Suunto9 Baro Elevation Issues
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Hi,I received a Suunto 9 Baro back on December 20th and on most of my runs the elevation profile continually fluctuated by around 1-10m despite the fact that I was running on a consistent gradient. This led to my elevation gain on the run being significantly higher than basemap values and other watches would suggest. In one case a run with 200m of elevation gain was recorded as 840m by my watch. Assuming this to be an issue with my specific watch I contacted suunto customer support who determined that it was most likely a hardware issue. I sent the watch to the Suunto Repair Centre, who then sent me a new watch which I received on May 7th. On my very first run the exact same thing happened with the fluctuating elevation profile. Upon reading some forums I found that someone was having a similar issue and like me they also wore their watch on their right hand. To see if this was the issue I started to wear my watch on my left hand instead and no longer had any issues with elevation. I believe that the cause of the issue may be that the holes leading to the air pressure sensor face towards the direction of airflow when wearing it on your right hand which may cause issues for the sensor. Here is the data for 6 runs (3 on left hand and 3 on right). I ran the same route every time but on the right hand significantly different elevation gains were recorded. I was wondering if anyone else has had this issue?
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@Oisinb I started to wear my S9B on the right hand couple a months ago and didn’t notice any ascent and descent difference compared to when I wore it on my left hand.
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@Oisinb
Either the wind, or your hand is blocking the holes while moving your wrist. -
I’ve just come in from a run…exactly same as yesterday…Baro 9 recorded exactly same distance BUT a 25 metre discrepancy between the 2 runs over 4 mile??
I’m having major doubts about this watch as never had a single issue with my Fenix 5x
I really want to work with this watch but I’m quickly losing faith after 1 week??
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@AndyD2574 said in Suunto9 Baro Elevation Issues:
I really want to work with this watch but I’m quickly losing faith after 1 week??
If you think this can only get worse, I would return it.
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@Oisinb I once had a hike up a hill in very high wind that almost blew me off of the mountain.
Elevation data for this activity was bad as well - while usually there are absolutely no issues at all with the S9B.
Others are right - the barometer holes are facing forward when the watch is worn on the right hand.
It then depends on clothing and running style if there is an impact in the altitude measurement. -
@AndyD2574 said in Suunto9 Baro Elevation Issues:
I’ve just come in from a run…exactly same as yesterday…Baro 9 recorded exactly same distance BUT a 25 metre discrepancy between the 2 runs over 4 mile??
I’m having major doubts about this watch as never had a single issue with my Fenix 5x
I really want to work with this watch but I’m quickly losing faith after 1 week??
25m in distance or altitude?
If distance: this is a very good accuracy over 4miles, but off topic in this thread
If altitude: what is the absolute altitude gain/loss during those 4 miles? -
@Egika sorry it was an altitude difference of 25 metres over the 4 miles
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@Egika
my favourite topic
blocked holes is the reason in most cases IMHO…
strong winds could also be a reason as wind equalizes pressure differences and hence the baro gets “tricked”. but should be compensate with fusedalti…?! -
@TELE-HO yeah - it’s not compensated. Fused Alti is relevant for the low pass filter offset over all - while the baro sensor is responsible for the quick changes (and thus influenced by heavy wind and other stuff like getting some air pump effect from moving clothes worn over the watch )
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I have a very similar issue. I have just purchased a 9 Baro and went for a 54 I’m ride which was a flat route around the Bay and along the beaches of Singapore. The GPS tracked the route perfectly but the altitude measuring recorded 6.3km of ascent! I think the highest point of the route would have been about 15m near home away from the coast. The plot shows wild variations with a Low point of -116m as per the attached plot. I never had such issues with my Ambit3P and this should be a superior product. Any suggestions, or is this one to take to Suunto support?
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@Cookiemonster It only happened once to me (well, except kayaking, that’s a different topic though) wearing the watch inside the jacket during a very strong storm, with very strong winds. I guess you didn’t wear long sleeves in Singapore right? I never did
Maybe your arms were bent enough to create some kind of vacuum around the baro sensor?