Foot pod for pace

I cannot comment on 3rd party pods, but as for Garmin's RD Pod - I am not sure it helps. I may be wrong, but I have the feeling I heard it did not have the feature "Running Pace & Distance" like the HRM-Pro (plus) has. And AFAIK, it also does not allow for the recalibration of that feature, like at HRM-Pro.

I can only highly recommend HRM-Pro. Not only you get all the Running Dynamic metrics, a much more accurate HR, HRV, VO₂max, and LTHR estimates, but also the accuracy of the pace and distance are greatly enhanced. I see it is more expensive than what you would like to spend, but I assure you it is well spent money, and you will not regret it, if you buy it.

... BTW, I see at tradeinn.com that you can have the HRM-Pro Plus for 91€ (new), and the HRM-Pro for 66€ (this one is discounted because the packing was already opened). For that price I would not hesitate at all between a foot pod and the HRM. The catalogue price is 130€. The difference between HRM-Pro and Pro Plus is negligible - just the battery replacement is easier at the Plus model. Feature-wise they are identical.

Related question: are we at the point whereby a traditional footpod gives no additional information vs. the HRM-Pro (Plus) strap?

I’ve always used footpods to get the auto-pause functionality to work better (feels like <1 sec with a footpod, more like 3-5 secs without, which makes sense given the variables). Definitely more than a placebo effect: I could easily tell when a footpod had run out of battery from this behaviour alone.

I’ve recently started to come back to running after a prolonged break, while my F6 still works fine (unlike my legs and body!) one thing that noticed is auto-pause definitely seems to be considerably worse than I remember. Two examples: hitting start at the start of a 5km now starts then immediately auto-pauses for a few seconds, then continues, which never used to happen before. Also, on a trail run, now when stopping to go through a gate, it auto-pauses as I’m almost through the gate (eg. 5-8 secs after stopping) then resumes around 5 secs after I’ve started back running, I remember this being much ‘tighter’ before - not perfect, but good enough to not requiring me to bother ever touching the start/stop button mid-run. 

Do not buy a Garmin Running Dynamics Pod! They don't measure pace! Check DC Rainmaker for a source if you don't believe me.

The best you can do I think is hope you find a Garmin Footpod on sale 2nd hand for cheap. That's how I got mine, $50NZD on a second hand site.

Edit: I did not realise the HRM-Pro had Pace built in. That's certainly the best option because you get way better accuracy on other metrics as mentioned above.

Thank you, that's a really helpful answer all round!

Ok that's helpful thank you.

Interestingly all the 2nd hand Garmin footpods on eBay are substantially more expensive than the running dynamics pod.

But then the zwift pod is also listed at twice the price of a new one!

Do not get the Garmin RD Pod.

Garmin messed up the firmware, so that the stride length is not measured correctly any more.

It's now invalidated for over a year.

Garmin is not fixing the firmware.

Pods are rotting.

Thank you, Garmin.

Edit: see here   forums.garmin.com/.../fenix-6-pro-with-rd-pod-stride-length-broken-after-firmware-21-00-update

Interesting the more I look into this.

Looking at the forum there seem to be a number of complaints about the pace accuracy on the HRM-PRO, but has that improved over time?

I imagined that the additional data from devices like these contributed to the algorithm on the watch that calculates pace, but it looks like the instantaneous pace field is simply taken from the external data source and displayed directly - is that correct?

If that's the case I can see that the quality of the external source product matters a lot more, especially if considering output at different running paces.

I own the HRM-Pro since two years, and the accuracy is perfect. While my runs used to be always underreported by around 10%, when I did not use the HRM-Pro, now with the strap, the accuracy is within 1%. And I do compare it with cartographic distances, so the question is whether finally the HRM-Pro is not even closer to the truth, than the map. Same goes for track, and for treadmill or indoor running - it is on spot with HRM-Pro. Without it, the indoor distances measured with the watch alone were unusable.

Of course, the important condition for getting accurate pace & distance estimates from the strap, is the correct calibration outdoors under excellent GPS conditions (no urban jungle, good weather, no mountains, no trees or other obstacles, preferably a flat open terrain). Once a good calibration is achieved, you best turn off the auto-calibration option. And if you are unhappy with the pace & distance estimates, simply reset the calibration in the settings, and redo it better. That's the advantage against the estimates from the internal accelerometer, where the calibration cannot be controlled in any way. 

jacko203 said:

it looks like the instantaneous pace field is simply taken from the external data source and displayed directly - is that correct?

It depends on the settings. In the default state (Sensors & Accessories » HRM-Pro » HRM Pace & Distance » Indoors), the combination of GPS data and the data from the HRM-Pro is used.

You need to know that whenever the quality of the GPS signal is not sufficient - and that is a considerable (if not major) part of the time, the watch instantly switches to the "indoors" mode. And in the "indoors" mode it uses either the internal accelerometer (when no external sensor available), or the external sensor.

When you turn the HRM-Pro Pace& Distance option off, then the watch uses the combination of GPS and internal accelerometer data. And when you set the option to "Always", then only the external sensor data is used (no GPS at all). 

I definitely recommend keeping the setting in the default option "Indoors". As I explained, it is being used in fact outdoors too (just not 100% of the time).