Related
This discussion has been locked.
You can no longer post new replies to this discussion. If you have a question you can start a new discussion

Vivosport accuracy

Former Member
Former Member over 7 years ago
I am new to the world of fitness trackers and decided to go with the Garmin Vivosport. I have had Garmin GPS trackers before (albeit almost 10 years ago now). Have had the device for a few days and have some questions.

(1) I went on a 6 mile run yesterday. My MapMyRun app on the phone registered 6.2 miles and the Vivosport only 6.02. I checked Google Maps when I got home and got 6.20 as well. Is this expected? I did have this issue with my 10 year old device.

(2) Activity calories seems low. This same run had me at 489 calories. I am female, 5'3, 120 lbs, my pace was just under 11 mins, so say 5.5 miles per hour and average heart rate was 152. I plugged this into many online calculators and it seems that the burn should be at least 550 and some had me at 660. Maybe those are wrong? Or is the Vivosport giving me Net calories burned on the run on then sticking rest calories for that hour into the resting calories number so as not to double count?

(3) Daily calorie burn. Do others find this pretty accurate? I'm not sure. I walked 19K steps yesterday, including the run. It has be at 2138 calories for the day. It seems about right, I think, but I feel maybe it should be more. Maybe calories are harder to burn then I think? I have my Activity # set to 0 for now. I exercise 5 times a week so it should technically be a 7. Doing some tests today to see what the difference in resting calories becomes when I switch from 0 to 7.

Any feedback or thoughts appreciated.
  • 0 over 7 years ago
    I don't have the vivosport but GPS in general usually varies by around 1%. I use google maps for estimates but if you turned at a slightly different angle than what the google map is showing, etc. the results might not be accurate, especially as travel further. Neither phone nor hand held GPS units are perfect. In DC Rainmakers review of the vivosport it shows the gps was pretty accurate when compared to other GPSs. The best ways to check are to look at the actual maps produced by your watch and the phone on the computer and see if either more accurate of a line (which most closely resembles your movement, checking start/finish, etc)? I would assume the lines are not the same on the watch/phone since the distance is different, check those lines.

    As far as calories go, I don't think anything is accurate. They are all (computer, watch, phone etc) just using some algorithm. They key is to choose one device so you can see when it says you burned more/less as it should be consistent with itself.
  • 0 over 7 years ago
    My problem is that my Vivosport reports too HIGH of a distance. It typically reports 10-15% longer distance than what I've traveled. This is based on either comparing against trail lengths on maps or comparing against my Garmin Edge 820.

    One key issue contributing to this problem is that if I stop moving during an activity, the Vivosport will continue racking up the distance. After a 30 minute break in hiking, the Vivosport will report 0.2 - 0.3 miles increase in distance. Now, you may suggest turning on auto-pause. But when I've done that, the Vivosport keeps pausing during a hike, which is both annoying (often vibrating) and inaccurate in the other direction, under-reporting my distance by 10-15%. I don't see how to set it to get an accurate distance.
  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to DSchorow

    Just coming across this now, I have noticed the same thing with my Vivosport, did you ever resolve this?