Running with Gear S3. How accurate?

[miglozoya]

My calories burned are grossly overstated. For a 30 minute ruin, I burn approximately 300 cals. Running with my S3 and Samsung health puts me over 600

Guys,
I got my S3 one month ago; since then, I have sent it to be repaired by Samsung two times. Today I've scheduled another collect & repair (3rd time). Issue as follows: static, the GPS gets the signal pretty fast and accurately. When running, pace is NEVER-EVER accurate, distance is always wrong and if you pause (like in traffic lights, etc.) GPS can take 1-2 km to pick up signal again, so all your workout spoiled. I have tried everything said here (GPS only, etc.) to no avail. I'll report after I get it back from today's service, but I contacted Samsung via twitter and they advised "to send the device at least 3-4 times so I can get a replacement or refund". Incredible when you buy one of the flagships of the brand!!
By the way, using Endomondo, MapMyRun or Health does NOT change, so it means that the device itself is not working properly.
Cheers,

 

[11B1P]

Someone in this forum or another gave a tip to set location to GPS only to get a more accurate tracking. I found it is pretty much more precise with GPS only.

I think this is true for me as well. It seems like when I had my S3 set to GPS only and wifi turned off, my mileage was more accurate. I went for a run yesterday with wifi on and my mileage was off. Currently my wifi setting is wifi auto on/off. Plus, once you leave wifi range, you get a notification on your screen that you can't connect to wifi.

 

[11B1P]

Guys,
I got my S3 one month ago; since then, I have sent it to be repaired by Samsung two times. Today I've scheduled another collect & repair (3rd time). Issue as follows: static, the GPS gets the signal pretty fast and accurately. When running, pace is NEVER-EVER accurate, distance is always wrong and if you pause (like in traffic lights, etc.) GPS can take 1-2 km to pick up signal again, so all your workout spoiled. I have tried everything said here (GPS only, etc.) to no avail. I'll report after I get it back from today's service, but I contacted Samsung via twitter and they advised "to send the device at least 3-4 times so I can get a replacement or refund". Incredible when you buy one of the flagships of the brand!!
By the way, using Endomondo, MapMyRun or Health does NOT change, so it means that the device itself is not working properly.
Cheers,

I got my S3 about a month ago too. Are you getting the same watch back, or are you getting a new device each time? If you're getting the same watch back, yeah I would say it's a bad watch. If you're getting a replacement each time, then that tells me the watch is working the way it is designed to work.

As far as when you have to stop for traffic lights, do you have auto pause turned on?

 

[miglozoya]

Hi 11B1P,
It's always my own device sent back, no replacement yet. As I said, Samsung recommended to send it 3 or 4 times until they get tired of it and replace it or reimburse me. For the second question: it doesn't matter if I have auto-pause or if I pause manually: it loses track for 3-5 minutes always.
Thank you!

 

[miglozoya]

Bingo! Just got the message from "Exchange Service NL" saying that they declare my watch as "non reparable" and they will exchange it in the next days for a new one. More to come...

 

[11B1P]

I think I discovered the issue with the distances being off. Couple days ago I went for a short run with both my S3 and a Microsoft Band 2. The S3 was configured with the "Connections" set to "WiFi auto on/off". A little bit into the run I looked at the S3 and noticed the message that I couldn't connect to a network. Looking at my MSB2, I noticed I was .10 farther than what the S3 was reporting. It's possible that while the S3 was on the screen talking about the wifi network, the GPS was not tracking my distance. The S3 and MSB2 stayed consistent with the .10 difference in distance through the whole run.

Went for a run the next morning with Wifi turned off on the S3. S3 and MSB2 were almost spot on with each other. I plotted the distance in Google Maps and both devices were almost the same.

 

[miglozoya]

I think I discovered the issue with the distances being off. Couple days ago I went for a short run with both my S3 and a Microsoft Band 2. The S3 was configured with the "Connections" set to "WiFi auto on/off". A little bit into the run I looked at the S3 and noticed the message that I couldn't connect to a network. Looking at my MSB2, I noticed I was .10 farther than what the S3 was reporting. It's possible that while the S3 was on the screen talking about the wifi network, the GPS was not tracking my distance. The S3 and MSB2 stayed consistent with the .10 difference in distance through the whole run.

Went for a run the next morning with Wifi turned off on the S3. S3 and MSB2 were almost spot on with each other. I plotted the distance in Google Maps and both devices were almost the same as how I plotted it in Google Maps.

Lucky you! I always had WiFi off and the problem exists. By the way, maybe I didn't mention: the new watch I got as a replacement has exactly the very same problem of inaccuracy :-( :-(

 

[hoh_tom]

Hello,

I have the same problem with the 'inaccuracy' of my Gear S3.
I made a test by start the workout 'bicycle' on my Gear S3 (disconnected from my phone) and ride my motorbike from my work to home. S-Health said 3,84 km and the tacho of my motorbike said 25,1 km(!).
Next day i did the same with my Samsung Galaxy S7. S-Health said 3,61 km, tacho of my bike 25,1 km.
Then I exported my workout as GPX (available in S-Health App) an imported it inside GPX view app and voila! Distance and the height profile is perfect (25,13 km) from the Gear S3 track (25,06 km from the Galaxy S7 track).
In my opinion: S-Health app is doing something wrong!!!

Best greetings
Tom

 

[ClintRo]

Sounds like maybe it realizes you can't go 70 MPH on a bicycle and doesn't count that as exercise...LOL

 

[Old GameNerd]

Use of my wife phone with Endomondo


Use of Microsoft Band inbuilt GPS


Use of Samsung Gear S3 inbuilt GPS


I start Endomondo on phone to continue when I see the Gear GPS stop


Yes, and this is a 399 Euro watch. Shame on you Samsung

 

[swedix]

There seems to be two problems with the watch. The first is that it finds a position every 5-10 seconds, meaning it's is cutting corners etc, making the run shorter that way. This problem should not affect the distance that much.

The second, larger problem, is that the watch is doing something weird with the distance it actually records. I use MapMyRun on the Gear S3 and it usually tracks my distance as 500m-1000m (10-20%) less than it actually is.

However, when looking at the raw data at the MapMyRun website, I can see that the entire run has been tracked when looking at the map that has been plotted. Also when I go in to "Edit" the run, it says; for example "Route: 6.46km" and next to it "Ran 5.30 km on date xx/xx/xxxx". The route-distance differs maybe 100 meters between different runs, but that I can live with. Would be great if Samsung could fix this, as it's clearly some kind of software issue with the watch.

 

[swedix]

There seems to be two problems with the watch. The first is that it finds a position every 5-10 seconds, meaning it's is cutting corners etc, making the run shorter that way. This problem should not affect the distance that much.

The second, larger problem, is that the watch is doing something weird with the distance it actually records. I use MapMyRun on the Gear S3 and it usually tracks my distance as 500m-1000m (10-20%) less than it actually is.

However, when looking at the raw data at the MapMyRun website, I can see that the entire run has been tracked when looking at the map that has been plotted. Also when I go in to "Edit" the run, it says; for example "Route: 6.46km" and next to it "Ran 5.30 km on date xx/xx/xxxx". The route-distance differs maybe 100 meters between different runs, but that I can live with. Would be great if Samsung could fix this, as it's clearly some kind of software issue with the watch.

 

[ol_jackburton]

I am getting one of these for christmas, reading about these issues is starting to bum me out. Any recent updates that have improved things?

 

[swedix]

At least for me the new Tizen 3.0 update has made it work again. I'm now using Samung Health which now has a function so you can see when the GPS is locked. The watch might not be as accurate as those watches made for just running, but for me running 3 times a week it's good enough.

 

[ol_jackburton]

At least for me the new Tizen 3.0 update has made it work again. I'm now using Samung Health which now has a function so you can see when the GPS is locked. The watch might not be as accurate as those watches made for just running, but for me running 3 times a week it's good enough.

that is good to hear, i have just recently got into running. I have a Gear Fit now and it seems to work well for my tracking needs.

 

[asyfaq79]

Which Fit are you getting for yourself? The new Gear Fit2 Pro? By looking at the demo unit, I feel that the Gear Fit2 Pro is having pretty much the same feature as Gear S3 right? With the upgrade of going longer into the water maybe? How is the performance of the Gear Fit so far?

 

[Cowboy8467]

Mine did not work well for running without having the phone connected until I got the Tizen 3.0 update. I can now say that it works far better for tracking and I haven't had any gps issues like I was having before.