The accelerometer on by watch is WILDLY inaccurate and inconsistent. Have tried the save and calibrate option numerous times and had no better data. Ran two 1.5 mile runs (right after each other): 1.5 miles @ 10:00/mi. - Garmin registered 2.03 miles with mile splits of 7:28, 7:21 and 11 seconds for the 0.03) 1.5 miles @ 8:57/mi. - Garmin registered 1.32 miles with a mile split of 10:10 and 3:15 for the 0.32) If it was consistently short or long, I could work with that. But being so wildly different is just carzy.

Treadmill Calibration

robeco 5 days ago

The accelerometer on by watch is WILDLY inaccurate and inconsistent. Have tried the save and calibrate option numerous times and had no better data.

Ran two 1.5 mile runs (right after each other):

1.5 miles @ 10:00/mi. - Garmin registered 2.03 miles with mile splits of 7:28, 7:21 and 11 seconds for the 0.03)
1.5 miles @ 8:57/mi. - Garmin registered 1.32 miles with a mile split of 10:10 and 3:15 for the 0.32)

If it was consistently short or long, I could work with that. But being so wildly different is just carzy.

0 DoctorCool 5 days ago

Are you running with a foot pod? I thought proper treadmill running required. the use of a food pod because of he watch's inability to use GPS for proper calibration.

0 robeco 5 days ago in reply to DoctorCool

I did run with a foot pod in the past until it broke. Now they don't sell them anymore. Supposedly the accelerometer should help if you calibrate. I just can't get it to be accurate.

0 Garmin - AL 4 days ago

The accelerometer on your device uses GPS activities to maintain it's calibration. If you have not recorded an outdoor run in some time this can cause the accelerometer to drift. You can learn more about this in the following article: How Do I Calibrate the Accelerometer on a Garmin Watch?

0 robeco 4 days ago in reply to Garmin - AL

I run outside as well. This week was a lot of treadmill, but there were also two 5 mile runs.

0 gxgene1 2 days ago in reply to robeco

I've gotten reasonable results with my watch on an older firmware version but still it's never absolutely correct. Even with calibration (after the run) the pace as reported on an upload was incorrect, though the total miles were OK (after the run calibration, before upload).

What I've found is my outdoor stride is different than I run on a treadmill and that my treadmill stride changes with speed, the faster the run, the sooner the mile came relative to the treadmill value. I turned off Autolap and now manually lap the miles based on the treadmill reading. The upload pace can still be screwed up but since the laps are miles, I know what I ran and it's accurate.

0 robeco 2 days ago in reply to gxgene1

My problem is that it is WIDELY inaccurate even within a run. Did a 7-mile run @ 8:34/mi. for the first 5 miles. Got the following splits: 9:02, 8:42, 7:35. 8:12 and 8:35. To get to 5 miles on the treadmill then required an additional 54 seconds, so the last mile was 9:29?

0 gxgene1 2 days ago in reply to robeco

That is impressively inaccurate! Even when I hold a similar pace (to your 8:30), I find I vary my stride some. On the TM I listen to music and my stride changes a little with the beat, but my variations are nothing like that, 9:02 to 7:30 that would represent a serious difference in effort. I might get 10 Sec/Mi. The accelerometer relies on body movement, so besides the stride the arm swing comes into play. If you ran some miles arms resting on rails as opposed to swinging, that could make a difference.

If you are running all miles with the same form, you might want to check in with Garmin Support. Maybe you have a defective watch.

0 robeco 2 days ago in reply to gxgene1

Been working with garmin support for a bit. It has been escalated to engineering. I think there's a problem with my accelerometer. Looks like randomly it stops measuring my cadence (why else would it randomly drop from 200 to 104 (yes, I have a ridiculously high cadence). When his happens, the pace drops as well.

0 gxgene1 1 day ago in reply to robeco

Glad to hear you contacted support. My interactions in the past with support have been pretty positive. Unfortunately the support guys don't have anything to do with the firmware development. Or in the case of how often the Garmin reps in the forum comment on problem resolution, vaporware.