Best practice Edge 1040 and Garmin watch (Forerunner 955)

There are many threads discussing this if you look through the history. It somewhat depends what you really care about (simple setup? correct training load? clean list of activities? correct totals?) and even what strap you have (from what I understood HRM Pro can backfill the 24/7 heart rate, my HRM dual cannot), but it seems most people recommend recording on both and saving only on one device (discarding on the other). That's what I am doing and my list of activities, training load and 24/7 heart rate look good. As a bonus you get a backup when the main recording device crashes on saving the activity ;-)

For the most part, Physio True Up works pretty well. Record on one device, and after syncing, it shows up on the other - Training Load, Training Effect, and all the other training metrics.

However, there are a couple of areas where it doesn't:

* Intensity minutes. Intensity minutes recorded on the Edge don't transfer over to the watch. (Although I don't think Intensity Minutes is really a relevant metric for anyone who exercises enough to justify both a 1040 and a 955). If this is a relevant metric for you, you don't need to dual record - just passively wear the watch while riding, and the oboard OHR will pick up the increased heart rate and credit you the IM's

* Active calories. If you want this, you need to record and save on the watch.

Garmin Connect doesn't eliminate duplicates, so if you are going to dual record on both devices, you probably want to discard one after you are happy the other has successfully saved.

Thank you! Yes, it seems a shame that Garmin cannot cope with twin recordings but I'll just have to continue recording on both devices but only saving on one. Hey ho!

This is very useful. The 1040 is still very new to me so I am trying to decide which device to save my rides on. I used to record on the 955 and discard the 530 rides but I was thinking about doing the opposite with the 1040. However, if it doesn't record active calories I will need to rethink. I need to study the feature set of each over the weekend.

I have a 965 and a 1040. I only record on one or the other(strength, yoga, DH riding, and skiing on my watch. Gravel, MTB, and road on the 1040) and I my active calories show up correctly. I also show my readiness score, training status, and load all impacted regardless of the device I record on. They show up both correctly on the watch and in the Connect app. I have not looked at the intensity minutes so no comment there.

I know the op mentioned using a 955, so it may differ, but I had a 955 earlier and had the same experience. I would say try recording on a single device and if you find something lacking then address it. 

Yeah, I don't get what's the problem with calories. Whether I record on Forerunner 965, Edge 1040 or... TrainerRoad, I get correct totals in Garmin Connect (Reports > All Activities > Activity Calories). Is this about active vs rest calories? At least for me rest calories are negligible, and I am a couch pot... I mean athlete ;-)

I see the issue with incorrect calories if I wear the watch while cycling but do not record the activity on the watch (and only record on the Edge).

I suspect that when I wear the watch but don't record on it, the watch is still the source for the calorie calculation. And the calculation is inaccurate because the HR is inaccurate on the watch (perhaps because the optical HR sensor is not on "full power" when not recording).

If I don't wear the watch (or turn it off) and only use the edge, calories show up correctly.

Where do you see incorrect calories? For me all calorie counts in Garmin Connect make sense even if I don't record activities on the watch (or record them and discard). Reports > All Activities > Activity Calories looks good. Also Reports > Health & Fitness > Calories looks good. All my Edge 1040, Forerunner 965 and even TrainerRoad workouts are properly accounted in both.

Same page -- that's where I'm looking as well.

They do not look correct for me (and it sounds like others). If I wear my watch but don't record, the active calories are significantly under the active calories from the activity recorded on the Edge.

More damning, the daily HR timeline on GC shows that my heart rate during the time I'm riding is much lower than the actual HR recorded by the Edge. (A recent one where I averaged 128BPM on the ride showed an average of around 80 in the timeline during the ride period). It makes me suspect that the watch is taking precedence over the Edge when it's not recording an activity.

Perhaps when not recording an activity, the optical sensor on the watch is doing a good job passively tracking your HR and a poor job for me ¯\_(ツ)_/¯