Strava - elevation discrepancy

This was quite an interesting look at Strava and elevation, which may shed some light;
http://regex.info/blog/2015-05-09/2568

You might find that if you are using 'smart data recording' on the Garmin then it isn't constantly reassessing your elevation whereas '1 second' recording will and may provide more accurate elevation readings.

As the barometric altimeter measures elevation by changes in air pressure, if you are riding on a day that has changeable weather conditions then your elevation data may not be accurate.

I'll second that, topped an 800ft in a blizzard, quick look at the Garmin....7ft, I nearly cried.

There is a well known glitch with garmins that they become highly inaccurate when it rains if water gets near the barometric sensor. You can fix this with auto correct.
As for barhatch and whitedown, there's little between them in nastiness. Both are a smidge over 300 ft, but whitedown edges ithe for me with a steeper gradient at its worst. Neither though are a patch on Rosedale chimney where I genuinely thought if I lost forward momentum I would be in serious danger of falling back down the hill !

You know they're not important awards, right? Dave Brailsford isn't going to be on the phone whether you meet a nominal Strava target or not...

Thanks to the correct elevation i missed out on the April climbing challenge badge by 10m
Would've been my 1st ever badge

My Garmin (Edge 510) often goes a little bit crazy on elevation (any advice on fixing this), sometimes making it look as if I've ridden off a 100m cliff in the middle of the fens. I tend to hit "correct elevation" in Strava (web only, sadly not in the app) to get a better idea, that uses the topographic information from the maps.

Sure thing, starting from Sutton so the first/last 15 miles are getting to the general vicinity:

https://www.strava.com/activities/287598276

Looking at Barhatch, I've not been down there - looks like it could be tacked onto my loop pretty easily though between Hound House and Ewhurst.

Strava is more accurate like with Garmin connect than the 810 or whatever. I have checked on garmin forums etc and no one doubts that. You need to make sure you upload via garmin and then apply elevation correction, remembering it synchs with strava anyway.

However I keep the higher value as it looks better !

Afraid it is the Garmin which is wrong. No getting away from that, it works it out incorrectly and in Garmin Connect the elevation correction always knocks off 20% or so from what the Garmin says.

Crocknorth sucks. But it's not quite as bad as White Down Lane.

I'd not trust Strava for elevation data, I have seen significant discrepancies between people riding the same route, even in the same event.

Agree with sergius. It'll probably be down to the device you are using not having barometric assistance to calculate change in altitude. Relying on pure GPS in not going to be accurate.

You haven't said whether you recorded using a phone (just GPS) or a Garmin or similar (with barometric altitude).

Assuming it's a phone, the GPS calculations are often flaky - before I got the Garmin I'd routinely see variations in distance of +/- 2 miles on the same 65 mile route, and elevation would vary by a few hundred feet - I believe spotty signal coverage is the generally accepted cause.

The Garmin is better - but you'll still see variations but over a much tighter range.