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Garmin Calorie Count Different from Other Brand Devices

Over the years I've found Garmin devices only show about half the number of calories of other devices including Polar, Wahoo, Cyclemeter, etc.  Someone is wrong as I've used multiple brands on the same exercises being fed from the same heart strap and power meters and the calories is always dramatically different. 

I've asked the question of Garmin on occasion but have never received a good answer.

For example, I did a short run with one of my grandson's on Saturday where Garmin said 222 calories and Cyclemeter said 564 calories where both were being fed by a Wahoo heart strap.  Further more at 90 pounds and 54 years difference is age my calories on my Fenix 6X were essentially the same as my grandson's on his Fenix 5X which I doubt is accurate at all.  By simple physics it take a lot more energy to move a load 78% heavier.

In another example yesterday, I cycled for 24 miles where Garmin Edge 1030 reported 627 calories and other device reported 1457 calories with both being fed by Stages power meting and Wahoo heart strap.

Since most everything I've used for the last 15 years tends to agree with the higher number, I'm starting to think Garmin's calorie number are just garbage!  Any thoughts?

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  • Assuming my power meter on my bike bounces the correct values to my edge the edge rapports the correct total work in kJ (average power * time) after my ride. Garmin assumes an efficiency of 24% which means that kJ is equal to the number of kcal burned. As far as I see this is correct.  I don't trust calculated calories (actually they mean kilo calories) derived only from only heartrate. If you eat that amount of calories you get fatter. With an average intensity I burn about 600 kcal per hour and I cover a distance of 30-35 km. You do the math. 

  • 1427 calories for 24 miles is 60 calories per mile. Perhaps a pro in the Tour de France can burn that many calories but a recreational cyclist can perhaps burn just about 30 - 35 calories per hour. Your 1030 should be reporting the calories from the power meter is my understanding and that number should be the same no matter what computer you are using.

  • Handy calculator here 

    Most calculations I've seen come out to the same sort of figures. I use the 1030 with a heart rate strap and there seems to be a big dependence on effort (as measured by heart rate) and calories burned. I would always regard the lowest estimate as more accurate and usually then probably still too high. 

    At the end of the day it's all just an educated guess.

  • Just bought a Garmin 520 plus. First thing I noticed was low calorie readout. 30 mi, 4000 ft of climb, 800 calories?  No way. Very disappointed in this feature of the device. 

  • I get much more relevant readings. make sure you set all of your profile, including weight, type of fitness level. Check those numbers directly on the Edge, not only in the iPhone app, since maybe they didn't sync properly. Weight is very important or course. And HRM strap helps greatly. Then make sure you look at calories, not KJ which is a different thing. If cycling a power meter help accuracy further but again do not confuse kJ with Calories. In the end a calorie is always an estimation and accuracy is limited since so much depends on your fitness and metabolism. A fit person get more work done with less energy expended, that is called energy efficiency. But you should expect I would say something with a +/-25% accuracy in the end.

  • The first thing i clean off screens is calories, They  are not based on your activity, your efficiency at that activity, and anything that will increase energy use, like wind. Might as well wave a wet finger in the air.

  • It is not nearly as bad. It give you a good indication. And since calories are used for eating normally accuracy is not really that important - a +/-20% is good enough for most people