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Series 4 GPS is awful when running.

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Pewpewpew

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 4, 2012
110
32
Done 6 runs now and all of them the GPS trial is all over the place. Walking it seems to be more accurate.
 
Series 3 has been reliable. Unlikely Apple has screwed things up on the S4.

Can you be more specific with your complaints?
 
It cuts all the corners and has me running through buildings and gardens and random straight bits. Gold stainless steel 44mm.
 
My 3 wasn't great at first, distance was 30% out over 1.5 miles but got better over a week. I think it might need to build up a cache of gps sattelites.
 
i havent tried running outdoor with my AW4 but I've done walking - yeah sometime GPS trial go offside for some reason, maybe im thinking AW4 is trying to save the battery's resource.
 
I also have not had an issue - tracking matches my memory of the routes I’ve ran. I just need to figure out how to improve my pace so I can respond appropriately to the new pace alerts!
 
Try again with Workout. I found that in between updates for example RunKeeper had issues with AW2. The native app and Nike+ worked without problems.
 
Definitely sounds like it's polling too infrequently. Surprising since that's not the case on the Series 2 even. I'm not aware of a setting you can change. If others are not seeing this, you may want to take your watch in to Apple.
 
GPS is a low power and high frequency signal. It will be flaky in buildings and around tall buildings
 
Pewpewpew said:
It cuts all the corners and has me running through buildings and gardens and random straight bits. Gold stainless steel 44mm.
Click to expand...
What app are you using to monitor your route? I haven't use built in app for a long time, but yesterday I tested it for cycling and my route in the Activity app was way off. But, when I imported the same workout into RunGap, the same route is displayed exactly right!

This was just a one test, so maybe this isn't the same problem you have. I'm using AWS2 (still waiting my S4).
 
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Pewpewpew said:
Done 6 runs now and all of them the GPS trial is all over the place. Walking it seems to be more accurate.
Click to expand...

My 3 is nowhere near as accurate as my cheapo mk1 garmin vivoactive
It was so bad I went for a run with both my Apple Watch and garmin with a chest strap
The Apple Watch read about 10 bpm higher than the garmin and the god tracking was crap compared to the garmin
 
northernbaldy said:
My 3 is nowhere near as accurate as my cheapo mk1 garmin vivoactive
It was so bad I went for a run with both my Apple Watch and garmin with a chest strap
The Apple Watch read about 10 bpm higher than the garmin and the god tracking was crap compared to the garmin
Click to expand...

No wrist-based heart rate monitor is a match for a chest strap at this point.

Otherwise, I've run thousands of miles with my S3 watch, on routes I've run thousands of miles on with my Garmin's. The results are generally well within the acceptable variations for GPS tracking. Both are consistent to themselves from run to run - even in the heavily wooded valley trails that I frequent. I've run multiple certified road races with the S3 where it has been accurate to less that .1 mile - as good or better than my Garmin's.
 
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zhenya said:
No wrist-based heart rate monitor is a match for a chest strap at this point.

Otherwise, I've run thousands of miles with my S3 watch, on routes I've run thousands of miles on with my Garmin's. The results are generally well within the acceptable variations for GPS tracking. Both are consistent to themselves from run to run - even in the heavily wooded valley trails that I frequent. I've run multiple certified road races with the S3 where it has been accurate to less that .1 mile - as good or better than my Garmin's.
Click to expand...
Also if you really want a chest strap for monitoring your heart the Apple Watch can connect to those over Bluetooth.
 
I'm having similar poor results with GPS accuracy while running the same course I run every morning with my new Apple Watch Series 4. It was pretty accurate on the first morning run, but now seems to be underestimating mileage so my 4.1 mile run is now a 3.9 mile run even though it's the identical course. As a result my pace has dropped by almost a minute. My previous watch was a Garmin Forerunner 935 and its GPS was always reliable. I've noticed there's no wait time for the GPS to lock on when you start a run. Maybe it's not locking on right away and that's causing the discrepancies.
 
iJeremy said:
I'm having similar poor results with GPS accuracy while running the same course I run every morning with my new Apple Watch Series 4. It was pretty accurate on the first morning run, but now seems to be underestimating mileage so my 4.1 mile run is now a 3.9 mile run even though it's the identical course. As a result my pace has dropped by almost a minute. My previous watch was a Garmin Forerunner 935 and its GPS was always reliable. I've noticed there's no wait time for the GPS to lock on when you start a run. Maybe it's not locking on right away and that's causing the discrepancies.
Click to expand...
I use ismoothrun and you can wait for a satellite lock before starting the clock.
 
iJeremy said:
I always run with my iPhone too. Which iPhone app?
Click to expand...
Ismoothrun. To me, it has the best integration between the aw and the iPhone. The when you run with the iPhone, the AW is basically a second screen for the iPhone app. Uses the iPhones GPS so it saves battery.

Not the most polished looking app, but it respects the user by allowing the data to be shared to just about anything service.
 
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