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Strava Accuracy


Suidwes Boytjie

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How accurate is Strava really when using it on your cell phone?

 

Reason I'm asking is I'm using a Garmin Edge 500 unit and upload to Strava whereas my wife is using her phone with Strava and whenever we ride the same route there is always a difference in distance and elevation with the Garmin always showing more in both.

 

Just interesting to know...  

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ask yourself which device is dedicated to do sports tracking and was specifically developed for that purpose

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Guest notmyname

Why not just link Strava to your Garmin connect account? It's a win-win.

I think you need to read the post again.

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Many many tests have been done. Short answer is that dedicated devices are more accurate.

 

If you want the long answers, I'll post links later.

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Also saw differences between the two with Garmin (oddly) showing less distance and elevation gain than the phone.  I'll stick to & trust Garmin anyday.

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Also something interesting,

chasing a mate of mine on a segment and we are in a singletrack. I am sitting on his backwheel and breaking all the time and still he beats me by 3sec. We have picked this up a couple times now. the phone gives you quicker times on segments!

(Now dont all go destroy your Garmin's)

 

 

Just sharing for interest sake.

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Elevation is always an issue, even when two people do an identical ride using the same Garmin device the elevation will be different.

 

Still far more accurate than a phone in my view!

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Most of the Garmins make use of a pressure sensor to measure changes in altitude.

I have found that it is quite inaccurate, so one loaded into Strava, I select elevation correction, and the elevation gets corrected to known values. 

Garmin connect has the same facility, but if your Garmin Connect and Strava accounts are synced, the raw data gets sent to Strava.

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Strava on the phone always ends up with a higher elevation, longer distance  and quicker times thru segments than the Garmin

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