Suunto 7 Altitude Issues

Aleksander H

Interesting observation. Most the graphs I’ve posted here show a sudden jump right at the start of the activity. Is there some calibration jumping in as the activity starts?

isazi

@aleksander-h so the S7 is a bit different than the rest, but the other S family watches at least try to auto calibrate in the first 30 minutes or so of an activity if they get good GPS reception. Probably the 7 does the same.

freeheeler

@aleksander-h
the first down spike might be from closing the door and the next up spike could be from the warm outside air that entered the fridge is cooling down and hence loose some volume?
the rest looks strange anyway, I would expect the alti to increase more or less linear to the temperature to decrease.

edit: found this one in my history book: https://forum.suunto.com/topic/1710/suunto-9-fusedalti-not-remembered-after-activity/30?_=1618778070792

Aleksander H

Anyone know a good barometer app for doing this test on an S7? I’ve found a few, but they all ask for location, which makes me think they’re doing some kind of calibration, which I’m guessing I don’t want.

Aleksander H

Well. This is interesting. I’ve been working my way back in time. Turns out that prior to February 23rd I didn’t seem to have an issue. After that though, I see my numbers getting gradually worse until I reach the point we’re it’s basically doubling my actual ascent. A clogged baro hole getting gradually more clogged perhaps . It wasn’t untill I went snow shoeing that I noticed the problem as it was really bad that day. I just didn’t work my way far enough back to see that there was in fact a time with no major issues.

I’ve already tried running it under the tap. Guess that wasn’t enough. So how best to clean an S7 baro hole without breaking something?

Shouldn’t a blocked baro hole be detected when in for service?

I also have one weird activity on the 13th of February. A 14 km hike which according to.my watch had 0 m ascent. I remember posting about that and being told it was a known bug.

freeheeler

@aleksander-h said in Suunto 7 Altitude Issues:

Shouldn’t a blocked baro hole be detected when in for service?

fully agree! if you report weird alti observations, service should look into that, too!

the general advice is to soak the watch in a glass of water over night and use a very soft (baby)toothbrush.
my S9B also went nuts some time ago and I did the soaking and sensorbrushing. after that it was fine again

aeroild

@aleksander-h Sounds very much like my issue. The altimeter was fine the first six months then getting gradually worse to the point where it would record an ascent when I was in fact moving downhill. It went from recording a detailed altitude profile with small ups and downs to a all smoothened out profile with a max altitude that could be a doubling of the real altitude. Service in Finland did a lab test to check the sensor and said there was no problem with the sensor so I did more tests/runs/walks to confirm the issue and sent it back to Suunto, this time HSH Sport in CZ. I’m looking forward to their conclusion.

Aleksander H

@freeheeler I gave it a quick brush this morning. Did another a fridge test now. The baro app I found shows within 1 m of when I put it into the fridge. Wondering if maybe this helped. Of course, no idea if the app is only using the barometer, but I assume so as the altitude reading seems to be in real-time. It’s jumping up and down constantly on the decimal digits, so it seems to be using pressure. Stays within 1 m on the reading which is promising.

I’ll try and find time for a walk later today.

Mff73

@aleksander-h
like @freeheeler said, i would do the best sensor cleaning you can (in warm water long time, rince under tap, and do it a couple of time to be really sure). Make sure water comes into the holes, and go out after rincing (an old advice from masters of rincing : gently tap the watch on a towel, facing holes to the towel : it may help water going out).
And if nothing change, Suunto support again.

Aleksander H

@freeheeler said in Suunto 7 Altitude Issues:

the general advice is to soak the watch in a glass of water over night and use a very soft

Can the S7 handle being submerged in water 9vernight without risk?

freeheeler

@aleksander-h
yes, it should survive it… just don’t press any buttons when submerged

Aleksander H

@freeheeler cleaned with unused toothbrush. Here is a new 1 hour balcony test.

Not sure why it went up, but at least the suunto app says 0 m up and down.

Bulkan

@aleksander-h Why are you doing a stationary test?

Aleksander H

@bulkan because I can’t leave the office

Aleksander H

10 m in 1 hour seems not to unreasonable to me. I’ll have to go for a few walks and runs, but I’m guessing things are actually good now! Which is an immense relief

Mff73

@aleksander-h
looks better, indeed

Aleksander H

@mff73 thinking about it. 10 m increase in altitude is more or less equal to the offsett I see on my SSU (I often get roughly 10 more ascent then descent despite starting and stopping at the same place). So it seems fixed!

Now all I have to do is spend the rest of the day tapping the update screen…

Aleksander H

Well. After the update I did a 15 min short lunch walk to get out of the house/office. I’m happy to say the elevation graph looked beautiful! No wonky lines, ascent where I expect it to be, descent where I expect it to be!

Thanks for all the help forum posters!

Brad_Olwin

@aleksander-h If the exercises have the exact same time the app may filter one out. Just make sure you start one 20-30sec before or after they other, then they will sync fine. I have had this happen as well.

Aleksander H

@brad_olwin said in Suunto 7 Altitude Issues:

@aleksander-h If the exercises have the exact same time the app may filter one out. Just make sure you start one 20-30sec before or after they other, then they will sync fine. I have had this happen as well.

I started them both at exactly the same time, and ended both at exactly the same time. So it is definitely no surprise if the Suunto App thought “nope, don’t need that one”.

Thanks for the tip. Hopefully though, my SSU can go back to being a reserve watch now