Treadmill calibrated distance not sent to Strava

GPS runs for me are fine, even if there are discrepancies (I use a dynamics pod) they're well within my tolerance to ignore. I know my run routes from experience and the watch handles those routes no problem.

If it didn't, I'd hope that recalibration happens at the watch end, not the Strava end as I've previously mentioned, and then the corrections applied to future runs, just changing values within Strava wouldn't help with that process, which is why I think it's best to move away from discussing Strava's distance adjustment options.

As I said, the Garmin probably does this for treadmills, I haven't done many treadmill runs with the Garmin but I assume my next one will be much more accurate and the corresponding Strava result will be correspondingly more accurate.

At the risk of taking us all the way back to the initial point of contention, the issue of this thread is simply that the data uploaded isn't interpreted correctly and no doubt you're still of the opinion that this is solely the responsibility of Strava.

I'm just saying that it may be... it may not be. If the recalibrated total distance is a field that isn't recognised as such... i.e. it's just one data point amongst many, it could be treated as an error. Garmin Connect doesn't treat it as such because it's been told what to do with it, the same devs produced the app and the watch so it would be bad if it didn't.

Perhaps on the TomTom, the corrected data point is presented as a known correction field that Strava recognises and uses during the processing of all the data, so it only does it once, rather than processing the data, then seeing the correction and having to process it again. Perhaps the TomTom corrects all the data before uploading.

There could be a dozen reasons why the problem happens, any one of which can be easily fixed it seems to me.

If you're going to say that that's not Garmin's responsibility, well ok, I'm not saying it's anyone's responsibility... or it's a little bit of both. I'm just not quite as black & white as you I think. It's an advertised feature that Garmin have included within their app and it doesn't quite work.

I seriously doubt it's a big deal to fix but it may be that Garmin testers don't know it happens, perhaps they only use Connect or don't venture onto treadmills too much... or perhaps they all have the same opinion is yourself and think this isn't their responsibility at all.

Devs tend to enjoy solving little problems like this though, so I doubt it's the latter.

You need to know how the FIT file creation works, to understand that Garmin will not change the way it is done, and that if you want to have the calibrated distance at Strava, you have to ask Strava for the fix.

The FIT file that is transferred to Strava is being sent to Strava raw, without any post-processing. And since the pace/distance data is being written to the FIT file in real-time, when the calibration happens at the end of the activity, the calibrated value is only appended to the already existing data, adding just the adjusted total_distance. Garmin Connect then uses the total_distance for correcting the activity pace graph, using the ratio calibrated-total-distance / original-total-distance.

Hence Strava has to do the same - they have all the data needed for it. Garmin will for sure not change the firmware of around a hundred of models (or more), and completely redesign the way the FIT files are written, or adding some server-side post-processing, just because Strava does not process the data as they should. It is a problem at Strava, and Strava has to fix it. If they need some help from Garmin, they can certainly contact them.

I'm not arguing about how the file is uploaded, Garmin can upload it however they see fit (pardon the pun).

There's really no reason not to do any post processing after the data has been uploaded to Connect, as the syncing between Connect and Strava takes place after that (if that is indeed what the problem is). I'm not even sure that post processing is the problem, it could be that the format just needs a minor change and Strava does the processing, neither of us know exactly where the problem lies. TomTom have either presented their file in a slightly different way or they carry out post processing prior to syncing, problem solved.

I think you're coming at this from the point of view that those of us who want this corrected are criticizing Garmin whereas this is all about getting a function working.

Garmin chose to include a feature that syncs data with Strava, but that sync doesn't completely work.

By getting this to work, Garmin wouldn't be doing Strava a favour. Having a working function favours all of us, Garmin, Strava and more importantly the user. The reason Garmin included this syncing feature wasn't for Strava's benefit, it was because a lot of people use Strava and so having it sells more Garmin watches. The arrangement is totally symbiotic.

As with all forums, criticism can be seen as an attack on long standing member's hardware of choice, but it isn't, it's usually constructive.

I fully expect someone on the Strava forum to have a similar attitude and try to shut the debate down, saying this is all down to Garmin, not syncing data in the way that others do.

Do moderators read the forum? perhaps it would be more useful to have a comment from Garmin rather than us simply going round in circles. Knowing precisely what the problem is and why it can only be solved by Strava (clearly not true as TomTom solved it) may help if I then speak to Strava.

You continue posting about a problem that you have at Strava. Did you already try asking at Strava instead?

Thanks, but if it's ok with you, I'll choose which forum to post on. After spending not a small amount of money on a watch and dynamics pod that are great pieces of kit but just have this one issue, in the hope that someone, perhaps a Garmin tech, can give a definitive answer. We may get somewhere.

I suggest it's not such a great idea to tell people where to post. I made some specific comments in my last post, it's probably better to respond to them.

100%

5609075 said:

perhaps a Garmin tech, can give a definitive answer.

If they wanted to comment, they could have already done it, in the 5 years. And if someone asked Strava to fix the problem on their side 5 years ago, it could have already work since a long time. Strava has better ways to communicate with Garmin's developers (if their intervention is needed), than you have here.

There was no offense intended in my suggestion to speak to Strava. I really believe it is the quickest and simplest way to get it fixed (even if they have to ask Garmin for a change). 

5609075 said:

Do Garmin get involved generally in discussions?

Only exceptionally, and more likely only on urgent topics directly concerning a specific and recent device model.

The most active moderators are not even Garmin employees, and mostly have to use the standard communication channels to report issues to the Support. So if you want a stand from Garmin, rather contact the Support. Although, I think I know in advance what they will tell you