Rotorburn strava

[Flow-Rider]

My mate rode with his watch and his phone recording the same ride over the weekend, some segments were faster by 30 seconds or more on the phone. Very few were faster on the watch, and only by a couple of seconds. I think it's safe to say that if you aren't running a military grade GPS you can't trust every segment and phones appear to give you faster times in general. So really, the only valid segment challenge is yourself using the same device each time.

I really hope they consolidate segments with our money, it's so stupid when there are 12 of the same segment.

I actually found that my Garmin 810 was a couple of seconds faster over most trails than my phone. Two friends bought identical Garmin watches, and they were over 15 min difference in an hours ride.

 

[Litenbror]

I had a good one last week my watch (Suunto) gave me 1004m of ascent and when it synced with Strava I got 1332m. Others on the ride got between 900 and 1000m so I have to think something funny happened when the Suunto software synced with Strava.

 

[Daniel Hale]

Bloody hell! So where would that leave me? Finish the course

they don’t let you finish, a little guy on course away from cameras tells you to get off the course as the next race is starting

 

[sbm]

Don't do that. Bad Idea, I tried it.

Doing a real race put me in my place very quickly lol , went from generally high up in strava to very mid pack in reality ha ha

Oh don't worry, I've done some local BMX racing, my ego has been obliterated, I'm completely at peace with coming dead last, and being slower than both the little kids AND their parents.

 

[sane]

I had a good one last week my watch (Suunto) gave me 1004m of ascent and when it synced with Strava I got 1332m. Others on the ride got between 900 and 1000m so I have to think something funny happened when the Suunto software synced with Strava.

I use the same, ambit 3. The Movescount app exagerated elevation in the past, since I changed to the newer Suunto app el seems to be on the conservative side. Which app do you use?

 

[Litenbror]

I use the same, ambit 3. The Movescount app exagerated elevation in the past, since I changed to the newer Suunto app el seems to be on the conservative side. Which app do you use?

I'm using the new software also the watch (Spartan Ultra) tracks it in real time so I don't think it's a software issue with Suunto. I probably need to go back and check previous rides to see if it's a one off or a common problem. Most likely it's a difference with tracking as I'm using GLONASS on the watch and have it set to very accurate and Strava might not like it as I think most phones would only use GPS.

There's a thought is it the GPS that the phones and watches use to calculate altitude or do they have have altimeter's built in. Time for some googling.

 

[silentbutdeadly]

There's a thought is it the GPS that the phones and watches use to calculate altitude or do they have have altimeter's built in. Time for some googling.

I'm fairly sure that both Mapbox (now used by Strava), OpenStreetMap and Google all use the same digital elevation model for their mapping of Australia. It'll be the 10 metre DEM supplied by Geoscience Australia... primarily because it's free.

Now, if I remember the model parameters sufficiently, it's something like a 100 square metre pixel across which the average elevation is modelled based on terrain mapping and point source elevation data. I can't recall what the vertical precision of the thing is...

Each mapping software simply takes the GPS positioning and barymetric data off your device and then cross references it against the DEM in order to estimate altitude at a given point on your activity.

Given that none of these data points is especially precise to begin with then it should come as no surprise that everyone's final readings are quite a bit different. Or just plain wrong.

I used to ride around Mildura along the Murray River in NW Victoria...the area is roughly 40 metres above sea level and generally flat. Yet somehow it's quite possible to ride for a hour or two and claim 300 metres in elevation. And yet here I sit at 600 metres elevation on the central western slopes of NSW with the town at 550 metres and if I go for an hour or two ride I can claim...about 300 metres.

As a result...I don't take my Garmin or how Strava interprets the data it produces particularly seriously.

 

[sane]

Definitely not to be taken too seriously. Strava's best feature for me is being able to shit talk with other riding mates who don't live just around the corner.