Hey Guys - curious what other’s experience has been with the ‘indoor run’ features on the Fenix2. I’ve been doing a fair amount of treadmill running and am noticing that the average pace and distance is off relative to what’s being displayed on the treadmill. I know (at least I think) that is calculated based on an accelerometer in the device and I’m not sure if there’s something wrong with it…or something wrong with how I’m swinging my arm.
I’m not talking huge gaps between what my files are showing and what I expected to see (based on outdoor runs) but enough to skew my averages for a run. As an example, for today’s 8km run, my file showed 11.6km when I know it was actually 8km. My average cadence was slightly higher across all laps. Something like 8-12rpm higher than what my typical stride-rate.
I was really impressed with how well mine tracked with my treadmill. It was consistently within a few hundredths of a mile. It was more reliable than the Polar footpod I was using previously.
Tried mine a couple times and it was way off. DCRainmaker suggested it “learns” based on your outdoor pace, but I had run about 100 miles outside before trying it on the treadmill. Haven’t tried it since.
Regardless of my actual pace, it always had me running 8:00 to 8:30/mile.
Wow…I didn’t even know my fenix2 could do this! But I never run on treadmills…and if I did…as long as I had heart rate data from the fenix and everything else from the treadmill, I would be fine other than that it would be a manual entry to my strava record.
Soooo…suggestions on possible issues, things to check, etc? I’m happy that yours works so well.
I’m not sure how much it takes, but maybe you just need some more outside miles in it so it can calibrate. I had used mine for several months before I tried it on the treadmill.
The 920 uses the same technology. I run with a footpod and the watch and I found that I was about 10% faster based upon the Garmin than what the Treadmill was showing. As this is a brand new treadmill (and not cheap), I figured it’s speed would be pretty close. I had done half a dozen outside runs but it didn’t seem to calibrate. I ended up setting the calibration factor myself and found that it is a lot closer now. That’s the footpod calibration. Not sure if you can do the same thing with the watch or not. Although, I do notice that when I’m in a Zone 2, slower run (much slower in my case) it is more accurate than when I’m in a Zone 3 or Zone 4 run.
I did a GPS-based calibration with the footpod and my Fenix2. I even verified it by doing a 5k run at varying paces on the track and was within 0.02 mi when all was said and done. I actually trust it more than the GPS now.
The 920 uses the same technology. I run with a footpod and the watch and I found that I was about 10% faster based upon the Garmin than what the Treadmill was showing. As this is a brand new treadmill (and not cheap), I figured it’s speed would be pretty close. I had done half a dozen outside runs but it didn’t seem to calibrate. I ended up setting the calibration factor myself and found that it is a lot closer now. That’s the footpod calibration. Not sure if you can do the same thing with the watch or not. Although, I do notice that when I’m in a Zone 2, slower run (much slower in my case) it is more accurate than when I’m in a Zone 3 or Zone 4 run.
Still figuring the unit out.
What did you do to get your calibration factor number?
The 920 uses the same technology. I run with a footpod and the watch and I found that I was about 10% faster based upon the Garmin than what the Treadmill was showing. As this is a brand new treadmill (and not cheap), I figured it’s speed would be pretty close. I had done half a dozen outside runs but it didn’t seem to calibrate. I ended up setting the calibration factor myself and found that it is a lot closer now. That’s the footpod calibration. Not sure if you can do the same thing with the watch or not. Although, I do notice that when I’m in a Zone 2, slower run (much slower in my case) it is more accurate than when I’m in a Zone 3 or Zone 4 run.
Still figuring the unit out.
What did you do to get your calibration factor number?
The default calibration is “100” so if your pace / speed is off by 10% (watch is readying faster by 10%), you need to change the calibration number to 90. That isn’t “exactly” how it works but in my case it worked out pretty good. In the past, with my 310, I went for a treadmill run, set it to my Z3 speed and manually changed the calibration while I was running, trying different values until it was pretty much on.
The actual calibration calculation that I received from Garmin is:
The setting you are referring too is called the calibration factor. The Calibration Factor formula is: Actual distance traveled, divided by (÷) distance displayed on watch, multiplied by (x) current Calibration Factor. To illustrate, you perform a 4 mile run, but the watch displays 4.47 miles, and the current calibration factor is 100.0%. The new calibration factor will be 89.5% (4 ÷ 4.47 x 100.0).
The other thing I’ve found is that the faster I go, the closer it is. I’ve adjusted mine to really close when I’m doing a Z2 or low Z3 run. I suspect that the value would be out a bit more if I were running in Z4 buy it is close enough for what I’m currently doing. Now going to try it with a Mio HRM to see how that works.