I've tried them all and have yet to have success with a specific brand. Stryd is definitely the closest.

The garmin pod and Milestone pod were accurate to the pace they were calibrated to, but beyond that were pretty terrible. If I did an interval the milestone would hardly read any increase in pace while the garmin pod would say I was moving a lot faster compared to GPS/track.

My garmin 935 in treadmill mode will over estimate as well, giving me a 4:30/km when I'm definitely not going any faster than 5:30.

I got a stryd pod and it's pretty good for outdoor runs when compared to GPS but still reads slow on the treadmill. Above all, it's consistent. It reads pace changes well when I change the speed of my treadmill.

I think the best option is a "tread tracker" but I haven't tried one personall.

Yes, I do. I've commented several times recently on footpod usage. Seems like this topic has come up multiple times as fall has descended upon the Northern Hemisphere.

I also have a 920xt and a garmin footpod. I don't run on the TM a bunch...only when I CANT get outside, which has been 2-3 times a week recently, but less than once a week on average. My TM is horribly inaccurate (slow vs. Reality). Using HR and RPE, its easily off by 60s+ per mile. I started out using the 920xt accelerometer to track TM pace. But, that's pretty easy to "fool" with arm-swing. I found that I swing my arms differently on the TM than I do outside---so, the 920xt was just as bad as the TM.

I've had the footpod for about 18 months now. I'm super happy with it. I've had several opportunities to cross-check the footpod/TM pace versus outdoor run pace...at same fitness level, same outdoor temp as indoor temp, etc. When all the conditions are equal, I can't tell a difference between footpod/TM and outdoor pace. Same HR, same RPE, same PACE.

I ALWAYS use my footpod. From what I've read, this is the most advisable. The 920xt has an auto-calibrate mode for the footpod. So, it will adjust the calibration factor whenever you run outdoors with GPS. This can change as your normal pace drifts up/down during the season. So, as long as you run outside every week or so, the footpod will adjust the calibration to match your GPS.

Finally, I actually prefer to use the footpod for instantaneous run pace...even outdoors. There is a setting in the 920xt footpod setup that allows you to change the priority (GPS vs. footpod). The reason? When I do intervals (mile repeats, strides, etc), GPS pace is a little slow to respond and inaccurate in the short term. Footpod responds within just a couple steps. So, if you are trying to run in a fixed pace window (eg, strides at 6:30 - 6:40 m/mi)...the footpod does a better job of keeping you in that zone. I find that GPS pace can lead you pretty far astray for a pretty long time (especially for 30s strides and such).

My footpod is just permanently affixed to my running shoes. I never even think about it. I've even considered getting a second one for my alternate pair, so I don't have to remember to switch the pod when I change shoes.

I use a Garmin footpod, which I calibrated at a track and I think it's pretty accurate.

I travel a lot a often times have to use a treadmill instead of running outside and since all treadmills aren't calibrated the same, I like having the consistency. I think the Garmin footpod also gives you more data like ground contact time but I've never looked at that stuff.

I'm curious how you manage to compare the two? Does the 935 let you display both speeds (I'm not aware that's possible on my 920xt)? How did you determine which was correct?

I've only ever cross-checked TM/outdoor footpod pace at my everyday running pace (which we both agree works just fine). But, I haven't tried to check mile-repeat, stride, or 5k paces.

I did mile repeats on the TM last night, at what I would have expected to be 7:00 m/mile. The footpod said 6:45-6:50. But, I was pretty fresh from two full days off. So, maybe 6:50 was right. Certainly closer than the 8:34 that the TM pace indicated...which is my BarryP pace outside.

In the FIT file, it records both the footpod speed and distance and GPS coordinates. You can take the GPS track and get speed and distance from that and compare to the footpod data.

Determining which one is correct...that's the hard part.

The Stryd pod might be more accurate than the treadmill. Stryd studied why its footpods were reporting slower paces than treadmills, and found that the belt would speed up during the time the runner was in the air, slowing down when the runner landed. Even if the treadmill was well calibrated, the pace the treadmill reported would be faster than the runner was running.

That’s not surprising most treadmills don’t have a great motor. I have a Landice and got it specifically because it had a better motor and could handle higher intervals

I find Stryd prettt good.
Outside it is actually more accurate than GPS and responds better to the speed changes
http://fellrnr.com/wiki/GPS_Accuracy

For inside I similarly find it just a touch under the treadmill speed but I don’t have other calibration mean a so actually the Stryd might be bang on ... still only about 0.2 kmh different.

n=1 in support of this::

Had been calibrating my treadmill earlier this month.

Saw lower rpm when I was running on the belt (e.g. 71rpm at 8mph without anything on the belt, 69rpm at same speed setting while running). So motor was a tad slow in isolation, that dropped a bit more while in use. I'd imagine you'd see a greater decrease with more kgs.

I used Garmin footpods - both the old square version and the newer rounded versions on my treadmill for years. When calibrated, I found them pretty accurate. 2 years ago I got a 735 (and now I have a 935) which uses the built-in accelerometer to calculate pace. I find the 735/935 to be a little more accurate, but I used the footpod way more than I have this. The key, I think, with any non-GPS pace calculation method is getting it properly calibrated.

I use a Stryd and it's generally pretty good and for me is accurate *most* of the time but it does seem to change over the period of a run as I warm up.

Compared to my treadmill it starts off reading low, gradually catching up usually by the 20 minute mark (this coincides with the point my stride rate stabilises after warming up) and is accurate for the bulk of my time running and ends up over reading slightly after an hour or so. This obviously assumes the TM is consistent however accurate or not it might be. As far as I can tell this is mirrored outside as well.

Outside it consistently reads long by around 2% but still is the most accurate foot pod I've used over various different paces.

Have you checked to make sure that your treadmill is holding a constant speed? Most (all?) electronic devices change their operating characteristics as they warm up.

I use a Stryd footpod for all my running, indoors and outdoors. For treadmill running, I run in Zwift, not because it's a super-compelling experience like cycling, but it's very easy to upload all my run data to Strava and Training Peaks post-run. I calibrated speed between the Stryd and my treadmill in the Zwift iPad app. I have no idea if it's accurate, but at least I get the same speed/distance info in Zwift that I get on the treadmill display, so I'll call that good enough. In the end, what I care about more than speed distance is TSS, and the power data from Stryd gives me that regardless of whether the treadmill speed is accurate or not.

That may well be true to some degree.

It does however seem to correlate nicely with my run cadence which coincidentally stabilises at the same time the the Stryd pace does. A 20 minute period to warm up would seem like a long time?

I do appreciate that correlation doesn't necessarily mean causation though. Given all that it is by far the most accurate foot pod I've used over a wide range of paces.

I get more accurate distance with the footpods on treadmills.

Also don't confuse footpod with run pod. Run pod does not measure distance.

I just have it on my shoes and use it.

---

Ryan
http://www.SetThePaceTriathlon.com
http://www.TriathlonTrainingDaddy.com
I got plans - https://www.trainingpeaks.com/...dotcom#trainingplans

Agree! Got stride recently and in 2 months it's completely changed my running. I used a Garmin footpod previously and would run on treadmill by the footpod pace. Treadmill speed would typically be 10min/mile for example, but footpod pace would be 9:15 min/mile. I got the stryd and set the treadmill at 10 min/mile and foot pod said 10:30 min/mile. I knew it was wrong! But it was actually right.

I've since done a "5K" on the treadmill at max effort and got just about what I'd run outside (treadmill grade was set at 1%). So, I'm pretty confident trusting the pace from Stryd. Now, I'll actually train at the paces I need to and I'll be able to properly pace myself in races. I;d highly recommend it just for that fact.

I've got a myfit pod, called milestone outside Australia I believe and I use it for Zwift running which is cool.

I would agree with this. I wonder also, how much HR readout is affected by interference as well. I was on a flat road running today & the HR said 147 & half a mile later (about 1.5 miles into the run, same speed mind you--it suddenly dropped to 132. I used to see this a lot more when I used Polar products than Garmin. Once in a while I'll see 160's (which is like 10k race pace HR) and suddenly it will drop to 125-130. It's weird. Dunno, but after 1-2 miles it clears up.

Since I had a Stryd footpod, I checked to make sure I was putting out the same watts when it suddenly dropped (which I suspected it would as it was a flat road)...sure enough, same.

Sorry, but at the risk of perhaps pointing out the obvious... the entire point of a Stryd footpod is so that you can actually train at the power you need to, rather than pace. Using a Stryd as a means of more accurately determining pace so you can still train by pace is sort of missing the entire point.

I suffer from Not explaining myself properly syndrome. I apologize.

I was commenting merely on the ability of it to provide what seems to me (through my comparison) accurate whether out on the road or on the treadmill. I think the ability to be able to run and gauge yourself on that same pace inside and outside is a huge benefit and worth the money of the Stryd. I didn't want to mention power because they are trying to calculate your power from data, they are gathering and not actually measuring force (as far as I know). So, to some, they see no value in the Stryd because it isn't a "real" power meter. I was just trying to show it's value absent of power.

In regards to power, though, I have seen that outside runs and inside runs differ a bit on pace/power/HR. There are a lot of factors that I haven't been able to fix yet and I have only had it for 2 weeks and have been getting over sickness the last few days. So, power on the treadmill might be lower than power outside at a given pace because you aren't pushing off as much on the treadmill? I'm just guessing there and would welcome insight if anyone has read or tested it out themselves.

Fair enough, and no worries. Makes sense. I agree that power at a given pace will be lower on a treadmill than outdoors. I simply increase the pace a bit on the TM to get to my target power level.

I use the Stryd. Indoors and outdoors. A lot more accurate than the treadmill. A different league compared to GPS.

Checked the calibration one week ago for the first time against a straight line track made with one of those course measurement wheels by a local running coach. At most it was off by less than 50m for 800m. That was one out of six.

You should use it every time if knowing your actual pace matters to you.

That is true..... but given one of the claims on the front page of the website is "Calibration free yet more accurate than GPS for any race distance" it is a valid question to ask of them.

To be clear I am glad I got the Stryd and am pretty happy with it overall but questioning marketing claims can only be a good thing I hope.

I'd like to think that the last marathon I ran wasn't really 43.4k otherwise I really need to work on following the racing line!