Suunto 7 Altitude Issues

Aleksander H · 11 Mar 2021, 07:21

@mikulass well. There tends to be about 4 updates a year and last update was second week of January (I think). So hopefully soon-ish.

Aleksander H · 11 Mar 2021, 11:03

So did a new 1 hours test in a ventilated plastic container on the balcony today (to protect from wind).

https://quantified-self.io/user/DUrrVK0qMVZO5TtAP0r6Ox2HVLD2/event/8a2d0e25e183f66c53a81a88b4b49e0a9bac6db8b0298aceae0ff0113c17a35f

Still a bumpy ride for the elevation. At one point it falls 5 meters and then relatively quickly makes a 10 meter jump, followed by a slow recovery down at the end there.

Not really sure what to do now (if anything). Not really sure how stable a result I can reasonably expect from a watch.

freeheeler · 11 Mar 2021, 12:14

@aleksander-h
I would contact support and check with them.

aeroild · 11 Mar 2021, 13:23

@aleksander-h I guess the question is how the altimeter works during an exercise given that the 0 meter ascent bug will be fixed in the next update. As you could see from my balcony test, my watch went crazy when I left it on the balcony, but when strapped on my wrist it’s working okay at the moment. And I did buy it to wear it on my wrist and not to leave it on my balcony.

Aleksander H · 11 Mar 2021, 13:47

@aeroild My main reason for putting it on the balcony in the first place was to check if clothing was causing the issues. When I went snowshoeing I got quite a few false up and downs on the elevation which really added up. Claimed over 900 m ascent which it most certainly wasn’t. I thought maybe my clothing was pumping air into the hole, if that makes sense.

Jamie BG · 11 Mar 2021, 14:05

@aleksander-h - I know its jumping around a bit, which could be due to temperature / GPS moving when fixing etc, however from what I see there overall variation is approx 20m, and if exlcude original is closer to 10m; is that really an issue? Its not like we are piloting planes etc and its critical the alititude is correct.

I also understand that you have seen much larger variances, but from above there really aren’t any showing, which suggests that it may not be watch.

Would tend to agree with others, that may be best to wait for fix, and then reassess - especially as from above can’t see anything majorly wrong (from my point of view).

Mff73 · 3 Nov 2021, 14:37

Just for fun, a balcony test with old SSU, and QS altitude graph for 25min
With 3m filtering --> 0m ascent = 0m descent

But my SSU moved about 200m horizontally but with house+moutain behind

Aleksander H · 11 Mar 2021, 14:43

@jamie-bg problem is that on a 4 hour hike, these up-and-downs quickly accumulated to a few hundred meters extra ascent. If the suunto app was able to correct elevation I probably wouldn’t care much, but right now I have activities with ascents so high I feel like I’m 10x fitter than I actually am .

Fenr1r · 11 Mar 2021, 14:47

@mff73 Tried the same thing a while back with SSU. 48 hrs outside window: 0m ascent/descent (MC) throughout - albeit at the wrong altitude - “28km” horizontally (house, no mountain).

Aleksander H · 11 Mar 2021, 14:48

@fenr1r I guess I could just take my SSU for long(ish) hikes rather than the S7 in future :p.

Either way, I won’t be doing anything about it until I see how things fare once the 0m bug is patched.

freeheeler · 11 Mar 2021, 14:49

@aleksander-h
maybe I missed it or forgot already: during your hike or run, does the total ascent exaggerate already or do you only see it after the hike?
I assume it happens on the go, right?
Because I rely on the ascent to some extend. If this is not correct the ascent rate can’t be right, either. It’s not life threatening, but good to know by the rule of thumb if it’s still 1 or 2 hours to the summit by the values on your screen.

freeheeler · 11 Mar 2021, 14:50

@fenr1r
how far can my watch go without me

Aleksander H · 11 Mar 2021, 14:54

@freeheeler not really sure. I was intending on checking during my last run. Then I realized the run workout doesn’t have an elevation graph . So I’ll have to check next time.

Fenr1r · 11 Mar 2021, 15:32

@freeheeler I got an answer to that on another test, full battery to 1%: 37.29km, 3m desc., 69hrs, 55mins (rather than the 140hrs specced for the settings - high sky mask).

Less “Who Am I From My Heatmap” than “What The Hell Is My Watch From Its Rorschach”:

Sorry, OT.

cedric13 · 3 Nov 2021, 15:34

GOOD NEW !
Suunto Service Request replace my S7 by a new one and the ascent is now working perfectly. You can compare the high precision !
Suunto App (from watch) : 1079 m ascent
https://www.suunto.com/move/cedric13/604a274ef8691e13f8a16ca9
Strava (map recalculated) : 1080 m ascent
https://strava.app.link/w7gI9G3Fxeb

I’m reassured to continue the S7 adventure
The Suunto support is very fast : 2 days to ship from France to Finland, 2 days of treatment and 2 days to comeback. Thanks Suunto !

freeheeler · 11 Mar 2021, 15:43

@fenr1r
seems your watch is also painting mandalas to calm itself down

@cedric13
nice to hear! …but this might make @Aleksander-H change his mind in doing nothing for the moment

Aleksander H · 3 Nov 2021, 15:52

@freeheeler said in Suunto 7 Altitude Issues:

@cedric13
nice to hear! …but this might make @Aleksander-H change his mind in doing nothing for the moment

I think I like it to much to send it in to be honest .

eurohiker · 3 Dec 2021, 16:24

@cedric13 lucky, i don’t think my 2nd Suunto 7 watch altitudes are correct while hiking. I’ve only tested on 1 trail and it’s doubling elevation for me atm.
My alpine ski day altitudes (with a lot more wind) seem to be correct though.

Jamie BG · 16 Mar 2021, 09:53

So I am still getting occasional incorrect starting altitude point.
I need to check some more, but definitely seems more related to when I used fused tracking (10s GPS fix), and is definitely an issue since the last update.
I need to try a couple more tracking sessions, but doesn’t seem to be an issue if 1s GPS fix option is used, and or a 10s GPS fix is used for a session within a couple of hours of a previous session.

But first session with 10s GPS fix does seem to occasionally have issues:

Always seems to start off with incorrect altitutude - often negative for me i…e between 60 to 100m lower than actual altitude.
Often doesn’t fix itself, but sometimes does around 10m - which is around when I hit 1km mark - and watch of course comes out of low power coprocessor .
noticed on recent activity that breadcrumb map didn’t correctly update. Had me about half a km away from where I actually was and then around 20s of waiting, it suddenly updated and filled in the breadcrumb.

Have never seen or noticed any of this prior to last update. yes occasionally breadcrumb would be slightly off when you switched to the screen, but the update would be almost instantaneous.

Aleksander H · 17 Mar 2021, 07:15

Did a new run yesterday. Close to the beginning of the run I had a steady 20 ascent on the watch, when in reality I was running down hill. Then close to the end of the run I had a few 7 - 10 m drops during a steady uphill section.

I spoke with Suunto as I don’t have a receipt for the watch (I won it in a competition). They sent me a receipt for it and told me to send it in for service. So I guess I’ll be doing that this week.