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    Suunto 9 baro very low elevation gain vs other brands

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Suunto 9
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    • pilleusP Online
      pilleus @cosme.costa
      last edited by pilleus

      @cosmecosta I think the problem is the terrain. A GPS track 3 meters away from the path or street in steep and hilly terrain will cause a miscalculation of Strava’s GPS based data.

      And I experienced that my SSU is more accurate recording the ascent than my S9B.

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      • OktanO Offline
        Oktan @Dimitrios Kanellopoulos
        last edited by

        @Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos said in Suunto 9 baro very low elevation gain vs other brands:

        Expected

        I dont know how to send you a private message so I loded it here:

        1. This is the FIT file from Suunto App (with elevation gain 1243 m):
          MountainBiking_2020-12-18T06_44_10.fit

        2. The elevation gain in Strava is: 1542 m.

        Suunto 9 Baro Titanium & Ambit 3 Peak

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

          @Oktan

          So this is what I do.

          I go to https://runalyze.com/activity/new-upload and upload the fit file.

          Then I go to course and elevation data and I correct them with the various DEDB (elevation databases) that the great Runalyze offers

          Look at the thresholds! Even Runanalyze defaults to 3m but take a good look and see what is produced with other thresholds as well

          1. Racemap elevation service
            Screenshot 2020-12-23 at 14.32.33.png
          2. Geotiff
            Screenshot 2020-12-23 at 14.34.54.png
          3. Geonames
            Screenshot 2020-12-23 at 14.35.32.png
          4. Geonames ASter
            Screenshot 2020-12-23 at 14.36.10.png

          To be honest all show less actually than Strava.

          Now since you are using comparing whahoo I had seen this video at the past https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPyEtZH3QaU about how much positioning could affect a garmin computer. But I suppose the same flaws can happen with the S9.

          My conclusion is that it’s up to you to judge how much ascent you did and with what threshold.

          As a reference example here is an analysis of my 16km almost flat bikeride at Netherlands. It is completely almost flat here so:

          1. No correction (still 13m)
            Screenshot 2020-12-23 at 14.44.21.png
          2. Racemap
            Screenshot 2020-12-23 at 14.44.55.png
          3. Geotiff
            Screenshot 2020-12-23 at 14.45.28.png
          4. Geonames
            Screenshot 2020-12-23 at 14.45.52.png
          5. Geonames aster -> Completly wrong
            Screenshot 2020-12-23 at 14.46.40.png

          Now, this is my personal opinion.

          If you get bothered and you want those extra meters to show at your Strava / Other service or your friends get more ascent etc my advice as I would give to a friend is to get the same device that their friends use or the one that gives you what you want to see for your data.

          Why this advice ? Because it all about perspective and no perspective can fit everyone.

          I hope this helps

          PS: The highlight on the screenshots shows what Runalyze prefers it’s not me highlighting that .

          Community Manager / Admin @Suunto
          Creator of Quantified-Self.io
          youtube.com/c/dimitrioskanellopoulos
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          • OktanO Offline
            Oktan
            last edited by

            @Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos said in Suunto 9 baro very low elevation gain vs other brands:

            Racemap

            Thank you for your time.
            I played with it a bit.

            Threshold = 1 , without correction -> 1529, this is what I expected to get.
            Maybe we are lossing too much elevation with Threshold = 3.
            It was great if the user could have set it in his watch settings.

            7d4a42f7-2693-4726-8751-e755764d3f11-image.png

            Suunto 9 Baro Titanium & Ambit 3 Peak

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
            • M Offline
              Marco Stranieri @Oktan
              last edited by

              @Oktan I think soo. My Suunto 9 sometimes it shows up to 100-150m of elevation difference regarding other brands or even with Suunto spartan and suunto 7. (Talknig about just for 500m of elevation gain). For example my suunto shows 479m gain and friends’ one it shows 580m

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              • EgikaE Offline
                Egika Platinum Member
                last edited by

                There’s one important thing missing in the discussion about thresholds etc.
                It is the sensor accuracy itself.
                We are talking about a measurement device that only works down to a certain precision.
                Plus it is affected by influence like wind turbulence while moving.
                In a perfect world or laboratory setting it could probably register pressure changes that are as small as 1ft or 1m causes it.
                But in real life there is noise to the data.
                This is why it totally makes sense to use thresholds, filtering and other logical information like sport mode or speed etc.
                If you switched the threshold to 1m, you would just see a lof of this sensor noise in your data which just don’t make sense.

                My 2c from an engineer perspective specializing in measurement technology

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                Dimitrios KanellopoulosD OktanO 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 7
                • Dimitrios KanellopoulosD Offline
                  Dimitrios Kanellopoulos Community Manager @Egika
                  last edited by

                  @Egika thanks man

                  Community Manager / Admin @Suunto
                  Creator of Quantified-Self.io
                  youtube.com/c/dimitrioskanellopoulos
                  https://instagram.com/dimitrioskanellopoulos
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                  • OktanO Offline
                    Oktan @Egika
                    last edited by

                    @Egika I get it, but I add: why not let the user define it in the watch?
                    Suunto can set it to 3 as default.
                    The user can choose to set it between 1 to 3, and still proudly ride with Garmin owners friends 😊 .

                    Suunto 9 Baro Titanium & Ambit 3 Peak

                    freeheelerF isaziI 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • freeheelerF Offline
                      freeheeler @Oktan
                      last edited by

                      @Oktan
                      who proofs that Garmin is calculating the total ascent “more correct” in all different possible use cases?

                      living sideways

                      OktanO sky-runnerS 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • OktanO Offline
                        Oktan @freeheeler
                        last edited by

                        @TELE-HO I just assumed that if Garmin, Wahoo and Strava app display more or less similar values - most chances they are calculating right.

                        Suunto 9 Baro Titanium & Ambit 3 Peak

                        freeheelerF 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • freeheelerF Offline
                          freeheeler @Oktan
                          last edited by

                          @Oktan
                          I once observed a recording from a friend who did a roadbike ride of >4’000m ascent and was heavily impressed. He recorded it with the Strava App and when I looked at the details I noticed that it summed up completely wrong… it was something around 2’500m ascent. Not a piece of cake either, but I noticed this over all his activities then…

                          living sideways

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                          • freeheelerF Offline
                            freeheeler @Oktan
                            last edited by

                            @Oktan
                            but hey, don’t get me wrong here. We all know that I don’t know it better wither 😉
                            It’s just my feeling that Suunto is aiming for an accurate summary and covers many type of sports. Strava, I have no idea, there are many strange things that prevent me from paying for a pro account… Wahoo has a nice reputation but as far as I know it is more developed for cyclists?

                            As @Egika says the watches are measurement devices (I remember Suunto sensor has an accuracy of 20cm…) and the rest is a software thing.

                            living sideways

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • isaziI Online
                              isazi Moderator @Oktan
                              last edited by

                              @Oktan said in Suunto 9 baro very low elevation gain vs other brands:

                              @Egika I get it, but I add: why not let the user define it in the watch?
                              Suunto can set it to 3 as default.
                              The user can choose to set it between 1 to 3, and still proudly ride with Garmin owners friends 😊 .

                              As a user I am 100% for messing with stuff (although it may bite me back eventually), but if I was a company I would think about all the calls I would get to my support just because users messed up things 🙂

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                              freeheelerF 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                              • freeheelerF Offline
                                freeheeler @isazi
                                last edited by

                                @isazi
                                with Android I remember that real cracks did root their devices… 🙊

                                living sideways

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                                • fazelF Offline
                                  fazel Bronze Member
                                  last edited by

                                  My personal opinion is transparency goes a long way. @Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos explanations provide context and through that - understanding. It is clear total ascent values are tricky and it would be easier for Suunto to make every decision in favor of greater accumulated gain as this would make all of us feel better about our efforts. It appears they’ve instead chosen to make every decision with the goal of being as accurate as possible. They deserve credit for taking the harder road IMO.

                                  sartoricS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 6
                                  • sartoricS Offline
                                    sartoric Moderator @fazel
                                    last edited by sartoric

                                    @fazel said in Suunto 9 baro very low elevation gain vs other brands:

                                    this would make all of us feel better about our efforts.

                                    Unfortunately this is what “modern athletes” want from sport watches/platform … showing that they have it bigger 😁
                                    Very low percentage of “athletes” do sports for their own satisfaction nowadays 🙂

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                                    OktanO 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 4
                                    • OktanO Offline
                                      Oktan @sartoric
                                      last edited by

                                      @sartoric isnt satisfaction goes bigger when you got, hmmm, bigger?

                                      Suunto 9 Baro Titanium & Ambit 3 Peak

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

                                        @TELE-HO said in Suunto 9 baro very low elevation gain vs other brands:

                                        who proofs that Garmin is calculating the total ascent “more correct” in all different possible use cases?

                                        The proof is very easy to get - just open the elevation profile generated from an activity and add all the climbs manually - that isn’t difficult at all. When I did that in the past I ignored all small elevation changes less than 3 meters, but even then Suunto 9 was often short on total ascent compared to its own elevation profile.

                                        Dimitrios KanellopoulosD 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote -1
                                        • Dimitrios KanellopoulosD Offline
                                          Dimitrios Kanellopoulos Community Manager @sky-runner
                                          last edited by Dimitrios Kanellopoulos

                                          @sky-runner that is not proof. We could enable to the the hand flux of 1meter. We have a 3meter threshold and that’s it. That’s what most good services use such as runalyze as mentioned before.

                                          We do data analysis here giving correct values.

                                          I even went and explained with pics and what ? Did you see what all databases reported for this users examples with the different thresholds ?

                                          While there is an literal obsession with this subject on your side , I am not sure why over and over I have to explain how things work.

                                          Like Hellllloooo @sky-runner !

                                          Did you even read the post with the thresholds , what other services use (digital elevation databases ) etc or what ? Came to say the same thing without helping ?

                                          What’s up? Is this about you being right ? What’s the problem here ? Trying to enforce SUUNTO to do it the way you want it for your self ? Doesn’t Garmin do it as you like ?

                                          I do t get you anymore. Sorry over and out.

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

                                            @Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos said in Suunto 9 baro very low elevation gain vs other brands:

                                            While there is an literal obsession with this subject on your side

                                            Because Suunto 9 Baro total ascent calculation is really bad. It is an outlier when compared to all other watches, and that is something that really frustrated me, up to the point that I sold my year-and-half old S9B and moved to another watch.

                                            Here is an example of what I mean. Here is the data that I collected by looking at Strava Flybys on activities recorded during 2019 and 2020 Bridle Trails Winter Trail Running Festival. This race is on moderate runnable rolling terrain. The festival races consist of multiple 5 mile loops - 1 to 6 loops depending on the distance. I looked at each activity on Strava and divided it on the number of loops. The table below shows total ascent in feet per loop, per device. All of these devices have barometers so I assumed the numbers on Strava match the ascent produced by each device, and I grouped ascents from all non-barometric devices in the bottom:

                                            Suunto 9: 310, 295, 306, 310
                                            Ambit 3 Peak: 406, 399, 377


                                            Fenix 6: 366
                                            Fenix 5: 368, 381, 360, 364, 338, 346, 347


                                            Fenix 3: 373, 382, 367, 346


                                            Fenix 2: 424
                                            FR 935: 357, 351, 371, 365, 350
                                            FR 920XT: 379
                                            Non-Baro (Strava): 435, 313, 350, 326, 306, 302, 323, 335, 331, 346, 298, 321, 315, 330, 330, 328, 334, 307

                                            Don’t you agree that Suunto 9 is a clear outlier? Do you think that Suunto 9 results are correct and all others, including A3P, are wrong? I don’t understand why Suunto doesn’t see that as a problem.

                                            I did similar comparisons for other races in which I participated and the results were similar - Suunto 9 is always an outlier on the low end. Since a lot of my running is on a rolling terrain like that, Suunto 9 had consistently low-balled my total ascent by 10-20%.

                                            Dimitrios KanellopoulosD 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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