The upper track represents Smart Recording while the lower track represents Every Second recording. You can see that Every Second recording creates a more smooth track line, and picks up small changes that Smart Recording does not.
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Settings that Improve the Distance and Speed Accuracy of an Outdoor Watch
There are many factors that contribute to incorrect speed and distance on an outdoor watch. Some are outside of your control, such as GPS drift and environmental factors. There are however, changes you can make to the settings of your watch that can improve the data captured during an activity.
Recording Methods
Many of Garmin's outdoor watches offer the ability to change the recording method, with a choice between Smart Recording or Every Second. This setting refers to the interval at which GPS data is recorded during an activity.
Smart Recording saves GPS points when changes in direction, speed, heart rate or elevation are detected. Smart Recording is the default setting of Garmin's watches for the balance it achieves in detail and battery consumption.
Every Second recording will record a GPS point once per a second, regardless of direction, speed, heart rate or elevation. Every Second recording will produce highly detailed tracks of your activities. A more detailed track will lead to more accurate speed and distance data.
If you are looking for the most accurate speed and distance, we recommend using Every Second recording.
To change recording methods on your watch follow these instructions:
- Hold Up/Menu
- Scroll to or select Settings
- Select System
- Select Data Recording
- Select Every Second
3D Speed and 3D Distance
The 3D Speed and 3D Distance features change the way outdoor watches read speed and distance by taking into account elevation changes when calculating distance and speed.
- 3D Speed – Calculates speed using both the elevation change and horizontal movement over ground.
- 3D Distance – Calculates the distance traveled using both elevation change and horizontal movement over ground.
Enabling 3D Speed and 3D Distance improves speed and distance accuracy when doing activities with moderate to high elevation changes.
To enable 3D Speed or 3D Distance follow these instructions:
- Hold Up/Menu
- Scroll to or select Settings
- Select Activities & Apps or Apps
- Select a specific activity type, such as Run
- Select (Activity Name) Settings
- Toggle on 3D Speed and/or 3D Distance
Once these features are enabled, the watch will calculate speed and distance using 3D Speed and 3D Distance.
For more information on troubleshooting GPS, see the Related Content below.