Active Calories no Longer Accurate after upgrading from Garmin

After purchasing an Edge 1040, which replaced an Edge 830, my active calories are incorrect in Garmin Connect. For example, I did a bike ride this morning and used, according to my Garmin Rally Power pedals, 1,986 kilojoules and 1,986 *active* (not active + resting calories). I also rode 5 miles in a separate activity. My Garmin connect, right now, says I've burned only 980 active calories today, which is about 1k too few. This did not happen with my Edge 830. It started being an issue after purchasing the Edge 1040. I use a Venu 3 as my primary wearable.

The thing is, I have Garmin power pedals which report kilojoules. This is a measure of actual energy that was expended. It can't really be interpreted like calories burned using running estimated with HR. So at a minimum I should have about 2k active calories today. This is exactly what happened with my Edge 830

  • Spoke with Garmin, their position seems to be that users are confused: "We do have a ticket on this that I can add you to. I will not receive an answer from engineering immediately as this is a ticket that is ongoing. Engineering is aware of the confusion on the calorie count/widget in Garmin Connect web and in the app. The very least I can do at this point, is simply adding you to it." In other words, they believe their algorithm is correct and I managed to expend ~2k kj but only use 1k calories, something that is strictly impossible without a motor. God I wish I hadn't invested 100% in this fragile eco system.