Running Garmin that works with MFP?

Orphia
Orphia Posts: 7,097 Member
edited November 13 in Fitness and Exercise
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!
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Replies

  • MichaelJSwann
    MichaelJSwann Posts: 35 Member
    I don't know where your friend gets their information from. I use a Forerunner 230 and my steps and calories get sent to MyFitnessPal and of course, my activities are automatically synced to Strava from Garmin Connect.
  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
    The Garmin platform connects with MFP. Personally I've got a VivoSmart HR, aForerunner 310XT and an Edge 520, each of which send data to MFP easily.

    The FR235 is a good device.

    In terms of ecosystem, I upload to Garmin Connect, which then sends to MFP, Endomondo, Strava and TrainingPeaks.
  • MrStabbems
    MrStabbems Posts: 3,110 Member
    it does sync the info, however I find garmin grossly over estimates calorie expenditure and I find strava's estimation in a more acceptable range.
  • Gimsteinn
    Gimsteinn Posts: 7,678 Member
    My garmin syncs it just fine. And I've never had the over estimate calories.
    I kinda love my garmin and I really recommend getting one.
  • treehugnmama
    treehugnmama Posts: 816 Member
    I love my garmin too vivoactive hr. it syncs my info to mfp. intensity exercise amd steps as well as calorie burn. it plays well with mfp. I don't know what strava is so can't help there
  • iofred
    iofred Posts: 488 Member
    FR235 is perfect, both as a running watch, an activity tracker as well as a companion to MFP :)
  • davepete57
    davepete57 Posts: 33 Member
    I have a Vivoactive HR which works very well with running as well as all activities. It also tracks steps and plays well with MFP with the Garmin Connect app
  • dewd2
    dewd2 Posts: 2,445 Member
    I've been using a Forerunner 630 for about a year with MFP. I found that I had to alter my profile slightly on Garmin Connect to get my calorie numbers accurate. Other than that, there has been no issues syncing.

    FWIW, if I had it to do over, I would have purchased the 230 (or 235) over the 630. The touch screen is more of a PITA than it is worth.

    The new 735 looks like the perfect watch. Maybe Santa will bring it for me this year. :)
  • Orphia
    Orphia Posts: 7,097 Member
    Thanks everyone for your help!
  • 7lenny7
    7lenny7 Posts: 3,498 Member
    MrStabbems wrote: »
    it does sync the info, however I find garmin grossly over estimates calorie expenditure and I find strava's estimation in a more acceptable range.

    I have the opposite experience. Strava estimates are consistently 20% more than Garmin estimates.
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
    All of them.
  • Wkelkel
    Wkelkel Posts: 19 Member
    Vivoactive hr and fenix 3 hr both work seamless with my mfp sync.

    Imo garmin calculations for calories burnt etc are the most reliable I have used
  • Orphia
    Orphia Posts: 7,097 Member
    Thanks again!

    I've just been offered the FR225 at a bargain price, so I said yes. Can't wait to get started with it!
  • Psychgrrl
    Psychgrrl Posts: 3,177 Member
    Garmin n syncs great for me. I've never had it overestimate burn. Had my Vivoactive for about a year and a half.
  • Princess4Run
    Princess4Run Posts: 135 Member
    I love my FR 235. My steps and calories sync no issues
  • U2Bad1
    U2Bad1 Posts: 41 Member
    I have vivoactive HR and I love it..if anything it seems to be conservative on calorie expenditure.
  • Orphia
    Orphia Posts: 7,097 Member
    I've started using my Garmin Forerunner 225.

    Garmin Connect calories for my runs are being added to MFP, but no calories are being added for steps walked.

    I've earned 1577 kilojoules today from running 7.6 km which is in MFP.

    But I haven't had any calories sent for also walking 7 km.

    My MFP activity level is set to sedentary, and negative adjustments are enabled.
  • MichaelJSwann
    MichaelJSwann Posts: 35 Member
    Have you enabled activity tracking on Garmin Connect? Do you have Garmin Connect set as your step source in MFP?

    You need to do both to get it to work. My 230 sends steps and activity data no problems.
  • Orphia
    Orphia Posts: 7,097 Member
    MichaelJSwann wrote: »
    Have you enabled activity tracking on Garmin Connect? Do you have Garmin Connect set as your step source in MFP?

    You need to do both to get it to work. My 230 sends steps and activity data no problems.

    @MichaelJSwann Thank you! I think enabling Garmin Connect as the step source fixed it. Thanks again. Now I can see steps added in MFP as well as running activities.

    However, the total calories earned isn't many, compared to the same amount of exercise from Fitbit, which was very accurate.

    This is only about half as many calories as I used to get.

    Could it be my activity levels?

    MFP is set to sedentary, with negative adjustments enabled.

    GC is set to highly active. (8)
  • katharmonic
    katharmonic Posts: 5,720 Member
    @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.
  • Orphia
    Orphia Posts: 7,097 Member
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    Is there an MFP Garmin group here?
  • MichaelJSwann
    MichaelJSwann Posts: 35 Member
    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
    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
    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
    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.
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