Garmin 220 over-rounding instantaneous pace?

Triathlon Forum
1

I just bought a 220. I’m run/walking my training runs. And I’m running around a lake which has great satellite coverage.

During my 1 minute rest breaks I noticed, the pace field often only gradually adjusts from the 8min/mi I was running to about 14min/mi, not the ~16min/mi that I’m actually walking.

=> Should it take the gamin more than 60 seconds to adjust instantaneous pace during a walk break?

I never has this problem with the 310xt I just replaced. Has anyone else seen issues like this in the 220?

And I guess most importantly, might I have similar long lags in the 220 adjusting instantaneous pace on the other end of things, say with Farlek runs?

2

I just purchased this watch and courious if others see this too.

3

Been using the watch for 8 months and it takes about 10-15 seconds when there is a dramatic change in pace. Make sure your firmware is up to date.

4

Been using the watch for 8 months and it takes about 10-15 seconds when there is a dramatic change in pace. Make sure your firmware is up to date.

Hmmm… first thing I did was upgrade it to the latest firmware.

10-15 seconds seems pretty darn slow still. But it’s definitely better than the 60+ seconds which I was seeing.

The 310xt didn’t make the change instantly, but I’d guess it took about 5 seconds to make the change.

Any idea why the 220 is worse than the 5 year old 310xt?

5

Better GPS chip in the 310xt in regards to instantaneous pace.

220 is just as accurate over a mile.

6

I found a very long thread on the Garmin forum describing the problem. This thread is mostly about the 620, but it’s equally applicable to the 220.

“My current pace can take ages (today it took some 600 meters!) to drop from 4:25 (the pace in the previous lap) to 3:35/3:40.
So for roughly two minutes, the current pace would drop from 4:25, to 4:20, to 4:15 and so on, while the lap pace (average lap pace, that is) will be playing nicely between 3:34 and 3:37 in this example.”

https://forums.garmin.com/showthread.php?79270-Current-pace-WAY-too-smooth

I find it pretty shocking that even Garmin’s high-end running watch does a really shitty job at current pace.

Now I guess I need to see if I can get used to just using lap pace, or if I want to try to return this watch.

7

I just use lap pace on mine as I generally consider instantaneous pace on a GPS watch to be too unreliable (on any watch). If I’m doing any sort of a workout that requires precision over a short time, I’m probably at the track and using time.

8

I just use lap pace on mine as I generally consider instantaneous pace on a GPS watch to be too unreliable (on any watch).

This is what I do as well.

Everyone always touted how “great” the instantaneous pace on the old 305, but I found it utterly useless. (and yes I tried all the different ‘smoothing’ settings)

9

I notice my “current pace” changing approx every five seconds.