Review on fellrnr.com

stryd works great

I have a Stryd footpod. It works great, it does what it says it can do. One of the env sensors is barometer and it tracks vertical that way (it does not measure incline / power on uphill indoors on treadmill), and obviously power is estimated but for pace, cadence, etc it is great. I use it on trails, in mud, snow, etc and the only problem I have had was leaving it outdoors at extreme cold temps in winter (I mean -20F and colder). Customer service is awesome.

Like all recent Garmin reviews by fellrnr, he refuses to provide setup details for the fenix 5X. GPS or GPS + GLONASS? Who kows? Every second or Smart recording? Your guess is as good as mine. More worthless junk science.

HTH

I also tried both and I don't notice any difference in gps track correctness with the every second recording. I use smart recording because the upload from the device to garmin connect is then faster (especially when you're running long marathon+ distances or doing long bike rides)

I bought a Stryd two weeks ago and I am absolutely in love with it too.
Let me know if you are looking for one as I have an extra unit that's still unsealed.

I'd be interested if you still have it.

I'd be interested if you still have it.

Sent you a PM

Like all recent Garmin reviews by fellrnr, he refuses to provide setup details for the fenix 5X. GPS or GPS + GLONASS? Who kows? Every second or Smart recording? Your guess is as good as mine. More worthless junk science.

HTH

The basis of the all watch reviews are listed on the methodology page in separate sections and under clarifications. Appreciate this means you have to read all his notes to understand the testing methodology:

http://www.fellrnr.com/wiki/GPS_Accuracy#GPS_and_GLONASS

http://www.fellrnr.com/wiki/GPS_Accuracy#Device_Specific_Notes

Ad infinitum. Summary: If you are able to read, have a reasonable attention span and no bias, you are able to understand the answers to your comments above :-)

Also, aren't you intrigued by the optical heart rate (OHR) test? I'm impressed at his level of detail and rigor scientific. One person with one budget is not going to be able to account for the variances expected during tests - but he does his best to provide consistency between his reviews. It's the only reviews I can find on GPS watches that is balanced between all tests and has acceptable methodology behind the tests. Think you can do better? Go do it.

There's a reason manufacturers are not publishing their own test methodologies and results: they want to fool you into believing their product is the best! Manufacturer's *know* the downsides to their products. The other manufacturers get just as harsh treatment by FELLRNR.

People on this forum compare one watch to another - which is nonsense. You need a third base known reliable unit to compare to in addition to the former test.

Additional comment from him:
Rob Rehnmark ·
Oslo, Norway
What GPS settings do you use?
1sec / Smart, GLONAS on / off?
Like · Reply · 17 hrs

Jonathan Savage
Smart, GLONAS off. (I'll add more details in the text on the next update.)
Like · Reply · 48 mins

Any connection between him having been helping Suunto out and being overly negative on the Fenix 5 series perhaps?

I doubt it, Garmin had him consulting on the FR 620 a while back, and he loved the finished version of that. I'd probably love a watch that had been fine-tuned to fit my specific use case, as it goes ;)

I believe he uses an F3 with his Stryd quite a lot, and you have to bear in mind that, from his point of view, 'best-in-class' GPS performance is still not good enough for his training purposes anyway.

I am reading his reviews for a while too because he did not send his soul to the brand (eventhough I think he is doing too much promotion of the stryd these days).
I am just surprised by the note of f5 vs f3 when reviews here tend to say f5 is slightly less crappy than f3.
But f3 was a best seller and f5 had a good start. Suunto is following this path, and polar is still not updating. What a poor choice for us consumer.

And what happened in those cold temps

I have a Stryd footpod. It works great, it does what it says it can do. One of the env sensors is barometer and it tracks vertical that way (it does not measure incline / power on uphill indoors on treadmill), and obviously power is estimated but for pace, cadence, etc it is great. I use it on trails, in mud, snow, etc and the only problem I have had was leaving it outdoors at extreme cold temps in winter (I mean -20F and colder). Customer service is awesome.

and what happened when you hit those cold temp? it stopped working? or data was bogus? I run out in the cold as well, or doing trail runs in the snow (at which point the stryd would get wet/cold/snow covered). Just wondering how it holds up in those "trail" conditions versus typical road conditions.

That and I'm trying to understand and justify the $200 price tag. My quick view is that it has essentially similar running dyanmic metrics that you get from either the garmin HRM strap or the new garmin pod (which i just ordered :) but it also combines a foot pod.

And with a philosophical view. Maybe people get these GPS devices to measure distance and track. but its clear to those more hard cord that GPS from a wrist is never going to do great distance/pace. So if you use foot pod for distance/pace, the GPS is really only to show crud track and navigating. Is that about it?

I do sometimes wonder why fellrnr wants GPS at all, given his views on footpods, yes. For hiking trips, it's always nice to have the trace (I've been on trips where I was roundly mocked for bringing a GPS watch by companions whose tune changed completely when they saw 3D renderings of the previous day's hike, but I digress).

I'm intrigued by Stryd. People are suggesting it is much more accurate than any other existing kit, be it GPS or footpod. My personal experience with the Garmin footpod is that I can calibrate it to work well for me when I'm running fast, or when I'm doing LSRs, but not both, because my gait changes too much. But fellrnr reckons it's 99.7% accurate, presumably over a range of paces. Could be that a Stryd and a 935 would make me happy for all my running, and happier for hiking than an F5 would. Or could be I'd see the same issues at different paces as with the Garmin pod.