S7 - Distance/speed is off on the Running workouts

igchy · 28 Nov 2021, 03:50

Hello everybody,
New Suunto 7 user here!

I’m running with S7 and distance/speed is off.
All other stats, like steps, duration, heart rate, altitude etc is more or less accurate.
I’ve been running the same routes for a long time and my fitbit is consistent in measurements.
But S7 measures distance almost 1.5 times more of what it should be and it doesn’t make a lot of sense:
fitbit/S7 (miles)
7.09/11.65
6.99/11.79
8.56/12.12
First one from the top is Running (race), second and third - Running (basic).
I’ve tried “race” instead of “basic” because S7 was almost randomly beeping marking a lap, which was annoying.
Triple checked all the settings, everything looks good. Measurements set to “Imperial” on the watch, Suunto app and Android phone itself.
I’m running outside, in the open, have a phone on me and GPS signal is good.
I’ve seen instructions how to calibrate GPS on S3, but can’t find anything like that for S7.
Any ideas what could be causing this and how to fix it?

Brad_Olwin · 28 Nov 2021, 05:28

@igchy How do you know the Fitbit is accurate? Just because it is consistent does not make the measurement accurate.

igchy · 28 Nov 2021, 06:40

@brad_olwin i wish i could trust Suunto on this one
I’ve been running for about a year now and every mile is a progress for me. 12 miles in an hour is a hell of a result for beginner runner haha
Average amount of steps in a mile is 2000, and i’m not André the Giant
Measured distance in google maps and it’s almost the same as fitbit:

BinoWorld UK · 28 Nov 2021, 10:02

@brad_olwin I agree, I could say the same thing about my AW S6 which is a very accurate device. My S7 matches the S6 in every aspect except the calories at a bit higher on the S7

Brad_Olwin · 28 Nov 2021, 13:52

This post is deleted!

igchy · 28 Nov 2021, 18:32

@Optics-field-Test @Brad_Olwin I’m sure S7 is a great and accurate device, I wouldn’t buy it otherwise
Feels like I’m doing something wrong or device I’ve got is not functioning properly.
Will try to chat with Suunto support to see if they can help.

BinoWorld UK · 28 Nov 2021, 19:04

@igchy I would suggest you give it a factory reset and before starting your run wait for the white arrow to go solid. I tend to activate my running mode about ten minutes before I start running that way I am guaranteed best signa lock and heart is nicely up. I do 10 minutes power walk before my run and that get my blood flowing to my arms so the HR is capturing clean data.

igchy · 28 Nov 2021, 19:56

@optics-field-test thank you for the advice! will try that today.

igchy · 29 Nov 2021, 02:45

After I reset a watch and set it up again, I noticed that even though my location correctly displayed on the map and arrow is solid white on the map, it’s still blinking in workout.
Reset watch few more times, issues is still there.
Getting a replacement, hope it’s gonna work as expected.

Thank you for help, guys!

sky-runner · 29 Nov 2021, 07:10

@brad_olwin The screenshots above show 11868 steps in 11.65 miles. That seems improbable.
If that was 11.65 km that number of steps would make sense, but 11.65 miles - no.

olymay · 29 Nov 2021, 09:31

@sky-runner said in S7 - Distance/speed is off on the Running workouts:

@brad_olwin The screenshots above show 11868 steps in 11.65 miles. That seems improbable.
If that was 11.65 km that number of steps would make sense, but 11.65 miles - no.

Those step figures don’t seem too bad to me.

Steps taken whilst running depend on two main things:

Height of the runner
Pace they are running

We don’t know the height of the poster, but we can see their pace of 6’00/mile (mighty fast! well done!)

An average person of average height (5’6") running an average pace (9’00/mile) will do 1480 steps per mile.

If someone is taller, they will do fewer steps. Shorter, then more steps.
If they run faster, they will do fewer steps. Slower, then more steps.

We can see the poster has done an average of 1,018,7 steps per mile (11868 steps divided by 11.65 miles).

As they were going at quite a pace, that would explain the fewer steps per mile than the average. If the poster is taller than 5’6" that would also explain it.

Obviously none of this is scientific, but it’s a good enough average.

We can’t assume anyone’s steps per mile or km are high or low or right or wrong without knowing all of the relevant data.

Jamie BG · 29 Nov 2021, 10:22

@olymay you forgot about cadence - that can change your stride length and increase/decrease the number of steps your take.
Recently I was doing a lot of cadence work trying to get up to 180spm and noticed my step count varied a lot from what used to be my norm 140-155spm to when I was hitting 168-175spm (still working on the 180spm).

olymay · 29 Nov 2021, 10:25

@jamie-bg said in S7 - Distance/speed is off on the Running workouts:

@olymay you forgot about cadence - that can change your stride length and increase/decrease the number of steps your take.

I thought cadence was a result of stride length and pace?

My understanding was the three were essentially a triangle. If you want to change one piece then you can change either of the other two?
(similar to ohms law in electrics, or the exposure triangle in photography, etc?)

But yes, I probably should have mentioned it

(180 spm!?!?! wow that’s fast! great effort!)

Jamie BG · 30 Nov 2021, 10:56

@olymay

(180 spm!?!?! wow that’s fast! great effort!) - not there yet, still working on that - said I am normally around 168-175spm.

I think its worth the effort as supposedly it reduces the strain on the body especially the knees and my knees are super dodgy (along with my back) from too many years of training and competitive sailing in dinghies.

olymay · 1 Dec 2021, 07:18

@jamie-bg said in S7 - Distance/speed is off on the Running workouts:

@olymay

(180 spm!?!?! wow that’s fast! great effort!) - not there yet, still working on that - said I am normally around 168-175spm.

I think its worth the effort as supposedly it reduces the strain on the body especially the knees and my knees are super dodgy (along with my back) from too many years of training and competitive sailing in dinghies.

175 is pretty damn close to 180 and is close enough for me to say well done

So are you simply running faster? Or taking small and fast steps to end up a similar pace to your regular running?

(sorry if this is going off topic)

igchy · 30 Nov 2021, 20:44

Got a replacement S7, GPS gets a fix in 10-15 seconds even inside.

@sky-runner you’re absolutely right, 11.65 miles and 11868 steps don’t make a lot of sense for me too:
11.65 * 5280 / 11868 = about 5.2 feet per step.
I’m 5’7" and jumping 5 feet on each step for an hour+ would be… hm… fun lol
An average cadence on that run is 86. I want to see somebody who can run like that
Will post a result of today’s run just for fun.

Brad_Olwin · 30 Nov 2021, 21:01

@igchy hopefully the hardware was the issue.

igchy · 1 Dec 2021, 07:13

Yep, a replacement watch makes a lot more sense (today wasn’t my best performance btw :))

Also, “Wear GPS Fix” application helped me with troubleshooting GPS issue:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.freepoc.weargpsfix

Thanks everybody!

A Former User · 1 Dec 2021, 07:18

@olymay said in S7 - Distance/speed is off on the Running workouts:

(sorry if this is going off topic)

OT sometimes is manna

Jamie BG · 1 Dec 2021, 11:01

@olymay running about the same pace, though I do use the cadence to slightly increase/decrease pace by varying it slightly, but is more about improving my running style to put less strain on my body by taking the smaller strides.