Use Garmin Auto Pause or Not?

I use auto pause for running and cycling training.  Set to speed = 0

and (when I remember) turn it OFF for any races.

I don't use the Garmin, but I do use my auto pause feature for both the run and the bike.  As others have said, stop lights and such can really impact your data.  I've done 60 mile rides where I've come back and seen 6 or 7 minutes of "stop time"

Just remember to turn it off for races, I've forgotten a few times!

My biggest thing on races is that, obviously, the time clock never stops so I want to make sure my device is as accurate (to the time clock) as possible. 

I've lost signal going under bridges and such which has altered the data, usually not a big deal on the bike since when your racing you don't have to worry too much about stop signs and overpasses and tunnels go by pretty quick, but on the run that tunnel may take 15, 20, 30 seconds... who knows?

Also FWIW, my run auto pause is .5 MPH and my bike is 1.5 MPH.  Works pretty good for me, my watch, and my usual training grounds.

I never autopause.  Clock doesn't stop in a race.

That being said, if I will be at a light for an extended period of time or I stop to refill water I do go ahead and stop the Garmin then restart when I continue on.  That's mostly because if I'm supposed to be doing 3 hours of Z2 then I really don't need to count the 5' that I'm in the gas station getting water.

But I don't see the need to stop it for every slowdown just to inflate my ego about training speeds.

just to clarify, it's not about ego, it's about accuracy. If I'm comparing one ride to another 2 months later, I'd like to compare my actual performance instead of the variables of how long I stop for 26 traffic lights on ride 1 for 12 minutes vs 21 for 4 minutes on ride 2.

If you are stopping you are getting rest.  So the REAL comparison is the total time.  I could ride 25 mph for 5 miles if I rode a mile at a time then stopped for 5 minutes in between each mile.  But I couldn't ride 25mph for 5 miles without stopping.

Extra rest is a variable that is important and really should not be removed if you are truly trying to compare.  It's like when people don't count their rest intervals in the pool in their swim time...makes the total number meaningless!

You can't remove wind or temperature fluctuations and those probably have just as much time impact as resting does.

There were no less than 12 stop signs on my 6 mile loop I rode in Iraq last year.  If I had left autopause on during my 50 mile ride on those short loops I would have lost a LOT of data because the Garmin would have been constantly starting and stopping.

I leave auto-pause off on all sports. I can see why people would want to use it either way.

I use SportTracks to import my data and it can include/exclude stopped time with the click of a button, but I find that I rarely take out the stopped time.

Let's just agree to disagree, ok? It works for you, great. Just don't dismiss everyone else who uses it as doing so to inflate their egos.

Not wishing to Hi-Jack, but I also have just recieved my "refurbished" replacement 310xt, had the auto pause on my a recent bike ride and it constantly cycled on and off even though I was constantly moving (albeit slowly - I was climbing) I presumed that it had not properly acquired the satelites, anyine else have this issue.

Also, on 3 different 310xt I have had the same problem, plug in to charge and it turns on instead of going into charge mode, then I go to use it and it is discharged - tell me I am not the only one, Garmin is starting to think I have Munchausens'!

I don't use autopause, but instead choose to simply press stop in the rare occasions when I stop - which are generally limited to stoplights.

While I understand the arguement about not stopping, etc... - the reality is that I can't run a red light during training - such acts usually involve getting flattened by semi trucks.

And yes, it does affect rest and your numbers, I'm also reaslitic about how much it affects it.  If I'm running a 20 mile long run and manage to hit 3 lights along the way, each for 45 seconds - I'm not too concerned about the supposed rest there.  But by the same token, if I choose a cycling route through the city and I've got 10-15 minutes of stoppage time, that's significant.

The good news here is that auto pause and manual pause are all recorded as timestamps, and most modern programs like TrainingPeaks shows the total stoppage time in there, so nobody's fooling anyone.

Of course, you can solve this problem by simply avoiding routes with stops, or in the case of cycling - selecting a trainer for some of your rides (I do all my non-long rides indoors on a trainer).