so i set the milestone foodpod in the settings of the watch to Speed - Allways and Distance Allways. i made sure the footpod was connected went on a run. but my Fenix 5 still used GPS instead of footpod. do i need set gps to off? i wanted to use the speed/distance from the pod but still capture the route i was running. any advice?
How are you sure the watch is still using GPS for speed and distance? The watch will still record the GPS track even if both speed and distance are coming from a foot pod.
I ran a known distance of 2.5 km. Watch recorded(showed) 2.5 km. When i synched the pod with the milestone app the pod distance was 2.7 km. If distance from the watch came from the pod there would be no difference.
Just wonder if the Milestone app reading direct from the pod is still applying a default calibration factor of 100.0 and the Fenix 5 has something less than 100.0 in the foot pod sensor settings (as it has auto calculated a new calibration factor after your first run with the foot pod). That would account for the difference between the Fenix 5 foot pod distance and the milestone app distance. One thing to try is manually setting a grossly inaccurate foot pod calibration factor (like 150.0) in to the sensor settings on the Fenix 5. If the pace and distance are not coming from the pod it'll be instantly apparent, as a calibration factor of 150.0 should have foot pod pace way faster than you can run and massively over accrue distance.
i checked, the calibration factor was 100 in my watch and autocalibrate was set to off so now i set the factor to 150 and start running. the speed was my normal speed that was displayed so its clear to me know the speed/distance is coming from GPS. so i also switched to treadmill so i know GPS wont be a factor i wait for the pod to connect and start my run. again the speed was like my normal speed not wat you would expect considering the calibration factor (watch just using its internal accelerometer. i do believe the watch does not use the pod information at all unfortunately
This sounds like the behaviour one would expect if the watch had lost connection to the foot pod; assuming it had connection to lose in the first place. Thinking back to the tests I did to determine the hierarchy of sensors for cadence and pace, you might like to try the following to isolate what the problem is.
1. Set up a data screen on your run app that has pace and in the bottom half of the screen and distance somewhere on that same screen,you need to be able to see pace when the top half of the screen has all of the sensor connected info when you open the run app but before you press start, and ensure your foot pod sensor settings are for Speed to Always and Distance to Always.
2. Find somewhere outside with solid ground and a waist height solid platform to place the watch on the edge of, like the edge of a table, so that the watch is isolated from your movement and the vibrations of your movement through the ground. You need to be able to see the screen as you do a few paces jogging back and forth in front of the watch and the watch needs to be placed at the edge of that platform so it has line of sight to your foot pod on your shoe as you jog back and forth in front of it. We know the Fenix 5 has limited sensor connection range, so if you put it too far back on the table edge it will naturally loose connection to the foot pod.
3. Place the Fenix 5 as described above, but also add any other sensors that might provide cadence, such as HRM Run or Tri or RD Pod, next to the Fenix on the table edge. We're trying to isolate devices and sensors, so that the only thing moving on your body that could possibly provide pace data is the foot pod on your shoe.
4. Now open the run app, but do not press start yet, and confirm that you can see the little foot pod connected shoe symbol and that the GPS outer ring indication is green. If your foot pod is not even connecting now, then that's clearly your problem. If it is connecting, then move on to the next step.
5. Jog a few paces back and forth directly in front of the Fenix 5. You're looking to see the pace field get populated with a number and that the Fenix is not losing connection with the foot pod:
a. If you're losing connection then there's your problem and there's not much more that can be done other than report it to Garmin Customer Support and be added to the list of people with sensor connection issues on their Fenix 5.
b. If connection is maintained and the pace field is not being populated, then there is something wrong with the watch software that is not using the foot pod speed data. You could video this test process, upload to YouTube, and send a link to the video with a description of your findings to the email address in the first post of the beta sticky thread.
c. If connection is maintained and the pace field is populated, the only place the pace can be coming from is the foot pod. Move on to the next step.
6. Leaving the watch, and HRM Run or Tri and RD Pods, in the same position on the ledge, now press the start button on the Fenix and jog back and forth:
a. If the pace and eventually distance fields are populated with numbers, they must be coming from the foot pod and it's therefore difficult to understand why you are seeing the issue you have. You may need to video and wrap up your findings and send them over to the beta team.
b. If the pace and distance are not populated after a couple of minutes, again this seems like a software error to wrap up and email to the beta team. To get this far you've proved the foot pod is connected and the Fenix is receiving pace data in step 5, but for some reason the data is not used by the Fenix once the activity is started.
The above might initially sound complicated, but it really isn't and shouldn't take you long to conduct, easily within 10 minutes, and should narrow down what is going wrong.
Any update on this ? Been using the Milestone with FR935 with mixed results in terms of accuracy but I stick to GPS for distance to be able to calibrate the pod in the Milestone app...something that's proving difficult !
I've also had issues with the Milestone Pod not connecting properly. Even checking the status in the middle of a run it is (almost) always "searching". The guys at Milestone have been seriously great in terms of support, but my time for testing is limited. One question regarding use with an HRM-Run chest strap.... In theory my understanding is the strap should get priority for cadence, and the footpod for pace. I just wonder if there is some conflict, though I still have issue even when not wearing the HRM-Run. I really wish there was an easy way to see which sensors are connected during a run without going through all the settings menus.
Such a shame i cant use milestonepod as a real time foodpod. It keeps disconnecting. Gues the watch is to blame. Milestone guys confirmed to me there are more people with f5 that are gaving issues with the pod.
Ah yes, the infamous BT connection problems on the F5 :-( Glad I moved on to the FR935 ;-) Has GPS accuracy improved at all since the launch, that was really my big problem with the F5...
