Garmin pace accuracy (Read 2422 times)

Got my Forerunner 405 yesterday. The only thing I noticed was that the pace during the run seemed to fluctuate a bit and I felt like I was going faster than what it said. When I downloaded the data, the average pace was about a minute faster than what I thought it was. My only thought was that it was raining slightly which could affect the satelite signals. The GPS accuracy was showing around 20ft at the time. Is this normal for cloudy days?

GPS accuracy of 20 is fine. Which average pace was displayed? Just wondering because the "real-time" average pace will move around a lot - making it easy to to be confused about. Changing the average pace displayed to be the average pace for the the lap or the entire workout is a much more stable number and you shouldn't have issues with thinking you went faster or slower than you actually did.

I would think 20 feet accuracy is great! Yeah, the pace fluctuates (I asked about this when I got a 305. You may want to do some searches for others' experiences. I tried searching too when I first got my 305 and posted ?s when I couldn't find exactly what I was after. A lot of responses were generated to those questions, so you may find some interesting reading.) I'm hoping to accurately boil this down for you: If you are refering to lap pace or current pace, I've been told it can be all over the place for say, the first .25 miles, then will settle in. I have glanced at mine and saw an unusually fast pace and have just discounted it. Wondered if arm swing comes into play. I just discount it. What I did for my 305 is set up a lap pace (based on miles) and an average pace. So if the lap pace seems "off" for a bit, I still have an idea where I am based on the overall average pace. That setup seemed to help and was pretty darn accurate in my marathon. Though I have a 305, I can't imagine the functionality differs compared to the 405.

A lot of people use "lap pace" instead of instant pace or average pace. So its set to auto-lap (for a mile, for example), it starts tracking your pace over at each split. It might not be perfect at any given moment, but it gives you close to perfect over a mile or half mile. A lot better than average pace. And you can guarantee hitting splits where you want them. MTA: never mind. Should have read the thread. What Bonkin said.

I usually run with lap pace, lap distance, and pace displayed with autolap on and at 1 mile if I'm trying to hit a certain pace for my run. If I'm just out doing a run I just have avg pace and distance displayed with autolap turned off. Pace is useful to me as long as I have the pace smoothing set to MORE as Jeff said. Less than that makes it too variable and the MOST setting takes too long to respond to pace adjustments.

I switched to lap pace and auto laps and had much better luck on the past couple of runs. I also decided I had too many screens setup for the auto scroll function. Being a new gadget I set up just about everything possible but it was too much to scroll through when running. I simplified the screens to just lap pacing and heart rate. I will probably turn off the pace bunny while training since it doesn't really seem necessary when not racing.

Although on race day I always turn off the autolap and manually lap at the mile markers. Prevents any discrepancy from throwing off my plan too much.