Suunto spartan sport trainer steel

[Massimo Cerè]

Hi everyone, I am new to this community so ask a question that others may have already asked.

I own a Suunto spartan sport trainer steel that is not accurate at all … the Valencia Marathon is 43,500 km, I state that I started it exactly on the starting line, the same inaccuracy (to a lesser extent) I noticed in shorter races … I wonder if you too have encountered such a problem or am I the only one lucky?

[freeheeler]

@Massimo-Cerè
yes this was discussed couple of times, you can use the search function.
The theory is that the marathon is measured for an ideal line and you will not run this line. plus you need to do extra distance because of other runners in your way and in aid stations.
and my opinion about your inaccuracy is: it is very close to the actual distance.

[Likarnik]

Hi, did you ran the shortest path?

Check this:
https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2009/03/racing-line-understanding-how-courses.html

[Massimo Cerè]

@Likarnik I noticed a difference already from the first kilometers compared to the official marathon tables and in any case I almost always ran on the blue line so the ideal line thanks for the advice to update the watch just before leaving but others that have much lower GPS and more have not had this problem

[freeheeler]

@Massimo-Cerè
can you share your activity?

[Massimo Cerè]

@TELE-HO However, I stopped it just before kilometer 41 because it already marked 42,200 meters
http://www.movescount.com/it/moves/move318093175

[Saketo Nemo]

the track seems slightly shaky in some places. I don’t know Valencia and I don’t know the track, do you pass by very tall buildings that have reduced the angle of the sky available to the GPS?

[freeheeler]

@Saketo-Nemo
it looks like what dcrainmaker is explaining.
Mainly in the city center before he enters the west-loop

… it’s either that or vino rosso…

[Massimo Cerè]

@TELE-HO Red wine and especially beer are partially responsible !!!

[Massimo Cerè]

@Saketo-Nemo In fact there were so many tall buildings, but a difference of 1.5 km seems excessive to me

[isazi]

@Massimo-Cerè sounds excessive to me too, although it depends on both the status of the satellites around (e.g. how high are there on the horizon) and the height of those buildings. But you also said you checked the data of other people running, so it seems this affected you more than others.

[Massimo Cerè]

@isazi Exactly, my other friends with very cheap GPS have not had this problem

[isazi]

@Massimo-Cerè so an error of 1.5k over 42.195k is 3.5%. And your track does not even look that bad to me, I expected much worse. Was it the first race with this watch? Did you tested it on other courses with known distance?

[Massimo Cerè]

@isazi I tried it even on shorter distances, but it always measures a little more, on the half marathon, wrong by 600 meters more

[DirkM]

@Massimo-Cerè Had the same Problem with my Spartan Sport WHR at the Berlin Marathon this year. My watch showed 42,9 km and at Berlin half this spring 21,6 km. In both races I started from the front and so could run nearly the blue respectively green line.
Some difference is ok, but in my opinion thats to much.

[Shrek3k]

@DirkM said in Suunto spartan sport trainer steel:

@Massimo-Cerè Had the same Problem with my Spartan Sport WHR at the Berlin Marathon this year. My watch showed 42,9 km and at Berlin half this spring 21,6 km. In both races I started from the front and so could run nearly the blue respectively green line.
Some difference is ok, but in my opinion thats to much.

You do not possibly use a Stryd, paired as a FootPod? Because that happened to me (the “too long” distances) as long as I used the Stryd as a FootPod and not ‘only’ as a PowerPod. Since I changed the Pid-functionality I am no longer that fast , but the distances seem to be more reliable.

[isazi]

@Shrek3k did you also play with stryd calibration?

[Shrek3k]

@isazi I did - unintendedly - it worsened the results (approx 2 months ago with older Suunto FW); since I changed the Pod-mode and avoided calibration it became better in a way.
Better: the distances in SA/MC stay GPS-driven, and I have all data in Stryd without duplication in Stryd;
not so good: it is less comfortable and I have no GPS-track in Stryd,
but as long as Suunto is not able to use/handle/fuse the Stryd data in an acceptable manner (without losses of data like leg stiffness etc) this seems to be the only way (for me) to use both apps/gadgets.

[isazi]

@Shrek3k interesting, thanks for sharing your experience. I’m still waiting for mine, and will test it in January.

[DirkM]

@Shrek3k I used the watch without any pod.