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Why are my kcals so high?

Looking at the calorie burn on my first few commutes with my new Garmin 530, they seem excessively high. A 32min ride and the Garmin reports a calorie burn of 517kcal. This implies that I averaged 278watts during my commute! I know what 278watts feels like and I definitely wasn’t doing 278watts, it felt more like 100-150w. Is this a bug? Is there anything that I might not have configured?

  • Are you using a HRM?

    If not then the number is a guess.  If you are then it is a bit more of an educated guess.

    The only way to get pretty accurate calorie numbers is to use a power meter.

  • To answer my own question. It looks like the Garmin Edge works best when paired with an HRM, even when you have a power meter. All the FirstBeats related metrics look to be calculated based on HR.

    Minus an HRM, and a power meter, it looks like Garmin does put much effort into making a *educated* guess of calorie burn i.e., look at how taxing a commute might be based on my FTP.

  • If you are riding with a power meter then that becomes the source for a calorie value.