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Post new topic   Reply to topic    Northwest Kiteboarding -> Gorge / Portland / Oregon Coast
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Nak

Since 19 May 2005
4199 Posts
Camas
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PostTue Sep 01, 20 4:52 pm    Kiteboarding Watches Reply with quote

Just a quick mini review to give a thumbs up to the Samsung Galaxy Watch 3. I had the Galaxy watch, there is no #2, and it was pretty great. I love the fact that it has a phone built in in case of emergency.

The 3 is much like the original except for two very nice improvements. The original had a native Strava app, and the 3 doesn't. Once you figure it out though, you don't need it. The 3 records rides and workouts very well with Samsung Health, and then syncs with Strava once the watch automatically syncs the ride to your phone. That's actually better than the native Strava app which requires you to manually sync the ride.

The two improvements are both notable. First, the altitude is FAR more accurate. Instead of bouncing all over the place, it stays dead steady on the actual altitude. It even shows me climbing the hill at the Stevenson launch accurately. I'm not jumping while foiling yet, so I can't speak to that accuracy. But given that it accurately shows me walking up a small hill, I think it looks promising that it might track jumps. Second, it's got a great SOS feature. Press the bottom button 3 times, and it sends an SOS to anyone you have preset. It can send an emergency text with your position, and it can update that position. It can also call anyone of your choice if you preset that. Very cool! Anyone who has tried to make a watch call even under pleasant conditions in the water will understand how valuable this feature is.

Anyways, I really like this watch.

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shred_da_gorge

Since 12 Nov 2008
1251 Posts
Local, not Low Cal
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PostTue Sep 01, 20 5:22 pm     Reply with quote

Thanks for this info! I've been using a Garmin Vivoactive3 with a custom kite tracking app but altitude is useless. I wonder how the Samsung accomplishes it, since GPS+GLONASS is only ~1m accurate, and barometric pressure bounces all around with temperature? Will look into it... you may have just sold one.

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Nak

Since 19 May 2005
4199 Posts
Camas
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PostThu Sep 03, 20 9:46 am     Reply with quote

I'm wondering if it doesn't do some altitude correction once the data syncs with the phone. I use Samsung Health on the watch to record my session, and that automatically syncs to Samsung Health on the phone via bluetooth. I'm wondering if it doesn't say, "OK, you're here so you're altitude must be this." using altitude information from a map. I looked at a sync of my elevation compared to Mark's elevation--he was using a Garmin watch. His altitude showed a steady climb throughout the session, something you'd expect out of a non-calibrated altimeter as the temperature rose. My elevation showed the correct elevation throughout, so it had to be compensating somehow. Maybe using a mix of GPS position and barometric altimeter data? If that's the case, I wonder if it could track a transient altitude like a jump. Is it fast enough? Will the software see the altitude change as anomalous and delete the jump? I don't know. Maybe I need to let Tak or Stringy take it out for a session...

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shred_da_gorge

Since 12 Nov 2008
1251 Posts
Local, not Low Cal
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PostThu Sep 03, 20 1:53 pm     Reply with quote

I suspect there's also a temperature sensor that helps feed corrections, like many bicycle powermeters use now to avoid calibrations.

The Garmin - or at least Vivoactive3 - definitely does not correct its altimeter readings. I once paddled a SUP around a hot and windless laguna in South Padre Island and recorded a 200' climb in elevation.

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