I feel like I'm beating a dead horse here. I have contacted customer support, asked questions on reddit, and I'm taking my final shot here.
When I run on the treadmill, the distance measured is dead on, keeps right exact with the treadmill. Today I ran 2.3 miles and both the watch and treadmill agreed. No footpod needed.
However, WALKING on the treadmill is another story. I have tried the activities "Treadmill, Walk indoor, Indoor Track" as well as "Walk" with the GPS turned off. Every time though the watch will record a wildly inaccurate distance. Tonight I walked a half mile (0.50 mile) on the treadmill to meet my step goal for the day and the watch only measured 163.3ft. That is 0.03 miles and I took 1,200 steps. People always say, "Well, treadmills aren't accurate". LISTEN UP BUDDY, THAT AINT THE PROBLEM.
I have followed every direction I was given by customer support;
- "Dont hold onto the hand rails" I never do.
- "Walk upright" Silly me, I was backbending during my walks.
- "Dont use your phone" I watch tv while on the treadmill I don't hold my phone.
- "Dont put your hands in your pockets" I dont.
- Factory reset the watch
- Calibrated to the treadmill multiple times
- Recorded over 175 outdoor walks with the GPS
- Measured out and added a custom stride length.
I made sure the battery was fully charged, rebooted the watch before a walk. I have tried walking like a robot, like a chad, Frankenstein, an ice skater, John Cleese, a jester. When I say I have tired it all, I mean it ALL to just get the thing to work.
The thing that boils my blood though is that, on the watch face the "Distance walked today" field will add the treadmill distance to the total just fine. But the activity is still wrong.
I would prefer not to buy a footpod, If I have to fuss with an extra sensor, I will just go back to my 4 year old watch I had before that tracked everything flawlessly.
I have seen it is a fairly common problem over the various forums. This is more a case to get the frustration out and make the issue known, critiques/tips are welcome though.
This is the data from the walk. It only shows a tiny spike where it records a speed of roughly 2mph.
OK EVERYONE LOOK! Look at the dropped speed as swell as the cadence readings. Both are at the same pace, one I got a little zealous to see if I could try and trip it up by throwing in a few little jogs, but it was able to recover fairly quickly.