Strava vs. Garmin Connect

Originally posted by msteiner

There are differences in moving time for both too.  It looks odd on the surface.

Originally posted by trisuppo



Garmin Connect shows 6 minutes of less moving time than Strava.

Garmin Connect
Time: 6:56:50
Moving Time: 6:50:42
Elapsed Time: 7:12:55

Strava:
Time
06:57:46
Elapsed Time
07:12:14

I can't see your split detail on Garmin Connect. Did you record the Strava on your phone and the garmin on your garmin device? or did you record on the garmin and upload to strava?

Originally posted by k1200rsvt

Did you stop someplace, stop your Garmin, then start riding again only to realize a few minutes later you forgot to re-start it and re-start it at that point? I have done that before and gotten results similar to that. Strava calculates the missed distance in and Garmin Connect ignores it I believe.

Originally posted by crissy_jo

5hours 20 minutes into the ride Garmin has you going 100 mph. My guess is this is where you lost your distance. While you might be very daring, and super fast going uphill like a super hero, I kind of think you weren't traveling 100 mph.

Originally posted by japewang



Wouldn't that work the other way? Like add more mileage than actual? Also those spikes 'appear' to be only a second. Would that add up to 10 miles plus in difference?

Originally posted by jennifer_runs

None of the above reasons seem to explain a 10-mile difference. Maybe 1-2% difference, but not 10%.

I glanced at your 1-mile lap data in GC, and nothing looks that weird other than some slow miles near the beginning with no real elevation (miles 6-8- traffic lights maybe?). Otherwise nothing looks weird-- for example, no really long miles that should be more distance if the GPS was lost.

I don't really know how Strava is processing the data, but it must be doing something differently. I would tend to trust the GC interpretation of the data as more reliable.

In any case, that looks like an awesome century ride.

Originally posted by tcj103

Something isn't adding up. Just so we're clear, you said you uploaded the garmin file to Strava, so the source data is the same, correct? Not running Strava app on a phone.

I upload Garmin as well, in fact I used garminsync.com. They are NOT affiliated with either company, but figured out a way so files are automatically uploaded. I don't have anything to do with them either.

I checked a couple recent rides, they were pretty close distance-wise, but there were some differences in timing, which I don't get. Like a minute difference over a two-ish hour ride.

I have my 310XT set to auto-pause, It's set to "when stopped". Note you can set it to a custom speed.

Here's a guess on the differences in times; they use different speeds to determine what "stopped" is, Since Strava has to accept slightly different formats, they probably use their own algorithm from the raw data.

I noticed on my rides BIG differences in average power; like 60 W higher in Garmin vs. Strava. Strava may be using total elapsed time or something, or counting zero times. I have my Garmin not including zero for cadence and power, and Strava was lower than Garmin.

It would be interesting to do a test ride; one with a lot of stops, the other continuous. My guess is the more stops, the more error between the two sites. Maybe Garmin is calling you "stopped" sooner than Strava, and I guess it doesn't connect those dots between stopping and starting, so that distance gets chopped out.