Distance measurement understimated
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Hi All, I’m using my Vertical a lot during my vacation on the Alps, and I’m facing an annoying issue. The reported distance is underestimated in comparison with all the route maps (on paper and online, like Gaia and Strava) I have checked. The total km at the end of the activity (trekking) is very far from the real route distance (even 3-4 km).
Is there a way to calibrate my step length to increase distance accuracy, or a way to use GPS for the calculation of the distance instead of arm movement? Using sticks during my trekking I guess is creating such a discrepancy in the final distance measurement.
Many thanks in advance for your support! Cheers!
Simone -
@juza77
maybe I don’t understand, but what do you mean sayinga way to use GPS for the calculation of the distance instead of arm movement?
are you recording a trekking activity ?
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To me it’s not really clear how you record your activity. I mean, if you start an activity type which supports GPS, it uses GPS for distance measurement. And that is really accurate on the Suunto Vertical.
Some sport mode do not support GPS (mostly indoor sports) and then the distance is guessed by steps or other measurements. This can be highly inaccurate and causes your total distance to be way off.
Can you tell us how you start your activity recording and what sport mode you’re using?
Edit:
I just checked the trekking activity type. It does support GPS. Please make sure that GPS is enabled in the settings right before you press Start. -
@juza77 I suppose you are starting a Trekking activity with GPS enabled, wich battery mode are you using? Performance mode or another battery saving mode?
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@juza77 on the contrary, my vertical is always clocking in extra distance , like 300m more for a 10km run. In fact, with the dual band GPS, distance clocked between my vertical and suunto 9 peak and baro is similar. I wear my FR 955 and COROS apex 2 pro together and both of these watches always give me same or similar distance but suunto watches will have extra distance. I am not sure if the distance calculated is all from GPS, or could it also be from some algorithm within suunto software. As far as the run shown on map, it is really spot on for all 3 of my watches, just that vertical will clock in quite a significant extra distance .
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@leafs93 said in Distance measurement understimated:
juza77 on the contrary, my vertical is always clocking in extra distance , like 300m more for a 10km run. In fact, with the dual band GPS, distance clocked between my vertical and suunto 9 peak and baro is similar. I wear my FR 955 and COROS apex 2 pro together and both of these watches always give me same or similar distance but suunto watches will have extra distance. I am not sure if the distance calculated is all from GPS, or could it also be from some algorithm within suunto software. As far as the run shown on map, it is really spot on for all 3 of my watches, just that vertical will clock in quite a significant extra distance .
Both fr955 and apex2 use Airoha gps chipset, it’s not surprised me that they have similar performance.
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@leafs93 From my tests, I can say that the Suunto Vertical and the Fenix 7X almost always have exactly the same distance.
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@leafs93 said in Distance measurement understimated:
@juza77 on the contrary, my vertical is always clocking in extra distance , like 300m more for a 10km run. In fact, with the dual band GPS, distance clocked between my vertical and suunto 9 peak and baro is similar. I wear my FR 955 and COROS apex 2 pro together and both of these watches always give me same or similar distance but suunto watches will have extra distance. I am not sure if the distance calculated is all from GPS, or could it also be from some algorithm within suunto software. As far as the run shown on map, it is really spot on for all 3 of my watches, just that vertical will clock in quite a significant extra distance .
Same for me, I run with three guys who all use Garmin and my SV always records a little more distance than each of them. With regards to altitude, that’s closer but if there is any difference then it’s their Garmin’s that record a bit more than my Suunto
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@jjpaz and all, thanks for your replies. I was in the Alps with no possibility of replying to you.
I’m using basic Trekking activity (not personalized) with GPS enabled and battery mode on “performance”, so at the best accuracy possible. I noted that SV increases the distance 10 meters by 10 meters, and sometimes it skips to increase the overall distance, not recording one of the 10 meter “milestone”. I also noticed that the distance counter increases if I move my arm on which I wear the watch, simulating the arm movement during a step, but without advancing. So I’m wondering if I’m missing some settings that are impacting the accuracy of the distance measurement, or simply everything’s ok.Many thanks to all for your patience on replying to me (and for my English level too )
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@juza77 That seems bizarre as arm movements should not affect GPS readings. Are you absolutely sure the GPS is active? The watch will interpret distance by movement if the GPS is not turned on.