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How are others setting their power?

3999384
over 3 years ago

So it took me a while to figure out why my power numbers in Garmin Connect and Strava were completely different for the same ride.  What I think is happening is that the 530's default for power is to exclude 0's whereas Strava takes into account the 0's (freewheeling).  Can anyone confirm this?

Additionally, I would be curious how other avid cyclists have this setting.  Are they including or excluding zeros?  What about the Pros?  I would suspect they include the zeros, but I don't know for sure. 

  • 0 over 3 years ago

    Not sure if links from other forums allowed, but some reasoning behind Power:Include Zeros in this thread:

    www.trainerroad.com/.../2

    Eg by skewing your power curve and normalized power (when not recording zeros)

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to Notsofast...

    You may not have stopped once you started the loop, but there was a long stop after you started the timer

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to aweatherall

    Yes, that is accurate.  I got a call from work and had to talk for some time before I could get back to my ride again.  

    I sincerely appreciate all the comments, but I think we may have gotten a little astray.  My original post conceded that some platforms were probably including zero's and some weren't and this is why there was a fairly large discrepancy.  The smaller discrepancies are probably due to how the power is being calculated, but it seems clear that including zeros versus not including zeros can provide a pretty big difference.  

    Begin rant here:  The problem I have is, why does the setting even exist?  Additionally, why in the world would Garmin make excluding zeros the default selection?  Including zeros takes in all the data and that should be the default.  Excluding zeros makes this much more confusing.  

    Additionally, I'll concede that the power numbers are helpful for the individual probably regardless of how you have it set, as long as you are consistent.  That is fine.  But comparing my power to others on something like Strava is pretty much completely useless because without a conversation with the rider, you have no idea whether they are including zeros or not.  

    So my original questions sort of still stand in case anyone knows.  What is the consensus amongst avid cyclists?  Are they excluding or including zeros?  Do they even know?  What about other bike computers?  Do they also exclude zeros by default?  Do they even have an option to select one or the other?  What about these power readings we see from the Pros?  Are they including or excluding zeros?  

    I can't help but chuckle a little as I write this because I know I'm ranting, but it is yet one other thing I find in the cycling world that has been made complicated and confusing when it really shouldn't be.  :)

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to 3999384

    The default on all Edge units should be to include zero power values in the average and exclude them for cadence. I don't know how that got switched on your unit.

    The short answer is include zero power values. I cannot think of a good case for excluding them apart from trying to inflate your numbers.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to aweatherall

    Thanks.  Wow, that is super weird since I know I never touched that setting.  I bought this 530 through Amazon this past December.  It looked new, but maybe it wasn't.  You may have noticed from my FIT file that the elevation is all messed up too.  Garmin Support took a look at it and said something is wrong with the device and they have just sent me a replacement.  I'll be interested to see if include zeros is enabled by default.  As you said, I'm sure it is.  Thanks again.