Various Garmin model pace accuracy--my first post!
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2016-05-25 10:15 AM |
21 | Subject: Various Garmin model pace accuracy--my first post! Hello all! I've been a lurker for quite sometime and had a burning question that drove me to finally post. The issue I'm having is with pace when running, as in CURRENT pace. I started years ago with the Garmin 310xt. I set one of my fields for what they call just "pace" and was always happy with it. Whenever I changed speed, it changed immediately. As my pace was always fluctuating by at least a second or two if not more, the pace constantly fluctuated also. I felt like it was super accurate. If I sped up from an 8 pace to a 6:30 pace, it reflected almost immediately. No rolling down, just 8 to 6:30, boom. I later upgraded to the 910xt and had the same good current pace experience. But eventually I decided that since it was so huge on my tiny arm and since I hardly ever used 90% of its functionality that I would try a newer, simpler watch. First tried my husband's old Forerunner 200 series. I set a field for "pace" just like I had with the other two watches. Totally different experience. First, the pace only goes in 5 second increments. The average pace of your workout is to the second, but not your current pace. Worse was the fact that as I changed pace it didn't change right away. It took so long to change sometimes that if I was going over a small hill that only took 30 seconds for example, it never fluctuated to show my slow down or my speed up. It just stayed constant as though I never went up and down that quick little hill. The worst part was that while doing my 400 meter sprints it never really caught up in that 90 or so seconds to show me if I was actually hitting my goal pace. And when it did change, it was slowly going down by 5 seconds, by 5 seconds, etc like it was rolling, when in reality I had gone from let's say an 8:30 pace to a 6:40 pace almost immediately. So I bought the new Garmin Vivoactive thinking hey, it's brand new and must have the best accuracy Garmin has available. Not so. This watch functioned just like my husband's 200 series. I called Garmin support and they said the best running watch they make is the Forerunner 230 and that its pace function is much more accurate than the Vivoactive. Tried it last night and it was the same darn experience as the old Forerunner and the Vivoactive. Pace only in increments of 5, didn't keep up with my pace changes. I am about to deduce that the "current pace" technology for the 310xt and 910xt are just flat out different (i.e. better) than all the other Garmin watches. Unless someone can tell me something I'm missing??? A setting perhaps? Anyone have similar experiences? |
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2016-05-25 10:24 AM in reply to: Fitnessgurl |
137 Birmingham, Alabama | Subject: RE: Various Garmin model pace accuracy--my first post! You might look through this thread. It may help... http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp... |
2016-05-25 10:29 AM in reply to: marti038 |
21 | Subject: RE: Various Garmin model pace accuracy--my first post! Great, Marti thanks! But am I missing how to access the article that AdventureBear references in her post? Sounds like the new 920 does 5 second increments too? Gosh, I should not have gotten rid of my old 910!! |
2016-05-25 1:31 PM in reply to: 0 |
Master 2406 Bellevue, WA | Subject: RE: Various Garmin model pace accuracy--my first post! My 910XT experienced the wobbly current pace feature, which was annoying, but it forced me to find a solution that I like much better! Instead of using current pace and looking at my watch at frequent and erratic intervals, I instead set the auto-lap feature to 0.2 miles. This makes the watch vibrate every 5th of a mile, and put up a 5 second message with my elapsed time for that lap. This has been a great solution for me with many advantages. First, I'm not checking my watch all the time. I check it only when it vibrates. Second, I have a nice lap chart on Strava to analyze, Third and most important, I can stay on my planned pace much easier and I'm not "chasing my pace" around with random changes. Now we do a little math: because 0.2 of a mile is a 5th of a mile, and a minute has 60 seconds, that means a 12 second change in 0.2 lap time is a minute per mile pace change. So the per mile pace to lap time chart is below. So if I want to run at say a 9 minute pace, I want to see the elapsed time at 1:48 every time. If I see it say 1:43, I'm getting a bit fast. If I see it say 1:53, I'm getting a bit slow. I also have the "average pace for this lap" displayed on the watch, so if I do want to do a check by looking at my watch, I can see the 9:00 there too.
Edited by brucemorgan 2016-05-25 1:31 PM |
2016-05-26 8:04 AM in reply to: brucemorgan |
21 | Subject: RE: Various Garmin model pace accuracy--my first post! Originally posted by brucemorgan My 910XT experienced the wobbly current pace feature, which was annoying, but it forced me to find a solution that I like much better! Instead of using current pace and looking at my watch at frequent and erratic intervals, I instead set the auto-lap feature to 0.2 miles. This makes the watch vibrate every 5th of a mile, and put up a 5 second message with my elapsed time for that lap. This has been a great solution for me with many advantages. First, I'm not checking my watch all the time. I check it only when it vibrates. Second, I have a nice lap chart on Strava to analyze, Third and most important, I can stay on my planned pace much easier and I'm not "chasing my pace" around with random changes. Now we do a little math: because 0.2 of a mile is a 5th of a mile, and a minute has 60 seconds, that means a 12 second change in 0.2 lap time is a minute per mile pace change. So the per mile pace to lap time chart is below. So if I want to run at say a 9 minute pace, I want to see the elapsed time at 1:48 every time. If I see it say 1:43, I'm getting a bit fast. If I see it say 1:53, I'm getting a bit slow. I also have the "average pace for this lap" displayed on the watch, so if I do want to do a check by looking at my watch, I can see the 9:00 there too.
So, did your 910xt give you current pace in increments of 5 seconds or single seconds? And did it "roll" up and down, for example if you went from an 8:00 pace immediately to a 6:30 pace did it say: 8:00 then 6:30 right away.....or did it take its time to roll down as in 8:00, 7:55, 7:50, 7:45, etc......until it finally got to 6:30? My experience with the 910 was that it did NOT roll and DID give me current pace to the second. It's the newer 235 that does the roll and only goes to 5's. |
2016-05-26 9:03 AM in reply to: Fitnessgurl |
Master 2406 Bellevue, WA | Subject: RE: Various Garmin model pace accuracy--my first post! I can never get my 910XT to stop the current pace wobbles. I could run a flat course at a steady pace, and the 910XT would show a nearly constantly changing pace spanning a 20-30 second range. The displayed current pace didn't jump from one end of the range to the other; instead it would just be constantly "rolling" as you say. It went by individual seconds, not 5 second increments. I gave up on the current pace, and use the 0.2 auto-lap instead. Much better. |
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