Vo2 Max on Vertical
-
Hi - I have acquired a Vertical Solar for a week now, switching from Garmin. I am a bit disappointed by the Vo2 Max tracking functionality which does not come intuitively but which also seems slow to register improvements. I am stuck at 43.7 after four solid runs, whilst it was updated after each run with Garmin (between 53 and 55 ;-)). Has anyone encountered the same issue after transiting from Garmin to Suunto? Many thanks
-
@NicDup Hi, just to check, are your zones set up correctly (with LT between zone 4 and zone 5)?
-
@NicDup It might be some BUG (there are other people on the forum refering Vo2 not updating as well). For example I have Vertical and my Vo2 was stuck always in 47 (post OP and long recovery) fast forward to my much improved fittness but it still had 47. I just purchased Race and suddelny the Vo2 went 52.1 on the first run. Its been stuck there for the past 15 runs. I do not want to reset the watch and check but I hope it will be resolved in the next FW update (along with the OHR requirement for LT and race estimations).
-
@NicDup How are you measuring your HR? How are the values, are they realistic?
I think all of you forget that the VO2 Max is an estimation from an algorithm in any watch.
On S9 and equivalent Suunto uses Firstbeat algorithms, now own by Garmin. On SV Suunto uses its own algorithm, which in my opinion is more stable and accurate. With the Firstbeat/Garmin algorithm the value could go up and down more than 5 points from one run to another, flat run vs trail run (less pace and same HR), from one day to the other. It is also easily “fakeable”, doing a flat 10k run in Z3/Z4 and the VO2 will increase greatly. In my opinion this is wrong, because you do not change your VO2 Max from one day to the other. Anyway, if you want to see some changes in VO2 Max do some Z3/Z4 runs at nice pace, use extremal sensor if possible.
In my opinion, the SV is more stable en less prone to strange variability, less affected if you do a recovery run, trail run, hike or tempo run. I think the VO2 Max trend is more correct with Suunto’s algorithm than with the Firstbeat/Garmin’s.
-
@cosme-costa While I do agree that the Vo2 does not change from one day to the other (or maybe even week(s)) based on my experience I have with FR965 this has greatly changed in Garmin’s ecosystem. I went from 53 to 54 in 3 months or so. So you cannot very easily trick the algos and that’s why they have this .1 .2 etc while in the past it was whole number.
On the other hand I had the Vertical stuck at 46.8 for ~6 months, until I changed to the Race (so new watch) and I imidiately jumped 6 points!?
Maybe I am missing something but I had the feeling that it was stuck. I always use HR belt since OHR just doesn’t work for me. -
@NicDup said in Vo2 Max on Vertical:
Hi - I have acquired a Vertical Solar for a week now, switching from Garmin. I am a bit disappointed by the Vo2 Max tracking functionality which does not come intuitively but which also seems slow to register improvements. I am stuck at 43.7 after four solid runs, whilst it was updated after each run with Garmin (between 53 and 55 ;-)). Has anyone encountered the same issue after transiting from Garmin to Suunto? Many thanks
If you actually use the software and the metrics on the Garmin you will be very disappointed by the Suunto. The hardware is great, but the software is severely lacking and extremely basic compared to Garmin. I am considering going back to Garmin because even simple things like trackback doesn’t work during navigation. My VO2max never updates either. My resources/body battery is way off, etc, etc. The only thing that seems solid software-wise on the Vertical is the altimeter.
-
@neonix One thing I find Garmin bad at is the introduction of new metrics all the time just for the sake of new features (endurance score, hill score) at some point it is tiring. You suddenly become flooded with numbers and metrics that do not help at all or introduce confusion. The only thing I find very good is the training readiness. This is spot on. The body battery is similar to Resources for me maybe the small difference is the better OHR Garmin has so better representation of this metric.
Another crucial issue for me at Garmin’s is the instant pace. Their algorithms go crazy when you make a turn for example while running especially in forest. Suunto has been spot on even with the old and great S9Baro. The issue seems smaller with the FR965 compared to the terrible terrible GPS on the Fenix6x. -
@neonix
Thank you all for your feedback. Disappointed by the software indeed and considering switching back… VO2Max still stuck after intense weekend trading ;-(
-
@NicDup you have not replied to the question about how did you configure your zones, nor described the kind of training you are doing. No other user can help you if you do not share more information.
-
@NicDup and one thing that hasn’t been mentioned here is that the algorithm is very sensitive about the HR and GPS data quality. Any glitch will result in the measurement not to be updated.
While running you need to have HR up in certain zones for some 15 minutes or more. I am not providing any specifics because what I heard from Suunto Support is not in line with the field testers’ instructions here in this forum.
I have had Vertical for a year now and I never seen VO2max yet. But it’s just probably me being too fat and unable to run 15 minutes in Z4-Z5…
And up here in north we have worse GPS coverage and we are experiencing radio signal interference from Mordor.
