Calibrating a Garmin to my treadmill - help?

[linda9389]

I wonder if anyone has any thoughts on how I can calibrate my Garmin Fenix 5 to my treadmill?

I have read that there will be an option on my watch to input the distance from the treadmill after a run, so long as I run 1.5 miles.

Today I walked for 45 minutes at a pace that had me sweating (admittedly the heating came on during the activity 😀); the treadmill said I had done 1.7 miles (under 3k) which seems too short considering I usually walk 5k in just under an hour outdoors (quite possibly incorrect as the treadmill is old and second hand); Garmin said I had gone 120 metres in those 45 minutes!!! I had made sure my watch arm was swinging freely (even when the other was holding my kindle - no lampposts to walk into 😀) and of course my feet were moving pretty normally.

So why did Garmin give me such a ridiculously low distance? how will I ever get it to 1.5 miles so I can attempt to calibrate it? Is it a waste of time?

With lockdown and only one session of exercise allowed per day I can see me using the treadmill more often (some days I do need to walk the dog and can't run with her) and I'd like to be able to record the treadmill runs with my watch if possible.

Edit: part of my problem is not understanding what it will use to calculate distance on future treadmill runs even after it is calibrated - is it arm swings? cadence? or what!

Could I, for instance, run outdoors and use my phone to measure GPS distance, then calibrate using that distance (which is likely to be more accurate than the reading on my treadmill)? or would that not work once I actually run on the treadmill

Anyone any thoughts or ideas that might help? TIA

[Bike_and_Run Half Marathon]

I haven't got a treadmill, nor a fenix so I'm sure there will be better advice from others.

But I did a run on the spot and recorded it as a treadmill run on my FR45. when I finished I had the option to 'discard', 'resume' or 'save and calibrate'.

I clicked save and calibrate then it asked me to enter the distance on the treadmill. Obviously I couldn't so I just accepted the Garmin distance, be hope that if ever I do get on a treadmill I can recalibrate again

[linda9389 Administrator Marathon in reply to Bike_and_Run]

I have read you can recalibrate, yes! I may have to try it again running with the treadmill option and see what happens.

[Dexy5 10 Miles]

I can’t answer your question Linda but I’ve heard from others here that the Garmin customer services are excellent at solving their issues. Also there’s a manual on the website which provides more detail than the one that comes with the watch.

[linda9389 Administrator Marathon in reply to Dexy5]

Oooh yes, I may just call them. I have spoken to them in the past and they were really helpful. They will have to speak slowly though so I can understand 😲😅

[Tasha99 Marathon]

Are you setting it off as a treadmill run when you start? Not just a run? When you start scroll down to treadmill. Then at then end it asks you if you want to calibrate it.

[linda9389 Administrator Marathon in reply to Tasha99]

Yes, I selected treadmill at the start. I didn't get the option to calibrate - I don't think - possibly because it recorded such a tiny distance over the 45minutes. I have no idea how Garmin arrived at the 120 metres. I've done several runs and walks outdoors if it wanted to check history, I kept my arm moving in case it used that, my feet hit the ground repeatedly ...

[Tasha99 Marathon in reply to linda9389]

Don’t know then sorry 😢

[linda9389 Administrator Marathon in reply to Tasha99]

I'm wondering ... I read that Garmin uses an accelerometer and arm movement is important ... maybe a walking arm swing isn't enough, maybe it needs a full running 'hips to lips' kind of swing ... or maybe that's just made up bull on my part 🤔🙄😅. But if so, then maybe it will never work for walking ...

[Tasha99 Marathon in reply to linda9389]

No it can’t do as the arm swing works fine as a pedometer

[linda9389 Administrator Marathon in reply to Tasha99]

True

[SlowLoris]

If you want to run outside every day put the dog on the treadmill.

[linda9389 Administrator Marathon in reply to SlowLoris]

Ingenious!!!

[SlowLoris in reply to linda9389]

That aside, I think you need to use a footpod for accurate treadmill distance. Garmin or Stryde. The watch will measure steps and cadence from your footfall vibration. Mine works even if I’m walking with hands in coat pockets, so it doesn’t use arm swings. Normally you have to calibrate distance with GPS or a measured track.

[GoGo_JoJo Ultramarathon in reply to SlowLoris]

I have a garmin runpod, still massively out on the mill 👎🏻

[SlowLoris in reply to GoGo_JoJo]

You'd think that the revolutions of the treadmill belt would give a decent pace and distance but obviously not. I've never used one in anger, just once for a shoe shop gait analysis. I've just ordered a rower for low impact cross training. I don't think I'll worry about the distance rowed. I might manage a virtual crossing of The Serpentine.

[linda9389 Administrator Marathon in reply to SlowLoris]

I think the belt stretches and slips over time. My one is old and secondhand so may well be out. But we’ll see - if I ever get round to the next step of the measuring!!!

[cheekychipmunks Half Marathon]

I no longer use a treadmill as I ditched my gym membership (which was part of a luxury retirement community so obviously it was closed during the first lockdown), but I remember after using it for a 5k once my Garmin pinged up “calibrate this run?” which I duly ignored 🤦‍♀️. I tried to get it back on the screen and read that it needed at least a km of running in order to calibrate. That was with a Vivoactive 3 that I was playing with btw. I never did calibrate it in the end.

Maybe try again with a short run as opposed to a walk? (Sorry if someone has already suggested that!)

[linda9389 Administrator Marathon in reply to cheekychipmunks]

I will probably try that next. I reme.ber it was your post that first made me realise you could calibrate the watch to a treadmill 👍

[triumph-tiger Half Marathon]

I know it’s a bit tricky to configure on the Vivoactive 3, and quite easy to input the an incorrect value. I originally made a mistake converting miles to km, so then needed to do another treadmill run of around 1 mile or so to get the option to recalibrate. However because it was misconfigured I had to run several miles longer than this in order for the watch to think it had done the required distance. I’d also suggest checking the Gramin forums or customer service. I think for mine another suggestion was to reset the watch to factory default settings – though then you'd need to reinstall and setup everything else as well.

(Although this is no longer relevant to me anyway: the treadmill I calibrated was in my work’s gym, and since Covid they have now closed the office and made us permanent home workers!

)

[linda9389 Administrator Marathon in reply to triumph-tiger]

Ah. That's a good warning to be prepared - should I ever persuade it that I've gone far enough to be allowed to input anything at all!

[Jonno34 Marathon]

I can calibrate my vivoactive after 2k. Other than that not much help. 5k on the treadmill always takes way longer than the road btw. I am doing HIIT from NHS on you tube for my supplementary exercise, seems good for strength and flex to support my running, after 3 days I ache im more places than I knew I had and I thought I was fit!

[linda9389 Administrator Marathon in reply to Jonno34]

Interesting. If I believe the treadmill display, I am way slower on it than outdoors. I've always thought that that must just be my perception though, because most people say they are faster on a treadmill (and that would make sense to me logically). Trying to properly measure my treadmill distance seems an awful lot of bother and getting it professionally calibrated a waste of money. I don't use it often enough for it to really matter - but I would like to understand it and my watch!!! HIIT sounds scary to me ... but good to hear you're pleased with your aches 😀

[Decker Ultramarathon]

Using the indoor run setting in Garmin, I found that strapping the watch to my ankle followed the stride and resulted in fairly accurate pace and distance readings to the machines reading. The watch actually showed longer distance sometimes. No idea how accurate all of this is but it works for me. Also found that without outdoor wind, I sweat like crazy on this thing! It feels like hard work especially doing speedwork. Mrs Decker has since had me setup a fan for her which helps her.

[linda9389 Administrator Marathon in reply to Decker]

Thanks Decker . I spoke to Garmin yesterday. They want me to send them activity examples (yep, they want me to try again!). As it happens I need to run indoors today as I've already walked outdoors, so used up my allotted exercise allowance. I'll try on my wrist this time (my arms will move through a greater distance running than they did walking). If it still doesn't seem to be recording properly then I will try my ankle and see what happens.One day I may just have a go at marking the belt and trying to count the revolutions to see if the treadmill is as far out as I perceive it to be .... but that day has yet to arrive 😅

[Decker Ultramarathon in reply to linda9389]

Who knew running would get so complicated? Yes a friend mentioned zwift has a running app that works with treadmills and you need to calibrate your treadmill first

[linda9389 Administrator Marathon in reply to Decker]

It worked fine yesterday when I ran on it. Garmin said a bit further than the treadmill, but I calibrated the watch at the distance it suggested as I'm sure the treadmill is underestimating. I can only guess that there wasn't enough 'bounce' when I was walking for the watch to register. If I walk on it again I'll try the ankle trick 😊

[GoGo_JoJo Ultramarathon]

I've given up trying to get mine in track with the mill. It does rely heavily on arm swing which is just dumb. Every time I've reset it to what the mill says it goes out again... pointless

[linda9389 Administrator Marathon in reply to GoGo_JoJo]

Interesting! It did work reasonably well when I ran on the treadmill. I then tried walking again - with a hefty arm swing - and it was better, but as soon as I forgot the power walking arm swing measured pace dropped way down again! I stared at a mark on the belt the last time I used it, and now just need to measure the belt to see just how (in)accurate the treadmill reading is 😀The more I think about it, you can't really compare indoor and outdoor distance; you can compare steps, stride length ... but I'm not sure either really represent the same effort. Having said that, I don't want to be cheated on me strava stats 😂😂😂

[GoGo_JoJo Ultramarathon in reply to linda9389]

I know, super frustrating! I naturally assumed after I got the runpod that it would help improve the accuracy. My mill is still pretty new so I figured it was garmin that was out rather than the machine. I also find the regardless of the speed set on the mill, if I increase cadence without adjusting the mill, Garmin shows me much faster... 🤷‍♀️🙈

[linda9389 Administrator Marathon in reply to GoGo_JoJo]

A very inexact science for sure.