Fenix 5 Treadmill Calibration

Hello people!

New to this forum as I am new to Garmin and athletic watches in general. I run 3 weeks ago for the first time the Athens Authentic Marathon, did quite well, so I decided to buy a watch to help me improve for next year.

So here we go again with another question on treadmill calibration.

Obviously all treadmills themselves are Calibrated differently. This is a fact.

I run on a treadmill, then I calibrate. Then I run outside and when I go again on the same treadmill it’s off quite a bit.

I run on one treadmill then I calibrate, when I run on another treadmill it’s off.

All measurements have a difference of 5% to 8%

The only time they are consistent are if I run two times in a row on the same treadmill, with same shoes, the same pace etc. then both measurements are identical.

Questions:

1) Is the above behavior normal?
2) If it is, which measure of all should I trust?
2) what sensors/ movements does the watch use to assume the distance I run?
3) is the treadmill calibration altered by the next run I will do outdoors?
4) what can I do to calibrate the watch the most accurate way as it is impossible every time after a run to calibrate the watch.

Thanks in advance
Michalis

0 HeliosJim over 6 years ago

Do you use a foot pod?

0 Michalis over 6 years ago

No, I don’t!

0 leefox79 over 6 years ago

I am experiencing the same issue as the OP. Is there a way to turn of the what appears to be GPS calibration of the treadmill running app? I consistently switch between indoor and outdoor running and constantly have to calibrate and save if I do an outdoor run. Now that the harsh New Hampshire winter in coming I'll likely get another foot pod, i am pretty sure my previous one was still on my sneakers when I donated them :(

0 leefox79 over 6 years ago

BTW, I just shared this over at the Garmin Ideas section. The Treadmill calibration factor should not be overridden by a different apps GPS, by doing so the Calibrate and Save feature is basically useless to the majority of users.

0 HeliosJim over 6 years ago

I did my first treadmill run with the F5+ yesterday and, unlike with my F5, after the run it wanted me to enter some treadmill calibration factor. Not knowing what else to do I accepted the numbers it presented me with. I have no idea what that was doing. Clearly it was not talking to the treadmill. I use a foot pod for treadmill runs and I don't really care what the treadmill thinks I ran. Can someone please explain what this new "treadmill calibration" is all about?

0 Artivis over 6 years ago

Michalis

I would recommend buying a footpod for treadmill runs. If not you can enter the proper distance from treadmill after each run (save and calibrate option)

HeliosJim

The treadmill calibration is not new, it is there all the time, but when you did a first longer run on a treadmill the watch will ask you to calibrate, later it is an option in saving treadmill activity.

Basically the watch asks you to put the distance showed on the treadmill so it can calibrate the footpod to show the same distance in the watch, that's all. You can also add the calibration factor in footpod configuration on the watch, you can also turn off the automatic calibration there.

0 SAHO over 6 years ago

I agree with Artivis; I would recommend getting a foot pod for treadmill running. (for outside running as well for that sake).

Regarding calibration, I believe treadmill calibration and foot pod calibration are two different things.

As Artivis is saying, treadmill calibration is the ability to adjust recorded distance vs distance displayed on the treadmill, and that is given in km or miles.

The foot pod calibration factor is a bit different as that is given as a percentage, i.e if your watch records distances 5% short you would adjust the calibration factor to 105, and if it records 5% long you would set it to 95. This calibration factor is «global» which means it affects all activities where you’re using the foot pos as source for distance and/or pace, no matter if it’s inside track, treadmill or outside.

So, what I’m not sure of is how the treadmill calibration affects the pace/distance when running with a properly calibrated foot pod... Hopefully the treadmill calibration is only affecting distance when the watch accelerometer is used as pace/distance source and doesn’t affect the foot pod.

I have a Stryd that I got a good calibration factor running outside before I ran on a treadmill for the first time with my current watch. Therefore when I was forced to do the treadmill calibration I just accepted the number presented (which happened to match the treadmill display 100% because I was using the calibrated foot pod).

I now find pace/distance to be very consistent across outside running and running on treadmills. I switch between a few different treadmills of different models and age at my gym, and it’s usually quite spot on and always within 0,1 km/h for speed and 0,5% for distance. (Thats 50 meters on a 10K...!)

0 Michalis over 6 years ago

Thank you for your suggestions. I will start searching for a foot pod then.

0 SAHO over 6 years ago

One more thing I would like to point out is that some foot pods are not consistent across different paces, meaning that if you find your correct calibration factor at a certain pace, that CF might be wrong at another pace, so this is probably something you want to read some user experiences on before deciding which one you want to buy.

I’ve found the Stryd to very consistent, at least across the speeds I typically run (8-14km/h).

0 HeliosJim over 6 years ago

You can also add the calibration factor in footpod configuration on the watch, you can also turn off the automatic calibration there.

I recently picked up a Stryd, paired it and all that no problem. However, I wanted to make sure that auto calibration is disabled and can't seem to find that setting on my F5+.I'm wondering, did Garmin move or remove that setting?