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Difference between activities such as walk and hike?

Tim_B_
over 4 years ago

Hi, I’ve only had my fenix 6X Pro for a couple of days and trying to get my head around things such as the activity modes.

Are there any fundamental differences in the way the device operates between say using the modes Walk or Hike?
Does the device function differently, or do they just give you a different default set of screens which could be changed to be the same anyway?

If I create a course in Garmin Connect and call it a Hike, is it only available under Hike in the watch etc?

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to 6465982
    6465982 said:
    Why would he auto pause  be more sensitive in the hiking feature versus walking

    The settings for auto pause are off, when stopped, and custom, which lets you set a specific pace/speed.  It’s a per activity setting, not global for everything. So possibly you have it on on hike but not walk. Or possibly it’s in with different settings. I’ve never used it in either, but can see that the default custom for Hike is 3 mph and for Walk is 60 minutes/mile, which is obviously much slower. 
    intriguing that Hike appears to work by speed and Walk by pace.I guess that’s another difference for the collection. 

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to mcbadger
    mcbadger said:
    intriguing that Hike appears to work by speed and Walk by pace.I guess that’s another difference for the collection. 

    You can customize you pace/speed preference for each activity:

    System> Format> Pace/Speed preference> Hiking

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to mcalista

    Good point, thank you, though it’s still the case that it’s a difference in the default behaviour so I maintain it’s still an answer to the original question Slight smile

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    I think it may be different in terms of calories calculation, but I'm not sure. AFAIK hike does not contribute to VO2max while walk does.

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    From my side, the point is really don't understand is why hiking and walking are totally separate. Would be more logical to put a subcat as GC offer for bike (MTB, raod etc) and run (trail, track etc.)?

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to Fabe56

    My story with Hike and Walk is quite a long. My contribution is the next.

    1.

    Having different data screens as one advantage is not a good argument why they are so separated. It is so easy to have more than one sport apps of walk/hike/run/bike etc on your Fenix, you just simply copy it as I did, and did many so.

    2.

    VO2max calc could be a good argument, since as it was originally the case with Run and Trail Run app.

    Btw there was a sort of trap or annoying thing :

    if you had not planned  your entire running path in advance, you did not know whether to use Run or Trail Run. 

    If you just went out and ran with Run it may have happened that you climbed too much for getting a correct VO2max number. You cheated your watch and you got an unreal VO"max number.

    Otherwise If you always went out and chose Trail Run when running it was a safe solution to avoid VO2max. But of course you did not ever have a clue as regards your VO2max.

    Less than a year ago "Run vs Trail Run issue"  was solved (at least for Fenix 6 and Fenix 5+  family.

    Both apps can calculate VO2max.

    So it is so strange to say Walk can give a VO2max provided having some conditions

    (https://support.garmin.com/en-US/?faq=lWqSVlq3w76z5WoihLy5f8&productID=603267&searchQuery=Trail%20Run&tab=topics)

    while Hike CANNOT.

    3.

    Moving time and moving (avg.) speed

    Only Hike app has this feature, these datafields are hidden when you select Walk as a sport app.

    So if you need those datafields during the activity, you will always use Hike even when you go for a honeymoon-like. easy walk on the beach (w/ or w/o your honey).

    Actually it was that I did, I created two Hike apps, one for hiking with boots, and onw for walking with normal shoes. You can use either "hike" or "walk" as a descriptive name of any apps. (sidenote: you can easily confuse yourselves to name one of your Bike apps as "walk in the forrest" etc.)

    4.

    This solution worked fine for me except for a 'tiny' thing. Garmin was not ready either to add Hike as a dedicated category or to define Hike a sub-category of Walk in its Garmin Connect mobile app (I am speaking of IOS version, have no info about the android version.)

    So when one switches to "activities" tab in GC mobile he can filter to running, cycling, swimming, walking, multisport, gym-like activities, but there is no other way to check your Hike activities other than listing all of the activities. And it is a PITA if you are active.

    I wrote many, many times to Garmin support, used the 'new idea' facility to propose it, but it seems that either I was one of the few with this problem, or there are too many lazy people who dont express their needs to Garmin.

    General conclusion: I see no reason why to separate Walk and Hike tapps his way as it is now.

    Personaly Conclusion: I am thinking of modifying all my Hike activities to Walk in Garmin Connect, at the same time changing my Hike apps on my Fenix to Walk apps sacrificying moving time and moving speed datafields.

    If so, I will use some scripts to make the GC change as a bulk solution. EDIT: Or not as a batch, but each after each see https://forums.garmin.com/apps-software/mobile-apps-web/f/garmin-connect-web/254549/batch-change-only-of-uncategorized-activity

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to 6465982

    auto-pause - you can change sensitivity, but even at its most sensitive it isn't particularly sensitive for walking/hiking, as slow to notice drop off and slow to pick up on pace increase, plus if get to a slow area, it can tend to think you have stopped. So I don't use it on walk, but I do on hike (where I am more likely to pause, and possibly forget to stop/start - plus from my perspective not quite as focused on time in activity or fitness metrics).

  • 0 over 3 years ago

    Main reason is due to difference MET values for calorie calculation. Hiking is considered a 6-7 MET value (due to terrain it is generally considered a more intense activity than walking), whereas most people's walking tends to have a MET value of 2-4. Of course depending on terrain and how fast either activity is done can have a higher MET value.

    The MET value determines active calories (when taken into account with weight etc);.

    I suspect that this is why they are split into two different categories.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to jaamgans

    Re auto-stop:

    I switched off both for hike and earlier for walk, because as you wrote during real walks I went mad getting the vibrations of on and off and on and off ….

    During hikes on real, steep ascents it was the same. I found no threshold speed/pace to make it realistic.

    Later when I acquired Suunto mini pods I switch it back to on, because the footpod tells the watch that you are not moving.

    Later I realized I needed to switch it off again, because even sitting in a restaurant for an hour is a stop for the watch if my footpod does not move, so everything is perfect, distance, avg speed, if you have it.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to jaamgans

    Re MET: maybe, but let me note that in countries with big planes hiking does not mean climbing at all. Eg in my countra there are “performance hiking” events of 30, 40, 50 etc km and some of them have not more ascents than 100-150 m.