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Drawback with using the cadence only with VivoActive HR

It's still quite early for bike here in Québec but I have a question regarding the cadence sensor. Since I have a VivoActive HR (with GPS), if I only get the cadence sensor and not the speed sensor, will miss data if I use only the cadence sensor the VivoActive GPS while biking?

Thanks

0 tigermountrider over 7 years ago

There are position errors with GPS but over distance those errors tend to cancel out and I don't think a sensor adds much accuracy to the overall totals. But short term, position errors can cause speed fluctuations, the auto-pause to come on when climbing slowly and make the gradient reading less accurate. So the value of a speed sensor is dependent on how much you care about those issues. If you ride in an area with poor GPS reception the sensor becomes more of a benefit. For mountain biking with high terrain, tree cover and switchbacks, a sensor will make a bigger difference.

0 SylvainGa over 7 years ago

Thanks for the reply. I was starting to believe this sub forum was deserted.

I do mostly commuting biking within suburbs so no tall building or heavy tree covers so I guess the speed sensor isn't really required in my case.

0 NickMN over 7 years ago

indoor

another benefit to buying the combo pack is if you have an Indoor Trainer - very nice to get some data on speed - although its fairly estimated on a trainer.

I got a trainer and the sensors this winter - so interested to use the speed sensor outdoors (never thought of the better auto-pause option!). Plus better 'live' speed data - since mine seems pretty jumpy up/down while on a steady pace or definitely lags during sprints.

0 VanAlan over 7 years ago

a possible benefit to cadence + Speed sensor + GPS

I'm not sure that the garmin devices/software actually do this - but the combo of the cadence + speed sensors (with the determination of wheel size) + GPS (to determine elevation change) ought to enable the software to conclude what your gear ratio is - in combination with your heart rate I would think some insights could be generated about fitness level / gear ratio and gear ratio / elevation change etc. Something for the software geeks out there to think about. It's nice to observe a progression of gear ratio on the same hill climb over time.

0 The_Hunnymonster over 7 years ago

You can certainly see the gear ratios against the spread of speeds you achieved in those ratios in GoldenCheetah (for example)