Suunto 7 Altitude Issues

cesareluca

Hi all,
I have the same issue with altimeter measurement jumping high and low of about 12 meters. I tested the watch with Altimeter wear os app and the readings confirm the continuous wrong measurement.
Moreover I noticed that gently squeezing the bezel or the back of the watch I systematically can change the altitude up and down.
I think that there is a hardware problem…
Someone can confirm?

Brad_Olwin

@egika No, but to be honest it seems random. I am now making sure my activities start or end 20s apart.

Brad_Olwin

@cesareluca contact support

Mff73

@cesareluca
With same problem, do you eventually try the solution a few post above ? Cleaning sensor is very first thing to do to be really sure.

cesareluca

Solved with a very soft small brush… thanks!

Kurt68

I’m slowly giving up. My S7 was at the service and the sensor is OK according to Suunto. I sent my runs to support for evaluation. No reaction for 2 months. On Thursday the run was good with only 15m deviation. Yesterday on the first flat 500m I had 53m ascent and on a lap with a 200m ascent it was 288m ascent on the S7. I’m curious whether the support will still answer.

Aleksander H

@kurt68 I assume you’ve also tried cleaning the baro hole with a soft toothbrush?

Kurt68

@aleksander-h yes but i’m trying again

Brad_Olwin

@kurt68 Are you sure that clothing or skin is not obscuring the sensor hole for the barometer. If the hole is obscured or if air is pushed into the hole you will get spikes in the altitude reading and resultant errors. If you wear the watch very tight it is possible for your skin to block the hole, the sensor will see that as a change in pressure.

Kurt68

@brad_olwin I’ve tried a lot and made sure not to cover the hole. I started a run. when standing I had between 20 and 50m ascent. After 5 minutes I finished the run and started a new one. On the first flat 500m again 20m ascent. On the rest of the run there were another 50m ascent that were not recorded by the S9 and the Coros Vertix. The wind wasn’t very strong either, that shouldn’t be a problem. I don’t know what else to try.

freeheeler

@kurt68
my wife saw this behaviour on her watch once when she selected an activity and started it immediately. since then she waits until the satellites are locked and I assume that helped… not sure at all if this would help in your case?!

Kurt68

@freeheeler That was my first thought at the beginning, but the error also shows up when I wait 5 minutes before I start the run ‍️

Egika

@freeheeler said in Suunto 7 Altitude Issues:

@kurt68
my wife saw this behaviour on her watch once when she selected an activity and started it immediately. since then she waits until the satellites are locked and I assume that helped… not sure at all if this would help in your case?!

thats interesting anyway. Fused alti is supposed to correct the sensor with GPS signal - but not to generate ascent that is not there.
Maybe FusedAlti has an issue in S7?

Stephan Zak

Hello everyone,
I also had the problem that too many altitude metres were always displayed.
instead of 21 metres, it was 1123 m, for a hike of 7.53 km.

I also sent the watch to support once. they said everything was fine and send it back.

After cleaning the baro sensor with a small brush, everything works as expected again. I will run/bike a few more laps but it already looks good.

i didn’t think at first that the secret was actually a small brush

Aleksander H

I’m starting to think we need a sticky topic called “First steps to fixing altitude issues”

freeheeler

@egika said in Suunto 7 Altitude Issues:

Fused alti is supposed to correct the sensor with GPS signal

that was my expectation, but it didn’t.
It happened only once, at least that I am aware of…

Kurt68

@stephan-zak I cleaned the sensor again. I won’t be able to do an exact test until tomorrow, but I was able to do a short lap straight away. The altitude measurement now seems to be working again. You have to clean it very thoroughly. I was always careful not to damage the sensor, but apparently you shouldn’t be careful ‍️

Kurt68

extensive test run done today. S9 517m S7 523m ascent. Everything OK. Suunto Support should receive training there

Mff73

@kurt68
Sensor Cleaning Powoa

Aleksander H

@mff73 Maybe they should start bundling toothbrushes with the S7