Running Garmin that works with MFP?

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  • Orphia
    Orphia Posts: 7,097 Member
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    katharmonic wrote: »
    @orphia - I had similar issues when I switched from Fitbit to Garmin. I think I ended up adjusting my activity level in Garmin connect. I currently have it set on 5 but I think I had it higher before. Now the calorie burn matches up better between GC and MFP and is more similar to what I was used to with Fitbit, which has been working for me as I eat those exercise calories back.

    Thanks, @katharmonic ! xx

    What do you have your MFP activity level set to?
  • katharmonic
    katharmonic Posts: 5,720 Member
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    Orphia wrote: »
    katharmonic wrote: »

    What do you have your MFP activity level set to?

    @Orphia I have it set to sedentary with negative adjustments enabled also.
  • MichaelJSwann
    MichaelJSwann Posts: 35 Member
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    The activity level in Garmin Connect is based on the average number of hours per week spent exercising over the previous four weeks. I use SportTracks and have an analysis page set up to tell me. At the moment I'm sitting on close to 4.5 hours per week which puts me at an Activity Class of 7 (3 to 7 hours per week). Setting it to 8 means you're doing 7 to 11 hours per week.
  • LilacLion
    LilacLion Posts: 579 Member
    edited December 2016
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    My Garmin has proved really accurate and there's a great group from MFP that participates in challenges there at Garmin Connect.
  • Orphia
    Orphia Posts: 7,097 Member
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    MichaelJSwann wrote: »
    The activity level in Garmin Connect is based on the average number of hours per week spent exercising over the previous four weeks. I use SportTracks and have an analysis page set up to tell me. At the moment I'm sitting on close to 4.5 hours per week which puts me at an Activity Class of 7 (3 to 7 hours per week). Setting it to 8 means you're doing 7 to 11 hours per week.

    Does it class walking, say for an hour, as an activity, and if so, does it detect that automatically?
  • Orphia
    Orphia Posts: 7,097 Member
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    Is there an MFP Garmin group here?
  • MichaelJSwann
    MichaelJSwann Posts: 35 Member
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    It won't automatically start an activity and start tracking your position. In activity tracker mode it will recognise the steps and that you have been quite active during that time. If you want it recorded with a GPS track, you need to specifically start an activity. It records steps whilst recording an activity with GPS, you you will see the activity and your activity level afterwards on your timeline in Garmin Connect.

    You are limited to Cycling or Running activities on the watch (there is also Other which can be used for anything else, but doesn't connect to sensors) so if you want it recorded as a Walk in Garmin Connect, you have to change it afterwards (I wouldn't bother). Same goes for Strava. In Strava I kept it as a Run and changed the title. A lot of the metrics disappear when you change it to a walk instead of a run when also using heart rate (which I am).

    MyFitnessPal will still treat it as Running, but the details such as start time, duration and calories will come from that recorded by your device. You could manually change MyFitnessPal as well, but it's just more work, so I wouldn't bother either.
  • Briantime
    Briantime Posts: 175 Member
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    Orphia wrote: »
    Is there an MFP Garmin group here?

    There is a growing group formed from here on Garmin connect that have been doing steps challenges for a couple of weeks. Feel free to add me as a connection of you want to participate : Briantime
  • Orphia
    Orphia Posts: 7,097 Member
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    Briantime wrote: »
    Orphia wrote: »
    Is there an MFP Garmin group here?

    There is a growing group formed from here on Garmin connect that have been doing steps challenges for a couple of weeks. Feel free to add me as a connection of you want to participate : Briantime

    Thanks! I sent you a request just now.
  • Orphia
    Orphia Posts: 7,097 Member
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    MichaelJSwann wrote: »
    It won't automatically start an activity and start tracking your position. In activity tracker mode it will recognise the steps and that you have been quite active during that time. If you want it recorded with a GPS track, you need to specifically start an activity. It records steps whilst recording an activity with GPS, you you will see the activity and your activity level afterwards on your timeline in Garmin Connect.

    You are limited to Cycling or Running activities on the watch (there is also Other which can be used for anything else, but doesn't connect to sensors) so if you want it recorded as a Walk in Garmin Connect, you have to change it afterwards (I wouldn't bother). Same goes for Strava. In Strava I kept it as a Run and changed the title. A lot of the metrics disappear when you change it to a walk instead of a run when also using heart rate (which I am).

    MyFitnessPal will still treat it as Running, but the details such as start time, duration and calories will come from that recorded by your device. You could manually change MyFitnessPal as well, but it's just more work, so I wouldn't bother either.

    Noooo! I don't want to have my walks recorded as runs in Strava! :smiley: I'm OCD about keeping them separate. I use MapMyWalk for walks, and Strava for runs. I'm too confused to work out how to solve the problem involving Garmin too! :smiley:

    A friend suggested that I set my MFP goal to "gain weight", so I've done that for a 0.5lb/wk gain (1,000 kj per day which is what Garmin is shortchanging me), and will see how I go. I'll eat to my calorie limit, and keep weighing myself every day and logging my weight in Happy Scale, and my food in MFP.
  • MichaelJSwann
    MichaelJSwann Posts: 35 Member
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    The way I do things might not be right for you, but I think there is a Connect IQ app called Hike that will allow a walk to be registered as a walk. That will then flow through to other websites. You would have to delete the activity where you don't want it.
  • ritzvin
    ritzvin Posts: 2,860 Member
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    On exercise activities (runs/walks/etc) - Any garmin device that syncs activities up to Garmin Connect will work. MFP can be set to automatically pull activities from their server.

    On step tracking- MFP won't add any exercise calories unless you go over some normal range for the activity level you set in the MFP settings (I've never seen mine show anything but 0 - maybe if you selected 'sedentary' and hike 20 miles). Not all garmin devices do step tracking.
  • ritzvin
    ritzvin Posts: 2,860 Member
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    Forgot to add.. A lot of the garmin watches likely won't have "walking" as an activity option, and anything you track on it as an activity would sync as a run.
  • Gots2Bfitter
    Gots2Bfitter Posts: 741 Member
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    Orphia wrote: »
    Is there a running Garmin that works well with My Fitness Pal?
    I had my eye on the Forerunner 235, but a friend says it doesn't send your total steps/calories burned to MFP, and that's a deal breaker.
    I love my Fitbit Charge HR because it works great with MFP, but it's getting old and I'd like all the data you get with Garmin.
    Don't recommend anything that won't sync with Strava!

    I love my garmin. I have the Forerunner 235 and it calculates my total steps and calories plenty good
  • dervari
    dervari Posts: 805 Member
    edited December 2016
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    Whoops, I replied to the wrong post
  • mommarnurse
    mommarnurse Posts: 515 Member
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    I have a Garmin FR 220 and it's perfect for syncing burns on runs. It doesn't count steps and I don't want it to. If I'm curious about that, I'll look at my iphones count
  • Tacklewasher
    Tacklewasher Posts: 7,122 Member
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    Watch out for the Garmin Vivosmart. If you start an activity on it, it may count the calories twice, once from the activity and once from the steps. I gave up on mine and have a VivoActive HR now that does not have the problem.

    Comparing the calories burned, it gives me about 20% more (in the MFP entry) than my chest strap does on the treadmill so I just mentally adjust it.

    The Vivoactive is not a pure runners watch, but has a lot of available activities and can even download golf courses. Being as I bought mine on US thanksgiving, I haven't tried the golf course thing yet.

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