Dan B
Stunned Runner
Posts: 136
|
Post by Dan B on Jun 2, 2009 14:36:48 GMT -5
I have had my "trusty" Garmin 405 for almost 12 months. I have come to realize that it tracks short of actual mileage out in the woods ( yes even when set to high GPS sensitivity) But I am addicted to the thing and can't run with out it.. I especially enjoy exporting the data to mapmyrun.com and viewing the elevation profiles..( yes I really don't have anything better to do).. anyway I really can't believe that some of the hills out there are only say a 6% grade as shown on mapmyrun.com data... So I was wondering if any other tech-heads/runners out there had encountered similar results.. PS here is a link to Sweet Water 50k as an example: www.mapmyrun.com/route/us/georgia/lithia+springs/197124396864758524 |
|
|
|
Post by scotty on Jun 2, 2009 16:43:19 GMT -5
Dan,
Very interested in what your Garmin showed for SH20. But when I clicked on the link it said route had been deleted?
|
|
|
|
Post by lucinda on Jun 2, 2009 19:56:49 GMT -5
Dan, what did you get for the cumulative evaluation? How accurate do you think it is?
|
|
Dan B
Stunned Runner
Posts: 136
|
Post by Dan B on Jun 3, 2009 5:54:34 GMT -5
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jun 3, 2009 10:05:28 GMT -5
Dan,
It appears that the Garmin may have smoothed the elevations. Not even it believes you did what you did.
If you compare the slopes provided from the Garmin to the elevation map on the website you'll see that there are quite a few ups and downs missing on your Garmin.
I wonder if it has to do with how often your watch takes a GPS reading.
Thank you, for publishing this. It's fun to retrace the path in Google Earth. Google Earth even picks up more of the elevation changes than the Garmin does.
And you thought YOU didn't have anything better to do!
|
|
Dan B
Stunned Runner
Posts: 136
|
Post by Dan B on Jun 3, 2009 12:22:09 GMT -5
Thanks for your feed back. I suspect that a dinky little Garmin 405 is never going to be exactly correct.. but it is better than many of the other foot pod gizmos I've tried over the years... One thin all of these running gizmo's have seemed to confirm is I am a slow ass  but it is fun running stuff like that and meeting other "crazy" runners... My brother is an avid cyclist and has a Garmin 705 or some such.. I may get him to map out the power lines to see if data is more accurate.... Yep nothing better to do is about right! |
|
DobeRunr
Stunned Runner
Dobes gone wild!
Posts: 60
|
Post by DobeRunr on Jul 7, 2009 11:14:14 GMT -5
Here's a little experiment I did recently, I had the Garmin 405 using GPS elevation data, and a handheld unit using barometric altimeter data. Lesson here: GPS is really not very accurate in elevation. (FYI the barometric curve is pretty accurate. The course was out-and-back so it should be a mirror image. Also, barometric pressure was falling during the run which gives it a somewhat upward trend, but still a lot better than GPS).  |
|
Dan B
Stunned Runner
Posts: 136
|
Post by Dan B on Jul 9, 2009 7:28:00 GMT -5
Wow that is very cool.... the GPS looks so so different!!
Thanks for sharing that data....
Which GPS did you have or does it matter?
|
|
DobeRunr
Stunned Runner
Dobes gone wild!
Posts: 60
|
Post by DobeRunr on Aug 3, 2009 0:27:00 GMT -5
Wow that is very cool.... the GPS looks so so different!! Thanks for sharing that data.... Which GPS did you have or does it matter? Crap. Sorry it took me so long to answer. The baro data is from a Garmin 60CSX. The important thing is that it has a barometric altimeter. I don't know which models have that, but it's much better than the GPS altitude. |
|
Dan B
Stunned Runner
Posts: 136
|
Post by Dan B on Aug 29, 2009 5:57:44 GMT -5
I ran the Pikes Peak marathon again a few weeks ago and the trusty 405 did well. Only problem (besides poor elevation tracking) is the relatively short battery life. Since I am slow I ran out of battery power before the end of the marathon (again). I figured I'd either have to move to Colorado to train at altitude so I can do the marathon in under 7hrs and therefore not run out of power ( a very tempting but expensive solution) or buy the new 310XT that has a 20 hr battery life. So I bought the 310xt... yes it is larger than the 405 but the display is bigger and easier to read and you can see more info while you run... Also the heart rate strap is much more comfortable.... So far so good I'll keep you all posted Thanks Dan Attachments:
|
|
but it is fun running stuff like that and meeting other "crazy" runners...
