BT Forum

The treadmill or the foot pod?

The distance is usually about a .25mile off. Not sure if its the treadmill or my footpod. If I do a 5k on the tready, I usually have to run longer because my watch is behind on what the treadmill is saying.

For foot pod calibration, check out: http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2011/06/garmin-ant-footpod-calibration-t...

Keep in mind that treadmill calibration can vary from treadmill to treadmill and accuracy is far from guaranteed. I know that my home treadmill and the treadmill at my gym are two completely different animals... when I first got my home treadmill I tried my "go to" gym treadmill workout and couldn't even come close to completing it.

Your best bet is to get your foot pod as close to accurate possible and just use that - or go by time, not distance, on the treadmill,

Edited by RockTractor 2015-11-25 10:06 AM

With the clip on footpod and the 310/910 (and probably others) you can go into the calibration and play with the calibration factor.

for example, mine is at 917. If I increase it to 937 the distance measured for the same run will go up.

I do use a different factor outdoor and on the treadmill.

Yeah, I calibrate it, you can do so with a gps ( not bad ) or with a specified distance on an actual track ( preferable, more accurate )

If you then go and use it on a treadmill and it's off, then the treadmill is out of calibration.

I ignore mileage/speed on the treadmill on key workouts, instead going off the pace on my 310xt when I use the footpod.

If you REALLY want, you could calibrate the footpod to match the treadmill distance instead, but that would be silly imo. :p

I pretty much ignore the treadmill readouts and only consider the footpod. I have calibrated it outdoors so I know its at least somewhat accurate, plus if I am in a hotel on one of their treadmills I can trust that the footpod distance is still good.

I would trust the footpod accuracy over treadmill accuracy any day. And each treadmill is calibrated differently, so never mind their reading.

Same. Foot pod is more accurate, since it's calibrated and all. Can't say the same for the treadmills.

The problem is that your step will be slightly different on the treadmill than what it is outdoors. The calibration you did was outdoors... either way, the footpad is still going to be more accurate than the readout on the treadmill

Is this your own treadmill you are talking about or at the gym? If it's your own, you can probably calibrate so that the footpod and treadmill are accurate and will remain consistent. If it's at the gym, then there is probably a bit of variability between which ones you run on.

I have my own treadmill, and on a 10 mile run, I am usually only a few 100th's off in terms of distance (might get 10.04 or so according to my footpod).

If you have a bike with a speed sensor, put it on the treadmill.
Best case, that'll tell you if your treadmill is accurate. Worst case, it'll be funny...post a pic.

Just like a trainer, speed is not as important as effort and time.