Hi all, this morning my watch counts 854 total steps till now, walking in downtown, and Garmin Connects tells me 0,7 km as total distance till now.
How this distance being calculated? What step length does it take ?
Thanks!
Hi all, this morning my watch counts 854 total steps till now, walking in downtown, and Garmin Connects tells me 0,7 km as total distance till now.
How this distance being calculated? What step length does it take ?
Thanks!
I don't have a foot pod, and I never connect the chest strap to a phone. I connect it to the watch for activities. And both speed and steps is recorded differently with the strap than with only the watch. If I hold my watch arm still while walking, the watch will not count steps. If I wear the chest strap, it will.
And both speed and steps is recorded differently with the strap than with only the watch. If I hold my watch arm still while walking, the watch will not count steps. If I wear the chest strap, it will.
It sounds to me like you think steps are the same as cadence. Like I said, for Garmin's purposes, they are not the same thing.
Yes, HRM-PRO (and even older HRMs) and foot pods will be used as a source of CADENCE during a run. But foot pods will not be used a source of STEPS. And HRM-PRO only records STEPS when you are not wearing the watch - in this case you do have to sync the watch with your phone, or those STEPS will never be counted by your watch.
Again the difference is that steps are shown on the daily steps graph and count towards your daily total. Cadence is just for timed activity stats.
Again you can do the test I mentioned.
Setup:
- Pair HRM-PRO strap with Connect
- Completely close the Connect app (this is to ensure it won't sync with the strap prematurely)
Procedure:
1) Record timed activity WITHOUT WEARING WATCH, BUT WITH HRM-PRO STRAP. Walk around for several minutes. Save timed activity.
Do not open Connect yet.
Check your daily steps graph on the watch. You will see there is a flat line for the time period of your activity, indicating no steps were taken.
Open Connect app within range of your strap so it syncs. Sync Connect with your watch
Now you will see that the daily steps graph and total have been updated with the steps from the activity.
2) Record timed activity WITHOUT WEARING WATCH, BUT WITHOUT HRM-PRO STRAP. Walk around for several minutes.
Check your daily steps graph on the watch. You will see there is a flat line for the time period of your activity, indicating no steps were taken.
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I have played basketball for hours with a foot pod and no chest strap, without wearing my watch (but staying in range of the watch so my speed and cadence are still tracked), and I can tell you that the foot pod doesn't count steps. On the flip side, if I wear my HRM-PRO (without wearing the watch), steps are recorded by the strap and synced back after the fact, like I said.
I can also tell you that if you don't do the procedure I said above (pair the HRM-PRO with Connect), steps won't be counted either.
But during runs, I don't have cadence on my activity screen on the watch, I have steps. And I look at how it counts. If I don't use the chest strap, and I hold my hands on the treadmill, it does not count any steps. If I wear the chest strap connected to the watch in the running activity, and hold the treadmill, it counts steps.
Hmm that's very interesting. I tried a similar test to what you described.
Since I don't have a treadmill in my apartment, I just started a run activity without wearing the watch but wearing my HRM-PRO+, which is connected to the watch. I also closed the Connect app on my phone, to make sure the strap wasn't talking to it, and made sure bluetooth was disabled on my watch to make sure it wasn't talking to Connect either.
I added the steps data field to the run activity and in fact the steps field increments while I take steps wearing the strap (and not the watch), like you said.
However, I returned to the watchface (using a configured hot key) and noted that the steps total on the watchface does *not* increase. Same goes for the steps glance (which ofc has an identical total to the watchface).
As a sanity check, I wore the watch and took some steps. This time, steps in the watchface / steps glance *did* increase. I did have to move my arms more deliberately and actually run in place.
So it does seem that the HRM-PRO will increment the steps data field in real time, but as I pointed out, unless you sync the strap with Connect, you will not get credit for those steps in your daily steps count.
I can also tell you for sure that a foot pod will not give you credit for steps in your daily steps count either.
Ofc whether or not you care about your daily steps count is a different matter.
But my point stands: a foot pod and/or Garmin chest strap will not give you steps in real time (in such a way that your daily steps count is credited). The newer Garmin chest straps (HRM-PRO and newer) will record steps while the watch is not being worn, and sync them to Connect (and back to your watch).
I will say that as per usuge, this is a terrible user experience from Garmin.
[I suspect that what's happening here is the steps data field is reflecting total cadence for the activity, rather than the "daily steps count" that's shown on the watch. This makes sense as if you wear the watch, pause the activity and continue to take steps, the daily step count will increase, but the steps data field will not. In other words, the daily steps count and the steps taken during an activity are not really the same metric at all.]
You can try it for yourself:
- take note of your current steps count on the watch (watchface or steps glance)
- take off the watch and wear the HRM-PRO strap
- start a run or walk activity while wearing the strap, and with the strap connected to the watch
- take note of all the steps you take according to the steps data field
- end the activity (you can discard it if you want)
- note that the steps count on the watch will not be increased by the number of steps you took during the activity
Again it's very noticeable to me because I've actually worn my HRM-PRO+ during 2 hour fullcourt basketball sessions (where a distance of ~9k was recorded thanks to my foot pod), but because the HRM-PRO+ failed to record/sync steps [*], I got literally 0 steps credited to my daily step count (like I said, the graph is flat during that time).
[*] I think this can happen if the watch erroneously thinks it's being worn, depending on where it put it when I'm not actually wearing it.
Clearly if I ran around for 2 hours and the watch recorded 9k of distance due to my foot pod, but I was credited with 0 steps, it shows that neither the foot pod nor the HRM-PRO+ will give credit for steps in real time (in such a way that the *daily step count* is credited.)
Just to see if I understand this correctly:
If I have a run with my watch and my HRM-PRO, the steps collected in the run and reported in the activity screen are not used for my daily total steps, while the watch counts steps secretly in the background for the total? That sounds possible.
I have also noticed that if the activity type is swimming or cycling, I can walk or run as much as I want. The step count for the duration of the activity is always zero.
If I have a run with my watch and my HRM-PRO, the steps collected in the run and reported in the activity screen are not used for my daily total steps, while the watch counts steps secretly in the background for the total? That sounds possible.
Yeah, that's right.
Similarly, a footpod will never be used as a source for daily steps.
The exception with HRM-PRO and newer Garmin straps is that they can be used for daily steps, but only:
- for periods where you do not wear the watch
- if you pair the strap with Connect and allow it to sync
Actually HRM-PRO will record other "all-day activity metrics", like HR and intensity minutes, while you are not wearing the watch (but again, to sync this recorded data, you need to pair the strap with Connect). I mentioned steps specifically because it was somewhat relevant to the discussion and because steps applies in the special case where:
- you do not wear the watch
- you do record an activity
- you do connect the strap while the activity is being recorded
In this case, HR and intensity minutes come from the watch, but steps come from the strap (but not in real time, only recorded by strap itself and synced with Connect).
To take this further, the newest HRM-600 strap can record a whole timed activity all by itself (you have to use Connect to kick off the recording). (Once recording starts, it doesn't need to be in range of your phone / Connect). Kinda feels like a gimmick to me, as any time you have your phone and strap, you'll surely have your watch as well, and an activity recording can easily be kicked off from your watch. I guess it does eliminate the need for the strap to stay in range of the watch.
I have also noticed that if the activity type is swimming or cycling, I can walk or run as much as I want. The step count for the duration of the activity is always zero.
Yeah that's on purpose. Garmin wants to make sure that it doesn't accidentally count steps during an activity where you're not supposed to be walking or running.
Thank you for opening this interesting discussion, I do not have still a strap but just to understand I read carefully the discussion, let me check if I have well understood:
- If wearing only the strap (no watch) I can always have step count from the strap. This value goes in the "total daily steps" that I can read on the watch (once I wear again) or in the Connect.
- If wearing both strap and watch and I start a run activity and I will have step count from the strap but only visible on the activity screen. While for "total daily step" contribution, is the watch count. But if I remember well, I read somewhere that with strap on, the green leds are off.
- What happen if I wear both strap and watch and make a simple walk (no activity)? Who will count the steps? The watch or the strap? Who will contribute to "total daily steps"?
- What happen if I wear both strap and watch and start a walk activity? Who will count the steps? The watch or the strap? Who will contribute to "total daily steps"? Same reflection as above.....
Thanks
- If wearing only the strap (no watch) I can always have step count from the strap. This value goes in the "total daily steps" that I can read on the watch (once I wear again) or in the Connect.
Yes, but only if you pair the strap with Connect on your watch and allow the strap to sync with Connect. The strap will record steps (and other all-day activity metrics), sync them to Connect, then they will be synced with your watch.
- If wearing both strap and watch and I start a run activity and I will have step count from the strap but only visible on the activity screen. While for "total daily step" contribution, is the watch count.
Yes I think so. In general it seems that the step count in the activity data field is based on real-time cadence and real-time cadence can come from the watch, a Garmin strap with running dynamics, or a foot pod. But as you say, this step count is not the same as daily steps.
But if I remember well, I read somewhere that with strap on, the green leds are off.
That was true in the past, but with a new-ish feature called dynamic source switching which is on by default, the leds may still be on if you wear the strap. It doesn't really matter for this discussion.
- What happen if I wear both strap and watch and make a simple walk (no activity)? Who will count the steps? The watch or the strap? Who will contribute to "total daily steps"?
It's still the watch. The strap only records and contributes steps if you don't wear watch and you sync the strap with Connect.
- What happen if I wear both strap and watch and start a walk activity? Who will count the steps? The watch or the strap? Who will contribute to "total daily steps"? Same reflection as above.....
Again, the watch counts steps while you are wearing it. The strap only records and contributes steps if you don't wear the watch and you sync the strap with Connect.
The general answer is: the watch counts steps for the daily step count while you wear it. When you are not wearing the watch, the strap [*] will count and record steps to its own memory, but it must sync with Connect on your phone for those steps to be counted towards your daily total. Ofc Connect has to sync back with your watch for those steps to show up on your watch.
[*] Only HRM-PRO and newer Garmin straps
Other straps and any kind of foot pod will not be used as a source for daily steps.
