App: Hiking

https://apps.garmin.com/en-US/apps/39d3b5e8-67db-4517-93a8-5ec485269635

For the vivoactive, FR230, FR235, and FR630 (I don't plan support for other devices)

Please use this thread for questions, etc!

"Hike" records an activity as a hike or walk in Garmin Connect. It also allows you to mark "waypoints" (they show up as lap marks in Garmin connect, so you can see them on that map).

When hike starts, it waits for GPS, and looks for an available HRM and Tempe. At this point, with the up/down key or a screen swipe, you can switch between "hike" and "walk". Then, press "start" to start recording.

The current time, HR and temp (if the sensors are available) is displayed on all screens. While recording, pressing "back" marks a waypoint. To pause or end, press "start again", and you are given the options of "resume", "save", and "discard".

When you hit the start button and get the resume/save/discard menu, you can hit the back button. The menu goes away, and the recording remains paused (it's indicated next to the clock time on all pages). But you can scroll trough the data pages at the time. That way, if you're taking a break, you can sit and look at the current data.

When "paused" is displayed with the time, pressing start again resumes the recording.

There are 5 data screens that you can see when recording (up/down button, or swipe right/left on touch devices) (some not shown here due to forum limits)

The first screen is basic recording info: The time for the activity, the time that recording was active (when paused, this doesn't increase), the distance, and the number of waypoints marked

The second screen shows pace, avg pace, speed, and avg speed.

The third page shows the waypoints you marked. They are shown 5 at a time, and rotate every 7 seconds. They closest waypoint is shown in green.

The fourth page shows elevation data. This is GPS based, and sometime may be off. Elevation, total Ascent, and total Descent is shown.

The fifth page is location information. Your current lat/lon and heading, as well as your starting location lat/lon and the direction and distance back to start. GPS quality is also show, both in text and colors (green is usable or better)

Changes in version 0.12: see https://forums.garmin.com/showthread.php?335082-App-Hiking&p=765691#post765691

Top Replies

All Replies

travis.vitek over 8 years ago

Oh can we get 5 digits for the "d" in DD.ddddd in the start/current position screen to get the best possible accuracy ? You never know, could come in handy ;-)

Single precision floating point values are accurate out to 6 digits of precision. Some values can be represented exactly to 9 digits, but error starts to creep in at 6.

jim_m_58 over 8 years ago

Single precision floating point values are accurate out to 6 digits of precision. Some values can be represented exactly to 9 digits, but error starts to creep in at 6.

The GPS data varies enough while standing in the same place, that the last couple of decimal places can become "noise level", as Commercial GPS can easily be 20-50' off and that changes all the time.

It's not how accurately the number can be displayed, it's about how accurate the number itself is! :)

ChristineWheeler over 8 years ago

I downloaded this app to track my walks separate from my runs. I enjoy all of the information and ease of using the app, but I am confused about the calories. I walked 4.26 miles today in 1:07, but I only burned 160 calories according to the information about the walk. This seems low compared to general fitness calculators, my past use of Fitbit, and my past use of MapMyRun. Does the app calculate the calories using its own formula or is that something done by the Garmin watch itself?

My calories in the Garmin connect app also do not match my calories on the watch now. I'm not sure if that is from using an app that is not their native running app or something else. My watch shows I've burned 1564 calories so far, but the GC app shows I've burned 2003. I'm not sure if that is related to the walk being tracked on an independent app or if it could be giving me more calories thinking that the app undercalculated the calories burned.

Any ideas on if it is related to the Hike app or what to do to fix it? I'm new to Garmin fitness products and still learning how to use them, so any advice/help is appreciated!

jim_m_58 over 8 years ago

christine -

On the calorie screen, calories as well as "daily" are displayed. Calories are only for the activity it self, and daily are your cals are for the day, including BMI.

I simply get those numbers from the device firmware, and don't to any calculations on them. If you look at your calories in the specific activity, they should match. For daily, they will be changing through the day, even if you take the watch off, as it's including BMR.

Are you using a HRM? If so, the fr 23x and 630 use "firstbeat" technology for calculations, which is a well know and licenced tech, and other vendors don't use that and kind of "roll their own", and their numbers can be different. In general, even without a HRM, each vendor does things differently (like "what is a step" detection). In my own experience, I used a fitbit for a year or two, and Garmin devices for about the last two, and I'm very happy with the data I get with Garmin! :)

ChristineWheeler over 8 years ago

I'm using an FR235 with the wrist based HRM. If you put walking for an hour at 4 mph into any calculator online and when I've tracked the same path before with MapMyRun or Fitbit (with wrist-based HRM), they all put the same path at 250-350 calories. That's why 160 seemed really low. Even the same path multiple times last week with Hike on Garmin was over 250 once and around 175 once, so that's why I was trying to see how the calories are determined. I know Fitbit uses steps until your HR reaches 120 since anything under that is unreliable with HR, so I wasn't sure if the app did something different to track it or if it is the Garmin in general (runs, bike rides, and gym workouts using "Other" are about the same as they were using Fitbit or MapMyRun).

I think the calories are off from GC to the watch as a Garmin issue. I found another thread with people having the same issue. They match all day until I walk or run or workout. Then they are off the rest of the day - they start off way off right after the activity and then get closer but stay different throughout the rest of the day. I'm going to be contacting Garmin about that to see why the difference is there since it throws my calories on MyFitnessPal way out of whack.

Thanks for the info.

ChristineWheeler over 8 years ago

My issue is definitely a Garmin issue. I logged a walk yesterday of 3.4 miles in 50 minutes using the Garmin running app, and it only gave me 89 calories and still messed up my calorie count between the watch and the app.

jim_m_58 over 8 years ago

Whats comin ing version 0.14!

In version 0.12 when you viewed the chart of a hike with 3 waypoints you'd see this:

But on 0.14, the same hike, and same waypoints you see this:

And if you marked no waypoints it would be the same, just without the waypoint marks! To save battery, after 5 minutes, you'll be changed back to the first screen (with a 20 second warning).

Other than that, it's got a couple new things:

- where you see they battery level, it will be green if you are currently charging your device

- with "app settings", to can tell hike to ignore the HRM or Tempe sensors

webvan over 8 years ago

Looks like a great app got even better ! Will try it ASAP.

EDIT - Oh I see it's not yet available for download yet, any ETA ? ;-)

jim_m_58 over 8 years ago

It will be in the store sometime friday.

update: it's now in the app store.

gale_dado over 8 years ago

Trail running

I'm using your app for my trail runnings and I like it.

As we discussed in an another thread I like the possibility to see the total ascent data even if it's obtained from GPS measurement.

I know it's not an accurate data but it's good.