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Kcals very high for step counting.

Hi All.

I've been using my 235 for just shy of a week now, I had the 920XT but I wasn't using half the features and the chest strap was really badly cutting into my chest so the appeal of a wrist based HR reading seemed like a great idea.

Like I did with my 920xt I use the 235 as an activity tracker through out the day. I walk to & from work and walk a fair bit at work as well.

On my 920xt when I loaded the data to Garmin Connect between 19k and 20k steps would give me around 500 active kcals.

On the 235 the same number of steps have me up at around 800 active kcals!

Massive jump.

Only difference I can see is that I have the HR reading all the time. All my stats are the same as when I had the 920xt.

Any suggestions what it could be? I try and use the Garmin Kcals burnt per day as a guide if I'm eating too much or too little with my marathon training and I don't want to be mislead like this with very wonky data.

Cheers

0 Former Member over 9 years ago

I go to the hr widget and then hold the left up scroll button till it goes to a screen where you can turn off your hr. You'll have to manually turn it on for a run or other activity and then back off if you like.

Many thanks. Not sure how it's turning itself back on though.

0 ASmugDill over 9 years ago

Possibly a conflict between device settings in Garmin Connect and on the FR235 itself

Not sure how it's turning itself back on though.

When you disable Heart Rate tracking using the watch's user interface, the change in the setting is not transmitted (or just not acknowledged) upon syncing with the Garmin Connect Mobile app. However, syncing can overwrite the settings on the watch sometimes using the device settings seen in Garmin Connect. If you want to disable HR tracking, it's best to make sure the device settings in Garmin Connect reflect your preference.

0 Former Member over 9 years ago

When you disable Heart Rate tracking using the watch's user interface, the change in the setting is not transmitted (or just not acknowledged) upon syncing with the Garmin Connect Mobile app. However, syncing can overwrite the settings on the watch sometimes using the device settings seen in Garmin Connect. If you want to disable HR tracking, it's best to make sure the device settings in Garmin Connect reflect your preference.

Yeah think that's done it now. Thanks.

0 W0OLY over 9 years ago

How utterly rubbish that we have to turn off the optical heart rate monitor (the key reason for buying a 235 instead of a 230 for me) to get accurate step active calories though and to prevent these calorie spikes!

I sat at my desk at work yesterday and looked at my watch at lunch and I have 1200 active calories from 1000 steps, because my heart rate got stuck at 110 for 4 hours.

This kind of thing is happening almost daily.

I flattly refuse to turn off my OHRM, I will forget to turn it on when i do an activity and be even more annoyed!

Absolutely ridiculous... a HR software update soon would be great Garmin!

0 ascii256 over 9 years ago

I've pretty much become an anti Garmin advocate in my social circle. I love my 235 as a GPS watch, but I paid a premium for the heart rate, step, and daily calorie estimates. It's completely worthless in those areas. If I could return it, I would. Not that it does much good, but I do plan on filing a BBB.org complaint in the next few weeks. If for noting else, to help prevent someone else from buying this garbage.

Today I did nothing but light walking here and there, logged 15,022 steps (7.8 miles), and 1,006 active calories. That's like 129 calories a mile (I am 6 ft, 155 lbs, so no...)

Yesterday I ran an easy 5k in the morning (340 calories, realistic, maybe a little high) 5 miles of hills in the evening (572 calories, more realistic) and had 6034 other steps. I "earned" 909 active calories for those steps. 212 calories a mile.

The best was back on the 23rd. 7,063 steps... 1,823 calories! 510 calories per mile!

The strange thing is it only seems to happen on days that I run and get a cadence lock during the workout.

So it seems Garmin has found the secret to maintaining a healthy weight. Do a light run in the morning, just wait until you fake heart rate reads 170-190. Then stroll around the office of Walmart the rest of the day. You should burn a few thousand calories.

0 Former Member over 9 years ago

For the past few days whilst logging a run with believable calorie burns, now my active calories from steps seems really low. Yesterday for example 9446 steps 4.7 miles and a burn of just 139 calories???