Measurement units

4622727 11 days ago

How to you change setting to display kj instead of calories? I have set up my Garmin to use metric but calories are still displayed.

Top Replies

trux 10 days ago in reply to 4622727 +1 suggested

I do agree that kJ would be useful, but as I told, Garmin does not offer anything else than Calories. I recommend suggesting it to Garmin at Share Ideas | Garmin

Otherwise, Calories are still widely used…

All Replies

0 trux 10 days ago

You can't. Garmin only uses Calories, which are in fact metric too (just not SI).

0 4622727 10 days ago in reply to trux

Calories aren’t metric! Energy is measured in kj in the SI system -which is the metric system.

0 trux 10 days ago in reply to 4622727

They are metric - one calorie is by definition the amount of energy (heat) needed to raise the temperature of one milliliter of water by one degree Celsius (or one kelvin) - all metric units. They are just pre-SI, and are not included in the official SI set.

Regardless, Garmin only uses Calories (kcal), not joules, for both metric and statute systems.

0 trux 10 days ago in reply to trux

BTW, the metric system was established during the French Revolution in 1799 (Mr. Joule was not born yet, at all, in that time). SI was founded in 1875, and the energy unit 'joule' was introduced a decade later, in 1889. Calorie was officially deprecated as an SI unit only in 1948. It does not mean yet, it is not a metric-based unit. There are plenty of other metric units that are deprecated in SI.

0 4622727 10 days ago in reply to trux

The problem is most countries label their food using kj not calories even if it used to be included in SI units. I think the US and Liberia are the only countries that use the old system

0 trux 10 days ago in reply to 4622727

I do agree that kJ would be useful, but as I told, Garmin does not offer anything else than Calories. I recommend suggesting it to Garmin at Share Ideas | Garmin

Otherwise, Calories are still widely used in food and fitness business till today, worldwide, not only in the USA. When I check food packages on my shelves (I am in EU), half of them have energy values either directly in kcal, or list both kJ and kcal values.