Garmin 500 vs Strava/ Runtastic

kiwiinmelb

Likes Dirt
Hi , just curious about something,

Ive always used my iphone , either Strava or runtastic to record my rides, just like to see my kms against time ,

I was given a Garmin 500 as a present , used it for the first time yesterday on my local trail , and I suspected it was recording the distance as slightly less than what I was used to thinking it was ,

So with only a few kms less , I started the iphone to make a comparison and I was right ,

On average for every 1 km on strava, the garmin 500 had it around 950m ,

Im sure there are guys here who know all about this stuff ,

Which one do I trust as being more accurate ? Cheers
 

BLKFOZ

Likes Dirt
You definitely need a speed/cadence sensor for the garmin distance to be completely accurate. Have a look at your GPS trace close up on a map though - phone will be all over the place, garmin is much more accurate. Also the phone may give you stupidly high elevation gains.
 

Ride_Guy

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Yep iPhones can be out a great deal, as can the garmins with out a wheel sensor. Seen up to 2k difference on one particular ride, also segments times can be out by a a lot with mobile devices.
 

swaz

Likes Bikes and Dirt
I find the complete opposite. My phone is heaps more accurate than my edge 500

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk
 

camoshop

Banned
i find both my phone and garmin aren't always the same, but they give you a rough idea. for example yesterday i did a lap of an xc track and it said it was 10.1km and today i did the same track and it said 9.8km that was with a garmin. my iPhone using strava said the same track was 10.9km. as said above unless you have a wheel sensor you will never be spot on.
 

johnny

I'll tells ya!
Staff member
Well, I'm glad I read this.

My iPhone is wildly inaccurate when using Strava (times there's no way I could have achieved - times that are ~30% slower than my average when I've been expecting a PR, etc.....) and I have been watching Garmins and other similar products waiting for something to come up cheap.

However, if they're just as unreliable I might just save my $$$!
 

swaz

Likes Bikes and Dirt
However, if they're just as unreliable I might just save my $$$!
I have read somewhere that the 510/810 are much more accurate than the previous models. Something to do with being able to use more satellites. They might use Russian ones or something...

hahaha I was only half joking but it seem to be true. They use http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GLONASS
 
Last edited:

carpetrunner

Likes Dirt
What do you want to use it for?

If you want to know where you have been then iPhone is fine and/or dandy. If the place you went has a good basemap in strava the elevation data will be way more "accurate" than the barometer in an edge 500. If you like to look at the funny numbers strava calculates like calories burned, average power and work output - these use that elevation data, so they could be more accurate on an iPhone...

If you want a device to help you train and XC race, then you will probably have a HR strap and the cadence/speed sensor anyway... the edge 500 gives you useful numbers where you can see them.

but... if you want to shout "strava", collect KOMs and piss of your mates; the 1s GPS data wins every time. If your iPhone does 3s GPS samples then the garmin will on average save you 1.5s on the start and 1.5s on the end of a segment. 3 seconds on the descent to the Quary track from Belrose is the difference between KOM and 1st looser. Have a look at the leader boards, not many iPhones in the top 10 of a competitive segment, none if the segment is under a minute.

- carpetrunner
 

Big Tim

Likes Dirt
Can you win a segment from your lounge room. Reason I ask there is a section of track I ride. I'm in the top 10. The guy at number 1 is double my speed. It's a steep short downhill with a couple of dog legs. It's not possible to do 100 k's down there. Still he owns the segment. It occurred to me a few weeks ago a modern trainer with all the right apps. He could peddle like a mad man and win it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

johnny

I'll tells ya!
Staff member
I only care about competing against my own times.

I ride about 5 times a week on 3 different tracks all broken down in to private segments (that range from 30 seconds at the shortest to about 9 mins at the longest) for my own analysis. With that in mind a few seconds here and there matter to me and that means that an iPhone is totally hit and miss for this kind of dealio.
 

johnny

I'll tells ya!
Staff member
Can you win a segment from your lounge room. Reason I ask there is a section of track I ride. I'm in the top 10. The guy at number 1 is double my speed. It's a steep short downhill with a couple of dog legs. It's not possible to do 100 k's down there. Still he owns the segment. It occurred to me a few weeks ago a modern trainer with all the right apps. He could peddle like a mad man and win it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
YEah, people fake shit all over Strava. There are apps that doctor your times to make you faster and others also have reportedly used motorbikes and stuff like that. Another issue is I've seen guys on parts of XC/AM tails sessioning specific sections. So if you're riding a whole course and getting to sections like that with 20ks of slog already under your belt you're not going to stand a chance against people who are fresh-legged and going back and forth on one short bit getting their eye in and ride down pat.

Basically, if #1 on any public segment leads by a significant gap and #s 2-3-4-5-6 are all bunched closely behind, I regard #1 as dodgy.
 

Ivan

Eats Squid
Can you win a segment from your lounge room. Reason I ask there is a section of track I ride. I'm in the top 10. The guy at number 1 is double my speed. It's a steep short downhill with a couple of dog legs. It's not possible to do 100 k's down there. Still he owns the segment. It occurred to me a few weeks ago a modern trainer with all the right apps. He could peddle like a mad man and win it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

There was probably just a problem with his GPS data. I got a KOM on a ride today for a mega steep climb, and my average speed was 87km/hr. This climb KOM was also set when I was descending. Somehow Strava has got its knickers in a twist , so I flagged the GPS data for review.
 

Duane

Likes Bikes and Dirt
I went for an average run down a favourite decent recently (I know it wasn't my fastest run). My Garmin 500 and Strava had me at 2nd fastest overall (at least 15 seconds faster than my best), I quickly deleted the data and now take all KOMs etc as a load of shit. All the data is just too inaccurate. I imagine there are some dishonest wankers who claim the inaccurate and false times as genuine though, which makes a mockery of the whole Strava leaderboard in my opinion.

My kids cheap wheel sensor bike computer regularly measures a longer distance.
 

swaz

Likes Bikes and Dirt
This has turned into a "how shit is Strava" thread. Like anything out there it can be rorted, but it doesn't make it all bad. I love being competitive against myself and see improvement, track km's and now that I have entered all my running gear and brakes etc. I can see how many k's things last. So it isn't all bad!

I will have to check my Garmin 500 is set to 1 sec recording. I like the almost instant results my phone gives me too.
 

camoshop

Banned
i often see kom's and think wtf how could you go that fast, i mainly like strava because i know each ride if i get a whole lot of PR's i know I've improved from the last ride :)
 

takai

Eats Squid
My 510 is heaps more accurate than the guys i ride with on iPhones. Even in flat open ground the iPhone regularly just jumps 300m around.



Note the 1 tick jump on my mates iPhone5 Strava log from Lakeside Drive almost to Queens Way. Thats about 250m and he 'covered' it in 6s. Gets even worse when its in tree or building coverage.

Oh and here is what an SGS2 gives with Strava. Mate on the same ride as above:


Thats 3 'laps' of the GP circuit, with the amazing ability to cycle on water.

For reference this is what my Garmin 510 on teh same ride produces:
 
Last edited:

kiwiinmelb

Likes Dirt
Im not competitive against other riders,

Just like to see how far ive riden and compare my own times ,

Today I used the garmin 500 and Strava , at lysterfield for the whole ride,

The garmin said I rode 31.6 kms , strava 33.7

2 kms is a big diff really . Looking at the online map , if the trail distances they use are accurate , and adding them up , I reckon the garmin is closer to the mark ,

The negative is , im even slower than I thought I was
 

Minlak

custom titis
I have recently swapped from a Garmin 500 to a Garmin 510 it came with the wheel sensor and cadence sensor however I am not using them atm. The 510 is definitely more accurate than the 500 was however in the bush it just plain may not find the satellite if the canopy is dense. The new track where I ride has dense coverage in some sections and the accuracy is out. I found setting the Edge 500 to smart or to 1 sec didn't really make much difference to over all data.

The phones in our area using Strava are also hit and miss so that leaves one conclusion it is all pretty much hit and miss. Garmin with wheel sensor properly calibrated will be 99.9% accurate for distance but the track on google maps may not be after as the satellite may place you off to the sides.

Don't forget to allow for the fact the google maps are not always accurate in the location of the roads. I have a few roads (wide open clear space) where the Garmin info shows me riding along the beside the actual road.

Johnny if you want to challenge yourself get the Garmin 810 it has the mapping on it and you set virtual partner. The only bad is if you use a loop you did last time on the road and didn't get the lights or train the virtual partner will scoot on through whilst oyu wait the cheating little mofo......

http://sites.garmin.com/edge/
 
Top