New toys

[JaySeeSkinny]

Ooh - I like my new watch. Ran for the first time with it today, also with trusty Runkeeper piping up out of my pocket, and my watch made my first km about 40 seconds faster than Runkeeper. My first km is very often my slowest according to Runkeeper, as was the case today. But my watch told me it was not much slower than the rest. So who to believe? Both times were good in comparison to recent performance, so I'm not really bothered - just gives me more things to play around with! What fun!🏃

[Oldfloss Administrator 60minGraduate]

Believe the best result... ( like I always believe the best weather forecasts :))

Lucky you, it sound like a great new toy... I love all this running stuff! x

[Tomas Graduate10]

Congratulations with the new toy. Errr, new tool!

The "usual" comments re watches and phones is that a GPS watch is going to be more precise because it's engineered with one sole purpose, whereas a phone is a jack of all trades, with a GPS chip thrown in almost as an afterthought.

Having said that, phones tend to make the route appear longer (because as the GPS isn't as precise, it seems that you're criss crossing a lot more), so I would not have been surprised at all if you had told that the phone announced the first km sooner than the watch. But the other way around is a bit strange.

Are you ensuring that both devices have a firm satellite lock before setting off?

[JaySeeSkinny Graduate10 in reply to Tomas]

Garmin had GPS before I even left the house. Runkeeper zooms in on a map and I only start when I'm correctly localized. I'll keep my eye on things, might just be a one-off - Runkeeper once had me running at 4:30 / km, which was plain WRONG, so I know these things sometimes go harewire!

[davelinks Graduate10]

I would go with the Garmin.. and don't fall over while looking at it JaySee!😉

Accuracy

The problem with smartphones is that they sacrifice in certain areas to make room for everything else. A phone camera will never produce images as high-quality as an SLR.

So it is for smartphone GPS sensors. While these vary from phone to phone, the sensors are usually substandard compared to GPS watches. This means they are less accurate in terms of recording your speed and distance. This accuracy issue is less apparent when it’s averaged out over longer distances (like driving in a car). But when running, especially shorter distances, it can be glaring.😊

[JaySeeSkinny Graduate10 in reply to davelinks]

I fall over with or without a watch, Dave. It's those damned rocks and roots!

[davelinks Graduate10 in reply to JaySeeSkinny]

Yes, I know! I've nearly come a cropper on tree roots & pot holes. I hate to hear of people taking tumbles. Poor MW had a smack in the mouth when she fell and a friend of mine tripped over a tree route coming downhill and got a smack in the mouth!😔

[misswobble Graduate10]

ooooh lovely! A new watch! You will have all those stats to play with. I am not very good at stats , or owt else really. Sad to say. LOL

I did have my new phone to play with today though on my run. So busy faffing with the darned thing I forgot to run. It didn't go well

Your first k should be slower! You need to warm up before plunging headlong into a run

[JaySeeSkinny Graduate10 in reply to misswobble]

That's what the warm up walk is for! My first k is always phenomenally slow. Well so far anyway.