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    Suunto 9 with the recent GPS firmware was among least accurate GPS watches in today's 25K trail race

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    • zhang965Z Offline
      zhang965
      last edited by

      And I didn’t get the same issue last summer

      Winners Wear Winners

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      • sky-runnerS Offline
        sky-runner Silver Members @zhang965
        last edited by

        @zhang965 Right, because Suunto 9 doesn’t produce a new point (and doesn’t calculates update for the distance) until distance from the previous point exceeds 10 meters. And in reality I observed 11-14 meters most of the time and sometimes even further. Suunto never advertisers that but Suunto 9 does this sort of smart recording based on distance between points even on the best quality, and it can’t be turned off.
        I know this from looking at a lot of FIT files produced by Suunto 9.

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        • Dimitrios KanellopoulosD Online
          Dimitrios Kanellopoulos Community Manager
          last edited by

          That is not correct. The production of gps points is not per se based on distance nor does the distance increase every 10meters. It depends on the quality of the Gnss

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          • N Offline
            nseslija Bronze Member @sky-runner
            last edited by

            @sky-runner SV welcome back to Suunto forum 😉

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            • sky-runnerS Offline
              sky-runner Silver Members @Dimitrios Kanellopoulos
              last edited by

              @Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos May be you are right, but that is my observation from looking at multiple FIT files. Distance between points was pretty much always greater than 10 meters and the time between points was usually 3-4 seconds when running on trails, sometimes longer.

              Łukasz SzmigielŁ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • Łukasz SzmigielŁ Online
                Łukasz Szmigiel @sky-runner
                last edited by

                @sky-runner I’ve noticed there’s quality threshold in Suunto watches - watch won’t save a point if quality is below certain threshold. This way the path recorded is more sane in difficult conditions (less wobbly) but it may be refreshed less often.

                S9PP 2.40.38

                zvonejanZ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • zvonejanZ Offline
                  zvonejan Bronze Member @Łukasz Szmigiel
                  last edited by

                  @Łukasz-Szmigiel

                  hmm interesting. I have no complains about accurancy on suunto devices, but distance between ponts are between 3-15 meters.

                  suunto
                  71185b26-c15c-4a7e-afa1-a80baa6781c2-image.png

                  but on garmin distance between points are consistent and much shorter
                  60491247-a90e-4353-8955-6d6cfbb0d6dc-image.png

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                  • sartoricS Offline
                    sartoric Moderator
                    last edited by sartoric

                    Maybe (and maybe it was already explained) it’s a way to optimize “disk” space.
                    You don’t need to save N points for a straight line, 2 are enough, even if the watch is reading info every second.

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                    • sky-runnerS Offline
                      sky-runner Silver Members @Dimitrios Kanellopoulos
                      last edited by

                      @Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos

                      Here is an example from a race that I did with Suunto 9 back in January. I used an online tool to export FIT file to CSV, then added a column which is a distance delta from the previous distance, then created a graph with timestamp on X axis and distance delta on Y axis. Perhaps that isn’t the best possible analysis, but something I could do very quickly. You can see a very distinct cutoff at 10 meters for the most of the activity. There were just a few points with 6-9 meters between the points.
                      It is interesting that it dropped to 3 meters between the points at the end, but that is where my watch had issues with GPS and it wasn’t getting GPS signal for most of the time.

                      Screen Shot 2020-09-05 at 12.14.15 PM.png

                      The overall duration of this was about 2 hours. The terrain was fairly flat but nearly 100% of it was under tree cover.

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                      • sky-runnerS Offline
                        sky-runner Silver Members @sky-runner
                        last edited by

                        Here is a similar graph from another run. Yes, occasionally the distance between the points is less than 10 meters, but for the most part it is 10 meters or greater - there is a clear threshold visible on the graph:

                        Screen Shot 2020-09-05 at 12.49.25 PM.png

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                        • O Offline
                          ollemelin Bronze Member
                          last edited by

                          Alright then. I’ve done some more tests with SB9 and my conclusion is that SB9 measures about 20-30 meters short on every km compared to Maps, Garmin devices and various apps like strava. Strava, garmin are spot on with maps most of the time.

                          I’ve tried different kinds of GNSS-combos on SB9 but with same results.

                          What do you think? Sameting wrong with my device? Some days ago i ran with a friend with Spartan baro and my SB9 came short also with him.

                          cosme.costaC 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • cosme.costaC Online
                            cosme.costa @ollemelin
                            last edited by

                            @ollemelin said in Suunto 9 with the recent GPS firmware was among least accurate GPS watches in today's 25K trail race:

                            Alright then. I’ve done some more tests with SB9 and my conclusion is that SB9 measures about 20-30 meters short on every km compared to Maps, Garmin devices and various apps like strava. Strava, garmin are spot on with maps most of the time.

                            I’ve tried different kinds of GNSS-combos on SB9 but with same results.

                            What do you think? Sameting wrong with my device? Some days ago i ran with a friend with Spartan baro and my SB9 came short also with him.

                            I usualy run with a friend that uses an Ambit 3 Run and my S9B is always short on distance. I think that is something that Suunto knows (from what I recall in others posts). For me is not a big issue, I can live with that. What I’m not so sure is that Garmins are spot on, I guess it depends on the model. If I see the tracks of some people using Garmin (mainly Fenix) they are OK but not spot on, and if the track is not ok can’t be the distance 8Except if they do corrections when uploading the the activity to their servers). And when you say Strava is spot on, what do you mean? planning a route or recording it with a phone?

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                            • O Offline
                              ollemelin Bronze Member @cosme.costa
                              last edited by

                              @cosmecosta

                              I just don’t really get the reason why it is this way. I like suunto and the new app is really great, but this measurement issu is really bugging me 🙂

                              Thinking about buying an stryd-pod…

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                              • Dimitrios KanellopoulosD Online
                                Dimitrios Kanellopoulos Community Manager
                                last edited by Dimitrios Kanellopoulos

                                20-30 per km = 200-300m per 10km = 800-1200m per 40 km to put it in perspective.

                                @ollemelin are those results from trails ? Or road ? How would you categorize the “conditions/visibility” of GPS.

                                Owning a stryd in general terms will make you stop thinking of any GPS based watche’s accuracy. However by far I dont say that like: Buy stryd. It’s just because it will give you the correct, consistent cross watch results. You will stop worrying about a bad GPS day etc etc. Get an older version of 100e 😉 Your Suunto, Garmin, Polar, COROS will love it

                                🙂

                                Community Manager / Admin @Suunto
                                Creator of Quantified-Self.io
                                youtube.com/c/dimitrioskanellopoulos
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                                https://www.strava.com/athletes/7586105

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                                • O Offline
                                  ollemelin Bronze Member @Dimitrios Kanellopoulos
                                  last edited by

                                  @Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos

                                  It’s not a GPS visibility problem. The measurement is consistent on track, road and trail. In surveying we call it ”systematic error” and the device needs calibration.

                                  Ofc the error seems small long distance but its really bad for shorter distances. It’s bad when apps like strava or runkeeper makes a better job.

                                  Does it matter for my running development? No! But i still wish Suunto to fix this issue 🙂

                                  Dimitrios KanellopoulosD 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • Dimitrios KanellopoulosD Online
                                    Dimitrios Kanellopoulos Community Manager @ollemelin
                                    last edited by

                                    @ollemelin I dont argue. By far. From what you said the error is huge for long distances.

                                    But you didn’t reply on the conditions of the “systematic” error.

                                    Community Manager / Admin @Suunto
                                    Creator of Quantified-Self.io
                                    youtube.com/c/dimitrioskanellopoulos
                                    https://instagram.com/dimitrioskanellopoulos
                                    https://www.strava.com/athletes/7586105

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                                    • O Offline
                                      ollemelin Bronze Member @Dimitrios Kanellopoulos
                                      last edited by ollemelin

                                      @Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos

                                      Sorry! I misread your answer.

                                      Yesterday i ran in perfect conditions. Clear blue sky. Straight road and no trees. 20-30 meters short compared to map, garmin 735 and strava.

                                      But I also run trails with trees etc and about same drift Every time

                                      Dimitrios KanellopoulosD 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • Dimitrios KanellopoulosD Online
                                        Dimitrios Kanellopoulos Community Manager @ollemelin
                                        last edited by

                                        @ollemelin Roger that.

                                        Let’s see what a new gps firmware can bring.

                                        In theory and according to our tests and fieldtesters the distance on simple paths is ok. On some cases of trails it can be short. According to recent researches and academic papers this doesn’t vary so much as you you say but I don’t argue. I have seen this feedback personally many times.

                                        I can only ask you to “wait” I don’t have anything else to propose atm unfortunately.

                                        However it would be super interesting even if you , your friends etc tested stryd on the same route / run.

                                        Have a great weekend, I am signing off at least for today 🙈😎

                                        Community Manager / Admin @Suunto
                                        Creator of Quantified-Self.io
                                        youtube.com/c/dimitrioskanellopoulos
                                        https://instagram.com/dimitrioskanellopoulos
                                        https://www.strava.com/athletes/7586105

                                        O Łukasz SzmigielŁ 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                        • O Offline
                                          ollemelin Bronze Member @Dimitrios Kanellopoulos
                                          last edited by

                                          @Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos

                                          Thanks. I have some extra money to spend so I think I will buy an stryd. Maybe i can test in my work aswell 🙂

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                                          • Łukasz SzmigielŁ Online
                                            Łukasz Szmigiel @Dimitrios Kanellopoulos
                                            last edited by

                                            @Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos just out of curiosity - is there anything being done to those strange offsets that occur in first 10 - 15 minutes of workout, especially if one starts the workout fast (without giving the watch some time after the GPS arrow is green) and / or in demanding gps conditions?

                                            Such offsets do autocorrect after some time and change of direction (ie. 90 deg) but this behavior is strange. Is it because fusedspeed has priority if signal is below certain threshold?

                                            S9PP 2.40.38

                                            Dimitrios KanellopoulosD 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
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