anyone use stryd + garmin watch for lots of treadmill running?

I use my Garmin Forerunner 15 with the ANT+ footpod and it works beyond excellent. The 935 will work just fine with the same ANT+ footpod I use for my 15. They are pretty much universal.

You just need to make sure when you initially purchase it and pair it, that you need to run at least 30-40+ (the more the better) miles outside with the GPS on for it to adjust for your stride and accuracy and program/calibrate it for "you". This is the mistake most people don't realize and think the footpod is junk or defective.

After that, it will work excellent inside on the treadmill, or if you want your stride info, keep it on while you use it outside with GPS turned on. It also helps with the mapping of your run as well I found.

Another place I use it is if I do a track workout. I turn off GPS and just solely use the footpod. I know it is accurate because when I reach the 400m mark, it show .24, and if I go a bit further it then goes to .25 miles. Plus I don't need to see myself going in circles in Garmin Connect, and using GPS alone on a track is very inaccurate.

Hope this helps.

I do a lot of treadmill running on several different treadmill. I have both the Garmin footpod and a Stryd, and the Stryd is much more accurate. The Garmin footpod is pretty accurate at the speed you ran to calibrate it, but is further and further off as you get away from that pace. The Stryd is within 1% and usually doesn't require calibration.

adsfsdfdf wrote:

I travel a lot for work and often find myself on crappy hotel treadmills or random gyms and the variance on the calibration can be quite high. I'm thinking of buying a stryd and pairing it with my Forerunner 935 and using that for my treadmill data as opposed to what the machine is telling me. Does anyone do this? Does it work? I assume the runs can be uploaded to strava or garmin connect like any other run? Last question: if you run outside with a stryd and a GPS watch does the software calibrate the two distances together or do you have to choose whether you use footpod or gps for distance/pace? Thanks!

I use Stryd with a Fenix3 to do the same as you do, so Stryd and the 935 would be great together. Garmin has the best integration with Stryd when it comes to data, too, and you'll get pace and speed on Strava/GC, etc. as you normally would if you were using GPS.

On you last question, with the 935, you can choose to get pace and distance from Stryd, and use the GPS only for location. I would not use GPS to calibrate Stryd, since GPS is typically not as reliable. I went to a track and ran 25+ laps and saw that I was less than 1% off in distance each lap on average, so that was good enough for me to not need a calibration factor. Now when I run on treadmill, I just assume that what Stryd is telling me is closest to reality.

Go check out Stryd's facebook page. It has a ton of good info there.

Stryd is the best. And get zwift or a free trial if you on the tm.

Don't calibrate it though

FYI on reddit running group someone has commented on a Stryd post that Stryd has an intern posting on various running forums. I believe some of these responses are from a Stryd representative...

I use the garmin footpod for treadmill running with my Garmin Fenix 5. I tried the Stryd and found it was no more accurate than the garmin footpod but much more expensive - so I returned the Stryd. Unless you really care about all the other stuff the Stryd has, then I would save some money and just get a garmin footpod.

leapinlizzards wrote:

FYI on reddit running group someone has commented on a Stryd post that Stryd has an intern posting on various running forums. I believe some of these responses are from a Stryd representative...

Lol, I read that thread. The "investigator" guy has a hard-on for trying to catch "shills". I think it's pretty silly.

I use my Stryd for treadmills on work trips (paired to iSmoothRun on my iPhone) and find it a lot more reliable for treadmill distance than any of my watches or phone apps have been.

I have a Forerunner 220 which I pretty much use only for races now - I tend to train by time/effort rather than pace/distance, so having the phone for logging GPS/distance out-of-sight and playing podcasts is all I need outdoors. I'd love to upgrade to a more modern Garmin for wrist-based HR and instant pace with the Stryd, but can't quite justify the expense right now.

It's hilarious to read both that reddit post and then this discussion

https://www.facebook.com/groups/strydcommunity/permalink/1871943173103738/

I go to a real fitness center and have never noticed much of a difference between the treadmills at the various centers. This stryd thing sounds like a big waste of time and money.

Keepin it old school..... wrote:

I go to a real fitness center and have never noticed much of a difference between the treadmills at the various centers. This stryd thing sounds like a big waste of time and money.

Just curious, what are you using to measure that? I several different treadmills and they are all calibrated differently.

Hello...i use stryd for some weeks now in outdoor and indoor running...it's AMAZING and very precise in outdoor running but completely imprecise in treadmill....when measured in a 400m track it's so accurate that impressed me ! at the track lines, garmin (735xt i have), beeps exactly 400m (pace and distance from stryd with gps disabled) . Gps is adding meters so 400m track seems as 410m in garmins gps...so gps pace is usually faster than real (5''-7'' per min/km)

BUT for treadmill, stryd, is completely off. Need another calibrating factor. i have my own pro treadmill and i have measured it and calibrated my self...i know its speed belt exactly...Stryd is wrong and looses too much....for example in treadmill speed 15km/h (pace 4:00 m/km) , stryd gives me pace 4.30!!!...

I also noticed that when i run outdoors my power for example of 301 watts is for a pace 3:51 m/km and in treadmill same watts (301) gives me stryd pace 4.05....So it is imprecise in treadmill...also cadence is wrong from stryd ... i use metronome to run in 180 spm and stryd gives me 175!!...So i suppose it calculates perfectly the movement outdoors but the algorithm used internally is not for treadmill...stryd constructor say for this problem:" treadmill speed is belt speed and not runner's speed..trust stryd!!!" but they are wrong...If i need many more watts to run to the same speed in treadmill means this is a harder run and makes me exhausted. I expect to add another algorithm in the future to stryd for treadmills in base of Watts and not in pace!

But anyway stryd is awesome for all outdoor activities, much more precise from gps, helps with real power running control to a race (not hitting the wall) and helps to faster improvement.. I am a big fun ! I run 6 years now, i run 100km/week and i am so happy with stryd...but better use garmin footpod in treadmill with a low calibrating factor (i use garmin footpod at 94.6% and that is perfectly coincides with treadmill speed!

Have fun in your runs!

Dimitrios!

Hmmm, interesting. That hasn't been my experience and maybe you have a bad one. I have a Stryd and I use it all the time on treadmills and sometimes outdoors. I've found it to be within 1% when I run on tracks and accurate outdoor courses. I use several different treadmills (at the gym at work, and the local Y) and it varies just a little more (Stryd distance is with 1% - 2% of most treadmills). For the specific machines I use most often the readings are very consistent.

Old thread, but I wanted to add my experience...

Sometimes Stryd is extremely accurate, and sometimes it isn't. Generally, I find it deviates from the truth on extremes (i.e sprints and recovery jogs). Also, I get different pace readings running the same effort on different treadmills, which is really frustrating. I have a "bouncier" treadmill, and my pace and power output shows so much faster on that one than on other treadmills I use, even with the same effort (measured by heart rate). I still use Stryd for all of my runs, but the more I dig into the numbers, the more frustrated I get.

I do really like the quicker speed updates when running outside, though. And the vertical oscillation and cadence data seem really consistent. I just don't think the math used to calculate pace works perfectly across a variety of paces and surfaces.

The milestonepod is a cheaper option.