Garmin Vivosmart HR

rlpomeroy

This morning I did an hour on an eliptical. My Garmin Vivosmart HR showed a significant difference than what the machine showed for both distance and calories burned. I used the "walk" mode. Should I be using either "run" or "cardio" instead?

I'm sure it has at least something to do with my stride length setting.

NorthCascades

I don't know how you could get an accurate reading for distance. Nevermind the being stationary part, your Garmin measures distance either with GPS which isn't going to work in this case, or by counting your steps, which it recognizes from the impact reverberating through your body. But an elliptical moves in a continuous way with no impact.

Probably the "cardio" setting will get you a better calorie guess, but neither one really knows.

heybales

Ditto to cardio - since the distance formulas used for walking or running don't apply in this case, one reason being the distance estimated is meaningless.

Cardio option should cause it to NOT attempt to use the formulas for distance.