GPS accuracy worse than old Ambit3Peak

[Hiking Bear]

Hello,

Today I noticed that the GPS accuracy of the Vertical (at least mine) seems to be bad, especially if I compare it to my old Ambit3Peak. Here are two screenshot of the same activity : first one is Ambit3Peak, seconde one is Vertical.

AMBIT3Peak (best GPS accuracy):

VERTICAL (Battery mode : performances):

How is that possible? I’m very disappointed, but maybe I’m missing something to configure properly? Could this be a GPS chip problem?

NB : Ambit3Peak trace is an old activity, I’ll try the same activity with both watches at the same time tomorrow.

[zhang965]

@Hiking-Bear
I’ve go a very bad GPS track this morning, I think it’s an issue on GNSS level (not watch), maybe it impacts GPS track in France, this afternoon my GPS track is better.

VS afternoon:

[Hiking Bear]

@zhang965 huge difference indeed! I’ll do another test tomorrow. What is also worrying me is that altitude calibration from GPS (from the widget) takes a looooong time (>10 minutes), that’s why I my first though was a deficient GPS chip.

[gone troppo]

What I have found in my own testing under tropical rainforest canopy with no view of the sky is that the old ambit 3 peak will beat the vertical when set on endurance mode (this is best for 9 peak pro) however when setting the vertical on dual band it is a step above the old ambit 3 peak.

It is however quite incredible that the ambit 3 peak from 2014 produces better tracks under these most difficult conditions than anything but dual band on latest model

[Highlands]

The Ambit be like die another day

[sartoric]

well, A3P has the antenna of an hand-held device

[Umer Javed]

@sartoric said in GPS accuracy worse than old Ambit3Peak:

well, A3P has the antenna of an hand-held device

Like the story of the A-10, a GPS antenna so great a watch had to be designed around it

[A Former User]

@Highlands said in GPS accuracy worse than old Ambit3Peak:

The Ambit be like die another day

[A Former User]

@Hiking-Bear I have the same issue and my tracks look just like yours. I have everything cranked up to 11, but it’s off by several meters most of the time.

[Mitch9]

I can’t compare the SV with the A3P (only with 9 baro) but for me the accuracy of the SV is really great (only use in performance mode), as well in difficult conditions (cities, woods).

[Dimitrios Kanellopoulos]

Ambit has worse accuracy than the SV , this might have been a bad day.

[Egika]

@Hiking-Bear please never compare GPS tracks from different activities.
So many variables change:

• (athmospheric) weather
• satellite constellation
• orientation of watch
• sun activity
  and more

You don’t get any meaningful information from this. To compare you either need a lot of samples of the same route or the exact same conditions for multiple devices.

Thx

[Hiking Bear]

@Egika As planned, I did a test this morning with both watches at the same time. Here are the results.

Ambit3Peak:

Vertical:

As you can see, in the exact same condition, the Vertical is better than the Ambit3Peak :

• both start position are kinda off, it should be on the “P”. Don’t know why, any ideas?
• the first half of the Ambit3Peak is quite accurate, but then go quite off when entering the park (green zone on the left) whereas the Vertical stays accurate

I’m kind of relief, but I’d love to understand what could explain the difference between yesterday and today on the GPS accuracy for the Vertical.

[Egika]

@Hiking-Bear as written above.
The conditions that change the measurement error are different.

Regarding the starting point: It makes sense to let the devices sample the position before actually pressing start for maybe a minute.
GNSS receivers will start looking for satellites and lock on them one after the other.
So once like 4 satellites are acquired, you will have a position fix with quite a big error.
Then subsequently more satellites are tracked and the position becomes more and more accurate.

[Mitch9]

@sartoric Be aware of cartographic generalization!

Maybe the imagination is strange but sometimes I have the situation that the SV is more “accurate” than the map. You should have a look at the orthophoto, too.

[Fenr1r]

@Umer-Javed Snoutstanding comparison that may apply further …

Both are a bit dated and lack frills versus later, more conventionally designed models.
Both have passionate loyalists opposed to their retirement.
It sends mixed messages bringing either to a business meeting.

Kudos

[Tieutieu]

I have been using A3P and S9b before the vertical.
First summer with the vertical in my usual holiday place (French south alps) : there is no comparison possible between my A3P and the vertical, which is far better and precise.
With the A3P I had a lot of gps signal lost.
The vertical is really astonishing !

[Hiking Bear]

New cycle activity this afternoon.

Trace put me in the middle of the road instead of the side (down). All the positions seem to be shifted North 2-3m.

It’s not the first time.

[Tomas5]

Ambit was best Suunto series in my optinion. I has Ambit 2s for a long time. I really miss it. Only drawback was missing bluetooth.