Vivoactive 3 altitude readings are a mess

My Garmin vivoactive 3 has gone haywire on the altimeter readings. I live in Florida and its flat as a pancake but the watch thinks I am climbing 1000 feet in a 10 mile run. Anyone else have these issues?
 
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RW Staff

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@Ace_of_Base ,

I have heard of others having similar experiences. I know the altimeter will sometimes be thrown off on the onset of weather changes. the Low air pressure has even caused the altimeter on my watch to show elevation gain while sitting at my desk. Have you updated your watch recently?

Tyler
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Tom

JV
Same here with my Garmin 45. The elevation profile will usually be accurate, but with inflated numbers. Something interesting I noticed is that sometimes the watch thinks I’m running a hill loop when I’m doing track workouts. 15 feet +- per lap with a consistent profile. And I rotate between 3 tracks. No clue why it does that, but if anyone has any ideas I’m interested.
 

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Same here with my Garmin 45. The elevation profile will usually be accurate, but with inflated numbers. Something interesting I noticed is that sometimes the watch thinks I’m running a hill loop when I’m doing track workouts. 15 feet +- per lap with a consistent profile. And I rotate between 3 tracks. No clue why it does that, but if anyone has any ideas I’m interested.

@Tom I have seen the same issue on my watch as well. I have been trying to figure out how to fix it. I think it might be a software thing. Because the Garmin Forerunner 45 lacks an altimeter, Garmin uses a model to look up GPS points to record elevation that way, once data has been uploaded. But its interesting to see that its a difference of 15 feet per lap. How do you find its tracking off the track?

Tyler
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Tom

JV
Tyler, @RW Staff
I am surprised to hear that it uses an elevation map to determine elevation vs an altimeter, because it captures things like stadium stairs and is inconsistent with Strava elevation gains (everything but my watch’s elevation syncs to Strava). The profile is generally accurate off track, but with varying inflation of elevation. Sometimes it is accurate, sometimes double the elevation.
 

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RW Staff

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@Tom
I have been pretty impressed with the accuracy of it despite coming from an elevation map. Your elevation pic is especially interesting to me in regards to the fairly regular pattern it records. I tend not to trust my watch on track workouts as much, I feel like GPS drifts make it hard to get the most accurate info. But I do think its good for general information and getting an accurate idea of where you are fitness-wise. But for the most part, I trust data from Starva a little more. It seems a little more consistent to me.

Tyler
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airyxi

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My Garmin vivoactive 3 has gone haywire on the altimeter readings. I live in Florida and its flat as a pancake but the watch thinks I am climbing 1000 feet in a 10 mile run. Anyone else have these issues?
My vivoactive 3’s altimeter readings have also been “off the charts” lately haha. I’ve been using the strava adjust elevation feature when I notice it is way off. Maybe it has to do with this time of year? Maybe these altimeters just aren’t capable this time of year in these regions, but it’s my first watch of this type so time will tell how often they are inaccurate
 
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