Garmin 920XT vs Nordic Track treadmill

Douglas Sutherland

Did the first of many winter treadmill runs this am, now with the new 920XT with the new little running guy HR strap. The mill says I ran 5.31 miles in 40 minutes compared to 4.5 miles on the 920XT. My HR averaged 154, which is slightly lower than I would expect if the work-out was done outside (2x1 mile @z4), but I am also just coming off a full week of no exercise. Which to believe?

Last year the mill training did not provide me as much real fitness as I thought I would have based on the mill's estimates of my running speed/distances. Would like to try to avoid that, though not optimistic I will be able to get outside this winter.

DS

 

Trish Marshall

I always ran "faster" vs the treadmill at the gym, but I was using the 910 and a foot pod. I now have the 920 with the fancy strap. AND, I'm contemplating purchasing a Nordic Track commercial 1750 mill. I've moved and the gym is now 25' away vs 5'.

Unrelated, but how do you like your treadmill?

Brian Hagan

 

I use a foot pod with the 920.  I know the heart rate strap calculates it, but I suspect the foot pod is more accurate.  

The foot-pod / HR strap always tells me I am faster than the treadmill data. 

The only time I use a treadmill is when I travel and it is not safe to run, so it is not very often.  

I always believe the hotel treadmills are wrong, because my effort always feels more like what the foot pod / HR strap is telling me.

Tom Glynn

I have a 910 and a footpod. It's been a while, but you can calibrate the footpod if you want. Take it out to a track and benchmark it against a one mile course. I then compared my results and found that with a gym quality treadmill my distances / paces were very accurate. With my cheaper home treadmill, I always went with the Garmin.

Gabe Peterson

I use a footpod with my Fenix 3. It will autocalibrate the footpod if you wear it on outdoor runs. Once properly calibrated, I find it very accurate.

If you want to get the maximum ROI out of your treadmill sessions, check on the Sufferfest run videos. I have a flat screen mounted in front of the mill in my pain cave, and keep them on my tablet for traveling. They are some of the hardest run workouts I've done. Great for building speed in the outseason.

dnesom

I have a Fenix2 and use the treadmill frequently while traveling and at home as well. Thus, I use many different treadmills. I find that the footpod (once calibrated) is more accurate than the chest strap or the Fenix's native capability. With the Fenix 2 I have found it best to manually calibrate for the treadmill vs. the GPS method or distance methods--I think this is because my gait may be slightly altered on the treadmill vs. outdoor running???

Bill Manard

My home TM consistently reads about 1'/mile slower than my 920XT with footpad. However, the HR correlation is correct (same HR for pace both on TM and outdoors within 2-3 bpm), so I've come to trust the Garmin. Slope of the TM is also a factor; I set mine at 1.5-2%. If I go less than that, the HR correlation really breaks down.

As always, YMMV. In this case, literally.

Scott Alexander

I run frequently on the dreadmill. I use a 910 with a footpod.

I find the garmin/footpod combo, on just about every treadmill I use, is about 50"-1' faster at pace. And, with that discrepancy, I usually get 1/3 -1/2 mile longer distance too.