Software update 2.11.38 for S5/S9

[surfboomerang]

My first test with the new firmware. I have to admit that I am not really impressed.

Blue: GPS
Green: GPS+GLONASS
Red: GPS+GALILEO
Purple: GPS+BEIDOU

Especially in tight corners it failed big time

[Dimitrios Kanellopoulos]

@Łukasz-Szmigiel

Let me help.

Imagine

1. Consider that all systems are fused into 1 and the chip selects the best satellites.
2. Each system has a different language “quircks” etc. So each system needs special treatment.
3. As said in one, after this treatment all are treated as the same. You can have GPS+BEIDOU and actually never connect to BEIDOU (or in a few cases) if their signal is not ok.

Where things get more haywire is when signal starts to drop.

As explained in 1, the watch will try to get the best SNR etc. Will that be Gali, Glo, GPS etc? It depends to the SNR etc they report.

I tried to make this simple and perhaps I have done some mistake or omitted something so please if anyone sees something wrong correct me.

[Brad_Olwin]

@Łukasz-Szmigiel said in Software update 2.11.38 for S5/S9:

@Brad_Olwin that’s interesting. Are you usually happy with GPS only precision and hence don’t see any significant improvements over two systems? Did you also try checking signal availability with mobile phone for example?

Yes, I have checked with an iPhone app. I am best covered by GPS, the others might help depending on the time of day but my results with GPS don’t show advantages with other satellite systems engaged.

[Brad_Olwin]

@Likarnik Be careful with battery consumption estimates. I believe this has been tweaked or fixed but what the watch reported for me was not what I observed with 2 satellite systems running. I have 2 S9s and will try testing this some and see if the battery reporting is accurate for GPS only vs. GPS + additional satellites. @Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos may know more than I do about this.

[isazi]

Went for my first running with GPS+Beidou, got an amazing track in Amsterdam. I was running with one watch only, so I don’t have anything to compare to, but looking at the satellite view the track is exactly where I was (maybe in a couple of spots went few meters on the side of where I was actually running, but that happened literally once or twice in one hour).

[surfboomerang]

@isazi I wish I could say the same. I went windsurfing today and recorded two tracks. One with GALILEO and one with GLONASS, Both are horrible. Huge speed wobbles and spikes.
I even think that today the watch recorded the worst tracks since I bought it one and a half year ago.

[isazi]

@surfboomerang I’ll be wearing two watches tomorrow for a long walk, let’s see how it goes.

[A Former User]

@Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos Thanks. I think it also makes no sense to compare same route on different days with GPSonly and BEIDOU and compare. Differences could also come with GPSonly on both days due to different satellite situation (also within GPSonly) on different days… Right?

[Dimitrios Kanellopoulos]

@mountainChris yes. Even with wearing 2 same watches with same systems at the same hand

[Jonathan Schwarz]

@NickK I agreed! My experience with the OHR has been poor, at best. I tried all the tips - several fingers above the wrist, velcro strap snug, wait 1-2min after HR appears before starting. It still, very often, just gives me a HR value that is close to my cadence. Sometimes it will settle into something resembling my HR - then will just, like you said it, “go off the rails”

[A Former User]

@Jonathan-Schwarz said in Software update 2.11.38 for S5/S9:

@NickK I agreed! My experience with the OHR has been poor, at best. I tried all the tips - several fingers above the wrist, velcro strap snug, wait 1-2min after HR appears before starting. It still, very often, just gives me a HR value that is close to my cadence. Sometimes it will settle into something resembling my HR - then will just, like you said it, “go off the rails”

With SW updates wOHR went very reliable to me. Seems to be perfect.
I also found out that doing it this way with the wristband is a boost for me.
Wrist does not get cold so fast, what leads to false results probably and watch does not wobble.
This is special to me, because I have very thin wrists, which also get very fast very cold.
So this has nothing to do with Suunto. Cold arms are not good circumstances for wOHR.
I also run in cold temperatures with gloves.
I think there are people which alway have warm wrists, which do not have to take care of getting cold.

[isazi]

Did a 2 hours walk today (still keeping social distance, people are getting better at this and everyone smoothly moves to opposite sides) with two watches. The track of the S9 with GPS+Baidou was good but not as good as yesterday, but you know different days and different conditions. Still more than acceptable, but maybe today GPS only would have been enough (I’ll never know).

[zvonejan]

In my opinion one test is not a test. 5 days in one same track witn one setting (e.g GPS) and then another 5 days on that same track with another setting (e. g GPS + BAIDU). The worst track from first 5 and another 5 can be removed because we all know, that bad days can happen. And then if first 4 in group are significantly closer with less deviation than second four, you have the answer

[Bulkan]

@zvonejan Agree, maybe we could set a protocol for this forum to tell about the accuracy of the GPS.

[isazi]

Those are my training runs/walk around the neighborhood, always the same few since 2015 or so, so I know what to expect in terms of accuracy. I’m not aiming at scientific comparisons, mostly at show me where I have been on the satellite view and don’t make me swim in canals and lakes.

[nseslija]

@isazi same thing, test walks in the neighborhood, regular walking paths three days in a row, two times BeiDou and one with GPS only. All three were very bad, one of the worst, if not the worst, with S9B… I hard reset the watch yesterday…and will try next week again… I hope to have better results…

[A Former User]

@mountainChris Good theory re: cold wrists. Trouble is, I’ve been having issues even during much warmer months like September and October in New York, and neither my Polar, nor Garmin, nor even Suunto 7 seemed to suffer during coldest time in January and February.

I think S9 high profile and a wobble it introduces does play a role. But I definitely don’t remember it being that much of a problem soon after the initial release. Nor do I remember this being an issue that much on Spartans.

[sartoric]

I would say that the real utility of the wrist warmer is not to keep the wrist warm, but to keep the watch firm

[Łukasz Szmigiel]

@sartoric I have the same observation when using long sleeves that have a cutout for thumb - I like to use this cutout for watch and hardly ever experience strange ohr readings with this setup.

[surfboomerang]

@nseslija keep us informed. I did a soft reset and tried GPS only. It was acceptable but not great. Galileo and Glonass were both horrible. They were ok before the firmware update.