Anyone considering buying a Garmin Edge product may find this helpful. My friend and I use STRAVA every week on our regular thrash around the forest but found we were getting slight variances between times which we thought might be down to an iphone/android difference. After doing some research we both plumped for a basic Garmin Edge 200 on the basis that we didnt need anything complex, just an accurate way of recording times. The theory being that 2 identical devices would give us this. Each ride has shown not just marked variations between the Garmins and the STRAVA apps on smartphones but between the Garmins themselves. Our final test was starting both garmins at the same time, placing along with my smartphone running STRAVA in the same pocket in my camelbak and stopping both Garmins at the same time. Both smartphones came in at 16.4 miles, Garmin 1 at 16.1, Garmin 2 at 15.5. One look at the route trace for each device shows just how more data and detailed the STRAVA app is over the Garmins and shows just how inconsistent the Garmins are as a whole. More worrying is that when I drew this to the attention of Garmin and asked what their refresh rate was for different devices (how often it picks up a data point), they wouldnt do so, but confirmed the Edge 200 only uses motion/elevation change to register a point. I asked why 2 identical devices in the same location recorded such a huge variation and asked if more expensive Garmins had a better refresh rate. No answer to the former but was told more expensive models (not identified) have the option of updating every second. Garmin did point out We cant provide a guarranteed a level of accuracy on any of our units, due to a possibility of GPS spikes etc which again doesnt explain the huge variation between units and when compared with a smartphone app. Thankfully Amazon, unlike Garmin which refused, is willing to provide a refund for my unit. Neither my friend or 1 are bothered about being kind of STRAVA or beating other people - the pleasure comes from accurately comparing our own times with earlier runs as well as each other. Either way, if youre remotely interested in anything resembling accuracy and consistency, do NOT go near a Garmin Edge 200 and Id think long and hard at spending £200-£400+ on a unit if the recording criteria was movement detection. Id be interested in hearing from anyone who has a an accurate GPS device theyd recommend or whether a STRAVA app on a smartphone is basically about as accurate as youll get.
Posted on: Fri, 23 Jan 2015 11:49:45 +0000
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