Is Strava short changing me?

[Ian5K]

We went for a walk yesterday, with family. We, that is my wife and I, didn’t stroll arm in arm all the way but we more or less walked the same walk. She has a new Garmin watch, I have the free Strava app on my smartphone.

At the end, we compared notes and I’m surprised that her Garmin recorded 9.6km while my Strava app said just 7.4km. (the moving times were pretty consistent though). It’s odd as I’m the one who usually wanders further off to see what’s around the bend or over that fence; it’s me who ought to be recording further distances!

What do you reckon’s happening, folks?

Btw, we ran the same circuit this morning, simultaneously and the figures are just about consistent. Funny about that walk though.

[Cmoi Graduate10]

Has Strava drawn any unlikely straight lines on your route and thereby shortened it Ian5K ? That's occasionally happened to me, including the time when I apparently burst through several walls and slid down a roof before ending up in the neighbour's garden! 🤣 Mostly, though, I find Strava more generous in terms of distance than Garmin. When it comes to elevation, though, it's often the other way round.

[AlMorr Ambassador Graduate10 in reply to Cmoi]

... or even walked or ran on 💦 water, that has happened many times. 😊

[Ian5K Graduate10 in reply to Cmoi]

Yes, I had a crazy recording last year, which was all straight lines, going where there were no roads or tracks, but it was just the once.

Interesting though, I’ve just compared the maps recorded for the walk and it’s my wife’s which looks the odder. Whereas my line roughly follows a road, for the same segment, hers looks as if she was continuously crossing the road back and forth, like zig-zagging right side- left side.

Anyway, no mind, I just wondered wether I’d ever run a HM unawares thinking it was just a 12k. 😁

[roseabi]

Where do you carry your phone? Strava can lose GPS through being shielded in a pocket or bag...

[Ian5K Graduate10]

Roseabi, I have an elasticated armband pouch for runs - zipped and kind of a wetsuit material in case of rain. For walks, it goes in the zipped side pocket of my craghoppers.

[Hidden]

I am actually wondering the same in regards to my Garmin and NRC. NRC often gives me 5 km, when I have only done 3 km with my Garmin. Very weird...

[Ian5K Graduate10 in reply to Hidden]

It’s a big discrepancy, isn’t it? I might accept 1 - 2% difference.I remember a mate was chuffed to have set a PB for 5k until I noticed it recorded that he’d run a one mile segment in under 4 minutes. I mean, that was clearly not right but what if it had been only slightly wrong and plausible?

[Hidden in reply to Ian5K]

Did he run over water? 😜

[Thommo23 Graduate10]

I moved to Garmin from Strava and comparing the two - Strava always seemed to over-read by c.5-6%.

I have checked the Garmin distance with various routemappers and it always comes up within 3% of those (usually under) so I trust my Garmin more now.

If in real doubt - try websites like 'how far did I run' which allows you to plot your route and it measures based on roads/paths rather than GPS.