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Calorie calculation Edge 1030 compared to Edge 810

I've used the Edge 810 for years and just bought the Edge 1030. I have a standard route that I ride and my stats for the ride remain fairly consistent with the exception of calories. The ride is 45 miles and I average around 14.7 MPH. 810 records 2560 calories burned, yet the 1030 records 1247 calories burned for the same route and effort. 1313 difference seems kind of extreme. Has Garmin significantly changed they way calories are estimated?

0 cheracogoff over 4 years ago

The only way to get a reasonable estimate of calories burned is with a power meter. Everything else is a estimate. I ran your numbers through a on line calorie estimator and the 1030 was very close. Lot of variables such as weight and wind to further deal with. Usually, around 30 calories a mile is fairly close for a ride in the 15mph average range. I have a power meter and I was surprised how low my calories burned number was compared to just using heart rate and speed.

0 pecikel over 4 years ago in reply to cheracogoff

Hi chracogoff, how do you deal with hike-a-bike issue - by mountainbiking when you rely on powermeter and you have to hike-a-bike due to technical climb, you have 0 watts power section and consequently 0 calories ;((

I would appreciate if device would add estimated calories from HR in that case. In new beta 11.19 they will add metabolic calories ( I assume this is basal metabolic) but not from HR. Am I the only person who thinks that walking sections on a mountain bike maraton races are very common? On some sections there are 95% racers walking ;)) At the end, the 1030 activity file is wrong and you have to manually calculate your calories. Cannot understand ....

0 cheracogoff over 4 years ago in reply to pecikel

I understand your point. It would be great if there was someway to accurately determine calories but I think that is a long way off. There are just too many variables involved in calorie calculations. We are not machines that use up a certain amount of energy doing a task. We have different metabolic rates that can make calculations very difficult.

I don't think that it is worth looking at calorie numbers. They are not reliable enough to work your diet around them. To me they are just a rough estimate and not worth paying much attention to.