How to track Cycling?

Hi - Ive just added it but not tested yet - did a bike ride this morning and registered nothing so hope this works  - garmin devices - open vivosmart 4 - activity options - edit - add bike - sync

will test tomorrow!

KateB

Yes!!! This worked. Thanks!!! 

When cycling my Garmin did not track mileage or elev. gain.  Any suggestions?  

Hi - Ive just added it - garmin devices - open vivosmart 4 - activity options - edit - add bike - sync

it works but needs your phone location tracking to work and will ask to connect to phone when you start 

Hi All,

When cycling my Garmin did not track mileage or elevation, only the minutes.  I don't want to bring my phone so it defeats the purpose traveling lite.  If it tracks stairs and steps walking it should be able to do this without the phone?

It does have its own mode. You just need to set it up via the PC first, then it'll show on your device. It's under Device Settings > select the cycling option > sync your device. Should show up after that.

Garmin Connect auto-detects&creates cycling events, but those are not listed in Activities list. I have selected “Bike” as an activity, but that does not create cycling events to the activities list. Firmware version 4.80.0. It seems Garmin purposefully is not allowing customers to use Vivosmart as an cycling device so they can sell them more stuff. Not gonna work for me. I am really disappointed to Garmin. 

That's impossible - there's no way to even estimate cycling distance without GPS or a direct connection to a speedometer, neither of which the Vivosmart line can do (nor is the Vivosmart line intended to have those features - you want something like the Vivoactive or Instinct if you want integrated GPS and sensor connectivity). It estimates steps and walking using the motion of your wrist plus stride length, but your wrists are mostly stationary while cycling, and the wrist movement (for shifting, braking, comfort repositioning) has no relation to traveling speed/distance.

That's really unfair - they added a cycling profile once connected GPS was implemented, which was necessary to make it in any way useful (beyond simply using the generic activity profile and changing the activity type later). It can't auto-detect cycling because there aren't unique wrist movements that indicate cycling, and stationary wrists plus elevated heart rate PLUS increased speed (necessary to distinguish from e.g. high stress that elevates heart rate while sitting still, though it's still difficult to differentiate between cycling and a motor vehicle traveling at bicycle speeds in stressful traffic) that would give cues to auto-start a cycling activity is only possible with connected GPS, which has to be manually activated (which is good, else it would rapidly drain the battery on both your watch and phone).

Garmin does make a device (several, actually) with more cyclign features, but it's more expensive because it needs more integrated sensors (and the ability to directly connect to additional sensors, like speed, cadence, and crank power). With the hardware that the VS4 DOES have, they've actually done a very good job of supporting cycling tracking - you just need to manually activate it. If you want more features, you need more hardware, which means you need a different smartwatch/tracker.