S9 (2.4.14) 'Calibrate FusedTrack' interface problem. Suunto Case #01853829

Dimitrios Kanellopoulos

I don’t see this as a bug. To use fused track you should calibrate the compass. That is a requirement.

kolyany4

@Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos
to clarify, did you mean ‘calibrate the compass’, not ‘calibrate FusedTrack’?

I see your point, but

why all buttons must be locked during calibration?
why calibration results are forgotten/invalidated so fast (during run)?

Dimitrios Kanellopoulos

They are locked because this needs to happen so you cannot dismiss it.

The calibration is called then you switch to the power mode or when and if the compass becomes uncalibrated in order to not destroy distance and have the fused track work.

Dimitrios Kanellopoulos

Calibrating the compass is actually what calibrate fused track does.

kolyany4

@Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos said in S9 (2.4.14) 'Calibrate FusedTrack' interface problem. Suunto Case #01853829:

They are locked because this needs to happen so you cannot dismiss it.

Do I understand correctly, that locking is done to not allow me to dismiss calibration before starting Exercise?

If positive, then it does not work, as it should:

before starting Exercise: One can dismiss calibration by swiping calibration off the screen, then hitting ‘Start’,
during Exercise/run (even if calibration has successfully been finished before Start): when the last thing I want to do is a calibration, it completely locks the screen/buttons and stops to track activity.

The calibration is called then you switch to the power mode or when and if the compass becomes uncalibrated in order to not destroy distance and have the fused track work.

Unfortunately, I also see calibration called during my Exercise/run as well which is really annoying since it does destroys track information (stops tracking).

ps: Still, It’s not clear reasons why calibration results could be forgotten/invalidated during Exercise/run though successful calibration has been performed right before run…

Dimitrios Kanellopoulos

Dismissing the calibration at pre start looks like a bug that has been reported.

During the run I wonder how often you get that screen.
It should not be dismiss able but at the same time it should not popup if the calibration is done once. Only in conditions that the compass got uncalibrated that should be the case.

kolyany4

@Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos said in S9 (2.4.14) 'Calibrate FusedTrack' interface problem. Suunto Case #01853829:

Dismissing the calibration at pre start looks like a bug that has been reported.

Don’t you think, that forcing calibration whenever user enters power menu will cause inconvenience, since not always one who enters power menu is going to do Exercise/run (right now)?

During the run I wonder how often you get that screen.
It should not be dismiss able but at the same time it should not popup if the calibration is done once. Only in conditions that the compass got uncalibrated that should be the case.

Unfortunately, last 7 days I had 5 runs and each time I faced this issue (with calibration popup) which messed my track.

However, in one of the runs it seems that problem occured and resolved by itself in the middle of the route, thus middle part (of track route) were missing.

Dimitrios Kanellopoulos

And I suppose you had done the initial calibration on the prestart screen right ?

kolyany4

@Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos said in S9 (2.4.14) 'Calibrate FusedTrack' interface problem. Suunto Case #01853829:

And I suppose you had done the initial calibration on the prestart screen right ?

Absolutelly.
I even made sure that GPS is locked (before hitting Start).

kolyany4

@Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos said in S9 (2.4.14) 'Calibrate FusedTrack' interface problem. Suunto Case #01853829:

And I suppose you had done the initial calibration on the prestart screen right ?

I was wondering, is there any validity time for data gathered/stored during calibration?

How long could be delay between finishing of calibration and hitting Start?

Dimitrios Kanellopoulos

That is interesting. I know that some bugs are fixed in regards to that but not sure when they will be out. This is as much as I can help.

Let’s keep an eye on next next week

Dimitrios Kanellopoulos

@kolyany4 no delay. Fused track should be only once calibrated.

Dimitrios Kanellopoulos

Only in the case of compass getting wanky should it ask again and that should not happen if not around areas that confuse a compass eg big metal rocks etc.

kolyany4

@Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos said in S9 (2.4.14) 'Calibrate FusedTrack' interface problem. Suunto Case #01853829:

@kolyany4 no delay. Fused track should be only once calibrated.

Do I understand correctly, that there’ll be no problem if I do following?

Do calibration in my apartment.
Get to the track starting line (in 200 meters away).
hit Start

NB. May be it’s time to ask additional S9 feature “to show in (Exercise) Start menu whether calibration data is appropriate/usable”?

Dimitrios Kanellopoulos

No sorry my bad.

Calibration needs to happen at open space with no interference.

kolyany4

@Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos

Ok. I’ll try that next time (to make calibration not far from starting line).

I was wondering, what if my running route goes near electric lines (or something that could cause electric interference), will it constantly result in compass go mad / calibration window popup / tracks messed ?

Dimitrios Kanellopoulos

@kolyany4 Not sure about the electrical lines to be honest.

Btw perhaps a stupid question, but why do you use the fused track at eg normal runs as I understand from your writing. Of course it’s your choice and glad to have this discussion about the issues you faced (which I go on and report them), but just wondering from a user point of view.

kolyany4

@Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos

I bought S9 due its unprecedented battery life which could be achieved with “GPS - OK” mode even with 24/7 WHR (compared to competitors) and hoped to recharge it not often that once per week or two.

And considered S9 watch as a ‘last resort’/black-box tracking device with acceptable precision (something which should survive even after smartphone battery will die)… which is really silly, but a kind of fun (to think that way).

Also I thought that simply duplicating smartphone functionality in terms of tracking (by setting ‘GPS - Best’) will not give me any benefit, especially in terms of S9 battery life (I do hope that I will not be needing to recharge my S9 often than once a week eventually).

Btw, (sorry for huge off-top) I was wondering why there’s no official information about S9 Baro toughness (like popular nowadays MIL-STD-810G standard compliance or something like that)?
Does it mean, that S9 Baro Titanium will not survive drop to concrete floor/asphalt track from 1.5 meter height? I prefer not to do such crash test myself …

Dimitrios Kanellopoulos

@kolyany4 no worries about the offtopic. I would love to know that as well as mine has been dropped quite a lot and banged at rocks and iron. so far only a bezel scratch.

But I do believe a rough sock could harm the internals such the vibration motor. That is only an assumption though.

kolyany4

@Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos
It seems this is a (at least one of) reason of numerous complaints about messed track distance.

Today I did calibration before run at open space near starting line and all the same stuff I did earlier (awaited GPS and WHR lock, hit Start, explicitly locked buttons).

This time I payed closed attention to watch status during run.

And I was shocked seeing ‘Calibrate FusedTrack’ message in less than 2 minutes I’ve started to run.
Further, during run I saw that message very often in a places where no source of electrical influence could exists (in a park).
Sometimes that message changed to ‘Calibration successful’ following lap times screen and so on, but very soon ‘Calibrate FusedTrack’ message kept showing again.

As a result instead of 5.1 km

I got only 2.78 km

By the finish line watch showed that it has calibrated itself and I was able to finish Exercise in common way. However, according to SA tracking is stopped in the middle of the run.

Please, note, that running time is quite similar, showing that watch didn’t hang, but failed to track.

And here’re my questions:

Do I understand correctly, that if during run we get ‘Calibrate FusedTrack’ message, then corresponding distance (when such message been shown on a watch) could be excluded from track distance?
Is there some maximal distance/duration between tracking points (at which calibration should be ok), that is used as a limitation which FusedTrack can not exceed in order to restore proper track? Presence of such limitation could explain why FusedTrack fails to track entire distance. However, is such behavior considered to be ok by design or it is a bug?