Wk 7 run 1 done! And a question about trackers....

[Ang33333]

We didn't run until 8pm so it was much cooler on the railway line tonight and we had no company at all from cyclists or faster runners! Wasn't too bad, easier than the previous run..!

I've got a question. I have been tracking my runs using my fitbit charge 2 and have produced little maps etc. Pace was always around 10 mins a km, nice and slow. Then my sister started tracking using the Strava app. It thinks we run further and go faster than the fitbit. I tried it out on a walk a few days ago and the difference was the same. Further walked and faster pace on Strava. Any ideas? Personally I think it's like bathroom scales, just stick with one and see progress. But I would like to know how fast we are actually running and how far we run? Just out of interest.... ?

[trogdelight Graduate]

I may be entirely wrong but I think fitbits have more accurate gps than your phone. I would trust the fit bit more or use something like map my run or gb mapometer to check which data is correct.

[Ang33333 Graduate in reply to trogdelight]

Thanks. I have map my run. I'll try it on Wednesday!

[YoureDoingGreatPet]

I think I’d be less sure about the Fitbit charge 2. My wife has one, I think they need to use the gps from your phone as they don’t have it built in. Also, my son had it on his wrist last week and did 364 steps just by being sat in the back of the car for half an hour...

[Ang33333 Graduate]

I know! I had the 'you need to move ...' message in the car today and 5 mins later, still in the car, it told me well done!! It's just a guide!

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Now. I have the same issues and disagree with the previous comment. Fitbit Charge (and Blaze, which is what I have) rely on your phone for GPS. If you have any kind of power-saving setting then that interferes with how often the GPS engages. So, if like me you come back the way you went then frequently the tracker will think you only ran to the last point the GPS engaged. Any distance from that until the point you turned around and ran back the way you came isn't counted. The time/pace relies on the distance divided by how long you've been running, so if the distance is wrong the time of course will also be wrong. Now, that's one issue. You're thinking Strava is also based on the phone so how is that more or less accurate. Well, I suspect the app has settings that overwrite the power-saving setting. I happen to know the distance I run so am able to say that Strava was much more accurate in my case. But is it luck!? I've also tried MapMyRun and Runkeeper. Unfortunately, all apps and that includes Strava have a habit of not only dropping out mid-run, but often take out the Couch25K app. I suspect trying to run too much on one device is the problem. Esp as I also run wireless earphones. My response is to run the C25K app and earphones on my phone. Switch off GPS on the Blaze and track as ordinary run to get the heart rate. Then I get my other half to run Strava and share the run with me. I don't get achievements that way, but you can't have everything.

[Ang33333 Graduate]

Thank you for such a detailed answer! I run the c25k app, spotify and my headphones off my phone. Too much I'm sure! My sister is going to use Strava.