I'm doing more of both trails and targeted pace running these days. The Vivoactive3 gives somewhat delayed instantaneous pace since it relies of GPS. Does the foot pod improve instantaneous pace and distance/pace accuracy on trails?
In my experience, the Garmin Pod is not suitable for trails. It requires a fixed calibration factor, which doesn’t work well for constantly changing stride lengths, speeds and ground surfaces. Also autocalibration is not suitable for rugged / wooded terrain. A Stryd (or a cheaper Stryd Live) would probably work better.
I agree that the Garmin pod isn’t great for your intended purpose. Many people like the Stryd but even the cheaper Live is pretty pricey. I picked up a Milestone recently and while I haven’t used it the way you mean to it’s been working pretty well on the treadmill even with varying paces.
Well on the other hand, I use the footpod for trail running and find it works perfectly for what I want out of it: to give me more-accurate distance measurements. Pre footpod, I found my watch (and ANY device, even Edge units on my mountain bike) really struggled with GPS accuracy in dense foliage. So I bought a footpod and also a speed sensor for my bike. Both now appear to work great for distance accuracy. So yes I like mine and it works great for me.
