Not particularly a big deal but would be nice!

[MdzOtt]

@dombo it is even worse when downhill skiing.

[Dimitrios Kanellopoulos]

@sky-runner first day of the week as a setting is now being tested on Android alpha. So that will come in eta 1 month in beta.

[sky-runner]

@dimitrios-kanellopoulos Perfect! Any plans to release S9P with a larger screen and larger battery? Although I understand you aren’t supposed to share that kind of information. But that is a watch I’d buy in a heartbeat if it has the two fixes mentioned above.