Any Garmin users?

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  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
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    grmckenzie wrote: »
    Gonna bump this to ask if anyone has the data coming from Garmin Connect to MFP accurately?

    As of Black Friday, I've got the VAHR. And I've been playing with the settings in GC to see how close I can get to what my Polar strap says. Still have MFP set at the lowest level with minimal exercise.

    So, set GC to 10. 25 mins on the treadmill. Polar shows 246 cals. GC & MFP shows 294 for the same activity. I've got my weight the same in all 3 (MFP, GC & Polar). ~20% difference.

    HR recorded are:
    Polar Max 137, ave 126
    GC Max 137, ave 122

    Am I chasing my tail or can I get it closer then this?

    And rprr, feel free to pick your forum to respond in :)

    Are you asking how to make your Garmin estimate the same number of calories as your Polar? If so, that's not possible because they use different algorithms.

    Why do your two recordings disagree about your average heart rate over the course of 25 minutes? If you can find the answer to that, it might have something to say about the calorie difference.
  • Tacklewasher
    Tacklewasher Posts: 7,122 Member
    edited November 2016
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    midwesterner85 wrote: »
    grmckenzie wrote: »
    My Garmin is connected to MFP. So I'm not estimating calories in MFP, but it is taking the Garmin numbers and making it's own adjustments.

    Isn't that the entire day, then? The way mine is connected to MFP takes all activity reported to MFP for the entire day and then MFP makes adjustments based on everything... not just a single activity.

    It shows both if you look at the exercise tab in MFP. You have to turn on an activity in the watch and record it. Then what comes through to MFP will be the specific activity plus the other calorie adjustments for the day. It was the main problem I had with the VSHR, in that if I turned on an activity, it counted both the activity and the step calories. Was a software issue that the VAHR does not seem to have.

    If I look at Exercise on MFP for yesterday, it shows 3 activities (they were 2 treadmill sessions and 1 walking the dog) plus a 300 calorie Garmin adjustment for the rest of the day. Total calories burned from the Garmin of 1,163.

    I'm just trying to figure out how close that 1,163 is. Going by my one comparison, it looks to be 20% high or so. But that is after a bunch of fiddling on the Garmin side. I'm not eating them all back (or drinking them all back in my case) so this really is a bit academic, but that's how I'm wired.
  • Tacklewasher
    Tacklewasher Posts: 7,122 Member
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    NorthCascades wrote: »
    Are you asking how to make your Garmin estimate the same number of calories as your Polar? If so, that's not possible because they use different algorithms.

    Why do your two recordings disagree about your average heart rate over the course of 25 minutes? If you can find the answer to that, it might have something to say about the calorie difference.

    How different are the algorithms? Is a 20% discrepancy simply how they do their math, or can I fiddle more to get it closer?

    And I'm not sure how to figure out the why of the difference in the average HR.

    And I know I'm nit-picking at this point.
  • T1DCarnivoreRunner
    T1DCarnivoreRunner Posts: 11,502 Member
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    grmckenzie wrote: »
    midwesterner85 wrote: »
    grmckenzie wrote: »
    My Garmin is connected to MFP. So I'm not estimating calories in MFP, but it is taking the Garmin numbers and making it's own adjustments.

    Isn't that the entire day, then? The way mine is connected to MFP takes all activity reported to MFP for the entire day and then MFP makes adjustments based on everything... not just a single activity.

    It shows both if you look at the exercise tab in MFP. You have to turn on an activity in the watch and record it. Then what comes through to MFP will be the specific activity plus the other calorie adjustments for the day. It was the main problem I had with the VSHR, in that if I turned on an activity, it counted both the activity and the step calories. Was a software issue that the VAHR does not seem to have.

    If I look at Exercise on MFP for yesterday, it shows 3 activities (they were 2 treadmill sessions and 1 walking the dog) plus a 300 calorie Garmin adjustment for the rest of the day. Total calories burned from the Garmin of 1,163.

    I'm just trying to figure out how close that 1,163 is. Going by my one comparison, it looks to be 20% high or so. But that is after a bunch of fiddling on the Garmin side. I'm not eating them all back (or drinking them all back in my case) so this really is a bit academic, but that's how I'm wired.

    Hmm... I haven't tried an activity yet on Garmin. Probably will do that this afternoon / evening. I know Fitbit did not transfer an additional diary item when logging an activity, so I will be interested in seeing how this appears.
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
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    The algorithms are completely different because they were written by different people at different companies at different times with different ideas about exercise science.

    You must have recorded the treadmill session with both devices, right? I'm not sure how you'd know your average and maximum heart rate without having recorded it. Do you have heart rate graphs from both recordings? How do they compare when you look at them? Do both recordings agree about how long you exercised, or did one of them start or stop at the wrong time, or maybe use auto-pause or anything else?
  • rprr
    rprr Posts: 28 Member
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    @grmckenzie -- Looks like you are having fun with the numbers.

    I just personally feel that the GC exercise calories are a bit of an overestimate. Unfortunately, I don't have any hard evidence to back this up. For now, I'm just going to try to not eat or drink :wink: back those exercise calories completely.
  • Tacklewasher
    Tacklewasher Posts: 7,122 Member
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    NorthCascades wrote: »
    The algorithms are completely different because they were written by different people at different companies at different times with different ideas about exercise science.

    You must have recorded the treadmill session with both devices, right? I'm not sure how you'd know your average and maximum heart rate without having recorded it. Do you have heart rate graphs from both recordings? How do they compare when you look at them? Do both recordings agree about how long you exercised, or did one of them start or stop at the wrong time, or maybe use auto-pause or anything else?

    Yes. I recorded both. Both start and stop within a second or 2. That part is hard, start the treadmill, watch and phone all at the same time. I need a third hand. I'll look at the graphs tonight and see what the differences are.
  • Tacklewasher
    Tacklewasher Posts: 7,122 Member
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    rprr wrote: »
    @grmckenzie -- Looks like you are having fun with the numbers.

    Yeah.

    I'm an accountant........

  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
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    grmckenzie wrote: »
    NorthCascades wrote: »
    The algorithms are completely different because they were written by different people at different companies at different times with different ideas about exercise science.

    You must have recorded the treadmill session with both devices, right? I'm not sure how you'd know your average and maximum heart rate without having recorded it. Do you have heart rate graphs from both recordings? How do they compare when you look at them? Do both recordings agree about how long you exercised, or did one of them start or stop at the wrong time, or maybe use auto-pause or anything else?

    Yes. I recorded both. Both start and stop within a second or 2. That part is hard, start the treadmill, watch and phone all at the same time. I need a third hand. I'll look at the graphs tonight and see what the differences are.

    If you find the answer, you should post it here, might be useful for other people to know too.
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
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    rprr wrote: »
    I just personally feel that the GC exercise calories are a bit of an overestimate.

    FYI, the calories you see listed for exercise on Garmin Connect aren't all calculated the same way. Example:

    This walk is almost certainly an over-estimate. It's 85 % over, based on the Runners World formula.

    This bike ride is an under-estimate. It's about 10 to 15 % too low. The particular Garmin I used doesn't convert kJs to kCals, it just changes the label.
  • Tacklewasher
    Tacklewasher Posts: 7,122 Member
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    Hmm. Didn't you you could post like that

    Garmin
    https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1464150639

    Polar
    https://flow.polar.com/training/analysis/980236300

    Not sure if this works or not, but let me know if you can see either or both of the charts.
  • rprr
    rprr Posts: 28 Member
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    You have to change the privacy settings on it.
  • Tacklewasher
    Tacklewasher Posts: 7,122 Member
    edited November 2016
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    Can you see the Garmin one now? Need to check out the Polar one.

    Okay did that. Can you see them now?
  • rprr
    rprr Posts: 28 Member
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    Unfortunately, still cannot see either.
  • flyfisherformen
    flyfisherformen Posts: 10 Member
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    Howdy. Vivoactive HR here add me if like.
  • phrobbert
    phrobbert Posts: 47 Member
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    I picked up a Garmin a few weeks back. It's turned me into a total calorie countin' nerd I must confess.
  • FreyasRebirth
    FreyasRebirth Posts: 514 Member
    edited March 2017
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    Vivosmart HR here. https://connect.garmin.com/modern/profile/FreyaReborn

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