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Garmin Footpod Issues

geoff_a
over 5 years ago

I have run with GPS for a number of years and getting fed up with the inaccuracy. I have been wearing my footpod for over a month on auto cal with GPS to try and calibrate it. So over the past 2 weeks I have been running with footpod measuring speed and distance. What I am finding is quite a few inaccuracies. When I do a walk GPS was measuring 5.6 mileswhereas the footpod 5.2 miles For my 9 mile run at 8.36 pace it was very accurate, but for my 5k tempo which was 7.35 pace it measured 7.16 pace. So to summarise walking makes my footpod come under mileage and fast running makes it come over mileage. Do I have to adjust the calibration setting every time I run or is it a nor very reliable piece of equipment. Any thoughts welcome

  • 0 over 5 years ago

    The Garmin SDM4 foot pod will indeed have different calibration factors for different scenarios.  I found running on hard flat surfaces I needed around 92.0, whereas running on soft muddy surfaces 94.0 was better.  Walking is quite a different motion for the foot pod's accelerometers and software algorithms to interpret, so I would suspect an even bigger change in the required calibration factor.  The only pod I'm aware of on the market, that claims to maintain solid accuracy over all running paces, and even walking, is the Stryd pod; but they are reassuringly expensive.... Open mouth

    You may find this paper interesting (Dynastream manufactured the Garmin (and other brands') foot pods) http://www.garmin.sk/img.asp?attid=8735

  • 0 over 5 years ago

    Like Crispin, I found the SDM4 very variable, even at different paces on the same surface. Others saw less variation with pace. I find my Stryd is much more consistent at different paces, though even then uneven muddy surfaces throw that off. I actually found that the biggest variable for Stryd was the shoe attachment, and even that was less than 2% where you are seeing 4% between different running paces with an SDM4. I recall about 5% variation with pace between about 10 and about 7:45 mm pace  

    So, yes I suspect you’d need to tweak the calibration to your target pace, but no it is not randomising the pace. 

  • 0 over 5 years ago

    Garmin's foot pod has always been really bad at low speeds. From 7 km/h and down it is just random. I use Stryd and that is much more precise at different speeds. Walk or run it does not care very much. I have very low differences with Stryd and calibration factor 100%.