Footpod Calibration Help

Just setup a milestone footpod with my Fenix 5 sapphire. Under the sensor settings I am wondering if it's best to either;

disable auto-calibration: then manually adjust -/+100 value to match the treadmill pace/distance (hopefully it's correct), or;
enable auto-calibration: go for a few runs outside and hope my GPS signal is good enough throughout (which is half the reason I bought the pod in the first place)

alternatively I disable auto cal, run outside and use my phone GPS for distance - again need to hope the signal stays strong.

Any advice on the best approach? Will likely use my FP for both pace and distance as my F5 has regularly been 200-400m off total distance in the past and pace off as well, thanks to some towering trees here.

I haven't and probably won't (unless needed) be using the Milestone app.

Thanks in advance

0 Crispin_Ellisdon over 7 years ago

I’ve just confirmed this behaviour doing 2 loops of a short 0.44 mile circuit with my Fenix 5 (on sw 7.56 beta) paired with SDM4 foot pod on the first lap (ANT+, CF 150.0, Speed & Distance to Always) and paired to one of my RunScribe Plus pods for the second lap (BLE, CF 150.0, Speed & Distance to Always). I also recorded both laps at the same time with my Fenix 3, not connected to any foot pod (so all data from GPS on the Fenix 3). So with a CF of 150.0 on both foot pods, I am expecting to see a ridiculously fast pace and a massive over calculation of distance, if things are working properly.

On the first lap with the Fenix 5 connected to the SDM4 pod, the pace was ridiculously fast and the distance was 0.74 miles vs expected pace and 0.44 miles on the Fenix 3. So the Fenix 5 is respecting the Speed & Distance Always setting with the ANT+ foot pod.

On the second lap with the Fenix 5 connected to the RunScribe Plus pod via BLE, the pace was still ridiculously fast, but the distance was 0.44 miles, which is the same as the distance recorded on the Fenix 3. So with a BLE foot pod connected to the Fenix 5, the watch is respecting the Speed to Always setting, but it is not respecting the Distance to Always setting (Distance is still taken from GPS).

I’ll wrap these findings up and fire them over to the beta dev team.

0 chatlow over 7 years ago

Thanks Crispin - good fun testing this out even if it's not the result I had hoped for.

Will hunt down either a Garmin or Suunto FP for now as both support ant+ and aren't too pricey.

0 dnicolaescu over 6 years ago

Just... err... ran into this issue with a FR645 (latest firmware) and dual-band Adidas foot pod. It respects the Distance Always settings via ANT+, but still gets the distance from GPS when connected to BLE.

https://forums.garmin.com/forum/into-sports/running/forerunner-645-645m/1462774-bug-no-distance-from-bluetooth-foot-pod