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In lieu of unavailable newer calculations, why not use older standard VO2max = 3.5 + (483/T) where T=minutes to run 1.5 miles?

Former Member over 5 years ago

I have an older Forerunner 225, and recently started jogging again. Now I want to evaluate my progress in terms of VO2max, but found out that Garmin Connect reports "no data." In a support chat I learned that VO2max isn't available until the Forerunner 230. I might upgrade my device someday, but there is no way I'll pay a few hundred $$ just for that one newer feature. So, for now I have to do my own VO2max calculations or lookup using varied online and app resources.

Quite a few web sites offer a number of calculators, some requiring information such as age, weight, BMI, etc. But the one VO2max calculator I'm finding consistently on most of those sites uses a very simple formula, developed by Kenneth Cooper starting back in the 1960's, requiring only one metric: time to complete 1.5 miles at best effort.

VO2max = 3.5 + (483/T), where T=minutes to run 1.5 miles.

So, especially for users with pre-230 devices, why doesn't Garmin Connect at least offer that calculation for 1.5 mile runs (or the first 1.5 miles if longer)? While possibly not as accurate as more current calculations, that value could easily be marked with an asterisk (*) to make it clear that the reported value is based on that older model.

0 trux over 5 years ago

Unknown said:
So, especially for users with pre-230 devices, why doesn't Garmin Connect at least offer that calculation for 1.5 mile runs (or the first 1.5 miles if longer)?

I would tell that it is especially because the feature was introduced later than when the old models were released. It would mean that Garmin would have to rewrite the firmware of tens of past models to retrofit them. That would represent a significant cost for the development and testing, and an important risk of introducing new bugs into old firmware, and also higher support cost, and necessity of rewriting user manuals of all concerned model, including the translations to tens of languages. All this with the added disadvantage that it would demotivate owners of older watch models to upgrade their devices. In other words, retrofitting old models with new feaureas does not seem to make much economical sense, although time to time it happens at Garmin too.

Another additional reason may be that the last generation of Garmin watches has a built-in oximeter, which allows for much better VO₂Max estimates.

0 Former Member over 5 years ago in reply to trux

Thanks Trux. I actually wasn't proposing any firmware changes. All it would take for Garmin to be helpful would be to calculate the estimated VO2max based on pace; i.e., VO2max = 3.5 + (483 / (pace*1.5)).

I'm in terrible shape at age 73, not having run for a few years, and the best I could accomplish on my first try at 1.5 miles yesterday was a 14:29 pace. So my VO2max = 3.5 + (483/(14:29 * 1.5)) = 25.73. Garmin could have done that for me.

That shows up as Poor on charts for men aged 70-79, so I have quite a way to go before my performance improves to an acceptable level.

0 trux over 5 years ago in reply to Former Member

Unknown said:
I actually wasn't proposing any firmware changes. All it would take for Garmin to be helpful would be to calculate the estimated VO2max based on pace; i.e., VO2max = 3.5 + (483 / (pace*1.5)).

Yes, I understood that you want a change in the VO₂Max calculation, but it is done on the device, hence it would require a change in the firmware.

0 trux over 5 years ago in reply to trux

... Of course, they could also work with the data in your account, but apparently it does not fit their model - with very few exceptions, practically all data processing is currently being done on the device (client side precessing), not on the Garmin Connect account (server side processing)