Forums >General Running>what is more accurate the treadmill MPH or my Garmin foot pod?
I don't think it has anything to do with stride length or cadence. I believe its a percentage or ratio number. The footpod factory calibration number is 100 which is 100% of a set distance. Lets say you run a mile (1609.36m) to calibrate your foot pod. You're garmin measures 1694m when you stop so you end up with a calibration factor of 1609.36 / 1694.00 = 0.95
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gramapower
Garmin support is closed today due to winter storms, so I'm glad that the Community has answers for me. It sounds like I was running only 90.3% of the distance and speed that I thought I was by going by my Garmin instead of what the treadmill reading was. I'll do a treadmill run this morning now that I've calibrated it and see if I get a closer reading. I'm going to go to the track to do the track calibration first, then the treadmill to finish my run. This has become a science project.
carolynlaitsch
Dreadmills are very rarely calibrated correctly either, so I calibrate my foot pod at the track and just go with what it gives me on the dreadmill. Every dreamill I use at my YMCA with my foot pod gives me a slightly different pace at the same speed so I really don't get to hung up on a hundredth or two long or short in a mile.
If you think about it, you ran the the same time in minutes, reguardless if the Garmin read 5.00 and the dreadmill read 5.04 miles or vice versa.
I did two calibration runs at the track. I had my Garmin 610 set to GPS reading and then used the calibrate by 800 miters function. The first go I forgot for a few feet to use the inside track, so the distance may have been slightly off. I got a 101% reading. I repeated the calibration and got a 99% reading. The bitter cold wind helped me decide that 99% was good enough. I then used my treadmill to check my readings. I ran 3.5 miles at various speeds. The miles were very close to the treadmill, but the speed was still off by approximately 30 seconds. I had the watch set for reading per foot pod, GPS off, for the treadmill run. Does anyone know of a way to get the speed to calibrate? I am using a chart to convert my Garmin pace to the MPH speed of the treadmill readings.
I did reach Garmin per phone. The service rep said to trust the Garmin now that it is calibrated. She didn't think that 30 seconds per mile was enough to worry about. I don't think that she races.
Ack! I wasn't sure you had done the calibration properly and pulled out my Garmin... My calibration factor is back to 100.0. How did this happen? Stupid Garmin. No wonder it's been saying I'm crazy fast.
I'm not sure what you're saying/asking. Unless the treadmill you're using has been calibrated, you shouldn't be using it to judge the accuracy of your footpod. Just use your footpod readings for treadmill runs now. But, maybe I'm missing something.
I did two calibration runs at the track. I had my Garmin 610 set to GPS reading and then used the calibrate by 800 miters function. The first go I forgot for a few feet to use the inside track, so the distance may have been slightly off. I got a 101% reading. I repeated the calibration and got a 99% reading. The bitter cold wind helped me decide that 99% was good enough. I then used my treadmill to check my readings. I ran 3.5 miles at various speeds. The miles were very close to the treadmill, but the speed was still off by approximately 30 seconds. I had the watch set for reading per foot pod, GPS off, for the treadmill run. Does anyone know of a way to get the speed to calibrate? I am using a chart to convert my Garmin pace to the MPH speed of the treadmill readings. I did reach Garmin per phone. The service rep said to trust the Garmin now that it is calibrated. She didn't think that 30 seconds per mile was enough to worry about. I don't think that she races.
Calibrate the foot pod on the track with the GPS "ÖFF". Run your distance (I think I did a mile) then use the new calibration number. Have you ever seen what a GPS track can look like when you run around a track? Its not that great.
I'm also not sure what you are trying to say with your comparison and mph to mpm conversion.
My treadmill reads in miles per hour, and my Garmin reads as minutes per mile (pace). I have a chart to convert the treadmill MPH to pace. I will calibrate on the track again with the GPS off as you suggested. Thanks
On the treadmills I've used, once you speed up or slow down, it flashes the pace for a few seconds before going back to mph OR there is a setting you need to push to display the pace. Our fitness center has Precor, Life Fitness, Nautilus and Nordic Track. good luck and to reiterate what another poster said, if you rotate shoes, make sure you put the foot pod on the same foot and in the approximate same location. I have several different pairs of Nike Pegasus shoes that I rotate and ALWAYS attach the foot pod on the right shoe and use the same laces. It really does seem to make a difference.