Treadmill Distance Accuracy

pilleus

I asked at NPE support/contact site to add a SuuntoPlus app for Runn treadmill sensor, as it is available for Garmin’s IQ Store.

With the Fenix 6X Pro I have a data field for Runn, which shows incline, decline (in %) and ascent, descent (in m) one after the other (every two or three seconds). In the summary of the treadmill workout in GarminConnect there is a graph for incline/decline and the total ascent/descent of the workout.

I hope that NPE will read it …

pilleus

Okay, I found a detailled explanation of how a Runn treadmill sensor is working.

“In order to get speed/distance/cadence/gain/incline data from the Runn, the watch and/or app needs to support the Stride Base Speed & Distance (SPD) ANT+ profile.”

https://npe-inc.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360038509212-Is-Runn-compatible-with-Garmin-watches-

I hope NPE will answer my request in the way, that the SPD profile is also available via BLE to have all the data on Suunto watches too.

isazi

@pilleus S+ apps can connect to BLE devices, and if the Runn has a way to broadcast ascent/incline in their BLE messages it will be in theory possible to have such data on Suunto watches. If they do not add the information in their broadcast, then yes it is difficult to do it.

pilleus

@pilleus said in Treadmill Distance Accuracy:

I hope NPE will answer my request in the way, that the SPD profile is also available via BLE to have all the data on Suunto watches too.

Got an email from NPE today. The team will discuss it in the next meeting.

Jamie BG

@lessthanmore
The Garmin calibration is a little bit different in that it then uses that basis for your next run - so assuming your stride is reasonablly even the next run should be pretty close to what your treadmill determines as distance.
Fortunately it does offer the option to recalibrate if it isn’t.

Biggest issue with the calibration is you have to run over 1 mile.

@Jamie-BG Yes, you’re right. Tested it this morning.
Treadmill: 6.26km
Zwift + Garmin HRM Pro: 6.3km
S9PP: 7.5km

A bit annoying since I use the treadmill often.

quattrojames

I’m on week 4 of C25k now and am pleased with my progress.

4k on the treadmill was reading 5.1k on my watch - I just adjust it after each run and it doesn’t worry me too much.

If I get into treadmill running then I’ll invest in that Runn device which looks really clever, but as I use a shared treadmill I’ll wait till I become obsessive about it

Ketoohs

Which pod is best performance to cost? I would only use it for treadmill accuracy, so I don’t need power or any advanced metrics.

Can the zwift pod connect directly to Suunto?

Tnx

Spree

@Ketoohs I would argue if you want to keep things cheap the Zwift POD is a good choice. Always worked fine for me, and it goes for 45 euros in most EU countries: I don’t know if anything cheaper exists, honestly. Before Zwift acquired it it was called Milestone, and you could get it for 20 - sadly, no longer the case.

pilleus

I recommend to use the Runn treadmill sensor. No foot pod can give these exact data. Pace, incline and cadence are precise measured by the Runn and the connection to Zwift or Suunto watch is possible. Just incline is missing on the Suunto watch, but may be there is a future S+ app.

The graph for the incline is showing the shock absorption because the Runn is very sensitive. But the advantage is to have the ascent of the training in meters.

Screenshot_20230123-191320~4.png

Andi Buzer

@pilleus I bought one today after having a treadmill workout last week, which tracked 12km despite treadmill displaying 11km. I hope it arrives quick, can’t wait to test it and I hope they add a s+ app for incline.

Stas Varazhbit

@Spree I have a ZWIFTpod and it is very unreliable. It constantly falls off the connection and the battery drains very quickly. I tried training with it in the arena and on the treadmill, but because of these problems I had to give up using it. Maybe it needs some kind of calibration or firmware, I don’t know.
@pilleus pace looks fantastic in the photo.

Spree

@Stas-Varazhbit I agree with the battery, it’s not great. I didn’t have connectivity problems though.

Andi Buzer

I received my Runn Sensor on Friday and did two runs with it over the last two days. It’s stunningly accurate, no big differences and kilometer vibration of the watch matches with display of the treadmill.

pilleus

@Andi-Buzer Did you increase the sensitivity of the Runn to obtain a correct cadence?

Andi Buzer

@pilleus no not yet. I did the speed and incline calibration with the configurEZ app and nothing else.
I just compared it to the trackings before installing the runn sensor and it appears to have almost doubled for the same speed. 79 before installing to 155 after installing.

pilleus

@Andi-Buzer It’s another value. There is SPM and cadence. If I sync the activity to Strava I get the double value of the SPM, which is the (cadence * 4) …

And if you use the Runn without calibration, you will get the real speed and distance, which may differ from your treadmill. I just calibrated the incline and use the speed settings without calibration.

Andi Buzer

@pilleus so just to make sure I got it right. Cadence is one leg, SPM both legs. And Strava misinterprets the value delivered by the runn and doubles it ?

I guess I should reset the runn to factory calibration then

And now on German to eliminate the chances of me messing up translation:
Also es ist ein Datenfeld, aber die Uhr berechnet den Wert anders als der Runn ? Und Strava geht von der Art und Weise aus wie die Uhr es berechnet und nimmt den Wert Mal 2 ?

pilleus

@Andi-Buzer Garmin macht es korrekt, das Datenfeld stimmt, die Angaben auch.

Suunto App zeigt z. B. 176 spm, Strava macht daraus beim Synchronisieren 352 S/min.

Warum auch immer.

For all: Garmin is okay, the data field is correct, the data too.

Suunto app shows e. g. 176 spm, after the sync to Strava I get there 352 S/min.

No idea why.

Andi Buzer

Today I ran into a new problem. After having to reset my s9p because workouts weren’t synced to it anymore. I obviously had to pair my runn to my watch again, and now my watch does not use the pace values delivered by the runn. Do I have to do some outdoor runs to get the calibration off the watch to work and then accept the values of the runn “footpod” ?

The problems which occur with my s9p in the last few weeks makes me really want to leave suunto…