If you use a GPS watch on a track, you are an idiot.

explain yourself wrote:

if it's not accurate then why does my watch say 800m when I ran 800m on the track?

If you got lucky one time, that's great. It uses a sampling based system with a wide radius. You don't have to trust me on this. Look it up. It's fine for figuring out whether you ran APPROXIMATELY 5 miles or whatever, but if you're trying to do something precise like judge a 400m split time, you're going to get the wrong answer, period.

gps guy wrote:

explain yourself wrote:

if it's not accurate then why does my watch say 800m when I ran 800m on the track?

If you got lucky one time, that's great. It uses a sampling based system with a wide radius. You don't have to trust me on this. Look it up. It's fine for figuring out whether you ran APPROXIMATELY 5 miles or whatever, but if you're trying to do something precise like judge a 400m split time, you're going to get the wrong answer, period.

Why would I look it up when I can just look at my watch and see that it says 800m when I ran 800m?

Maybe you're not running in a straight line for five miles.

why would i do that wrote:

gps guy wrote:

If you got lucky one time, that's great. It uses a sampling based system with a wide radius. You don't have to trust me on this. Look it up. It's fine for figuring out whether you ran APPROXIMATELY 5 miles or whatever, but if you're trying to do something precise like judge a 400m split time, you're going to get the wrong answer, period.

Why would I look it up when I can just look at my watch and see that it says 800m when I ran 800m?

Maybe you're not running in a straight line for five miles.

It doesn't say 800m. It might say 0.8 km, most of the time, but it's not accurate enough to say exactly 800 meters every time, not even close.

This thread prompted me to run a lap of the local HS "400m" track. Guess what? My GPS reported 387m! Short track. I'm writing a strongly worded letter to the school district as this needs to be fixed ASAP.

Fixed the title.

Hardloper wrote:

why would i do that wrote:

Why would I look it up when I can just look at my watch and see that it says 800m when I ran 800m?

Maybe you're not running in a straight line for five miles.

It doesn't say 800m. It might say 0.8 km, most of the time, but it's not accurate enough to say exactly 800 meters every time, not even close.

do you need it down to the millimeter?

Beavis wrote:

This thread prompted me to run a lap of the local HS "400m" track. Guess what? My GPS reported 387m! Short track. I'm writing a strongly worded letter to the school district as this needs to be fixed ASAP.

you stopped short

Using a GPS watch for running is lazy and stupid. You should know your pace then calculate distance based on time. However, i find the GPS watch is invaluable for determining my exact elevation when I pole vault. Since I'm still holding onto the pole I can’t start my stop watch soon enough to accurately find my fall time to calculate the elevation.

Pansy wrote:

If it ain't on Strava, it didn't happen.

IF IT AIN'T ON STRAVA, IT DIDN't HAPPEN!!!!! What I always say

WinnytheBish wrote:

Radical CJ wrote:

You must just have a cheapo watch. Mine gives the same measurement as the track, pretty much to the meter. Plus is useful if your not running in lane one.

My watch was 6 million dollars so I highly doubt that

Tears of laughter. But on a solumn note, the purpose of wearing the watch would partly be to maintain a record of your workout in the same database that you record your other workouts.

... but even if you don't care about that, and perhaps more importantly, the GPS watch is also a watch and it measures your times. The track measures distance, but not the time. You need the time and the distance to calculate the speeds... the speeds for running fast.

lets be honest wrote:

WinnytheBish wrote:

I'm not butthurt, they're just idiots.

You're in denial. Butthurt is a serious condition that can worsen if left untreated.

hey that's great. Whatever makes you feel better about using a GPS watch on a track like an idiot.

GPS watch is highly inaccurate with the curing turns. Exactly the ones one the track. blow up the image of the run and you will see. Sharp turns are fine because you're still traveling straight before and after it.

I have 1 watch.

Its a GPS watch that also tracks hear rate.

1 day a week I do a track workout.

I use the watch on the track NOT for the GPS functionality but to track interval times and heart rate.

According to you, I am an idiot.

Huh.

So I am supposed to take off my watch to avoid your condemnation?

I think WinnytheBish is either a troll or suffering from some other emotional/mental malady.

No watch, no GPS, nothing besides my perizoma. But given that the flimsy garmet worn around my waist is prone to falling off during competition (as it has!) I now wear nothing at all.

Carry on in my footsteps, noble ones.

I would only wear a GPS watch on the track to test the accuracy of the GPS. I think it is safe to say that GPS isn't accurate down to a single centimeter. It is good for its intended purposes though.

Winny Needs Help... wrote:

I think WinnytheBish is either a troll or suffering from some other emotional/mental malady.

You're damn right I have a mental malady reading about all you idiots using GPS watches on a track.

Ruwenga wrote:

Winny, your original post said nothing about why you think a person is an idiot for "wearing" a GPS watch on a track. I will infer that you think it would be stupid to, say, plan to run 800m repeats, but stop at 750m if the watch said "0.5" on it.

How many people out there do that? If I'm going to do an 800m run, I run two laps and click the lap button as I cross the line. It's remarkable that the GPS watch actually calculates time, and not just distance. I record that time in my training log. At the end of the day, I don't really care if the total distance on the watch is a few tenths of a mile off in one direction or the other.

Yep. I figured new runners generally figured that out after some time. Of course, I could be wrong. I’ve been wrong on occasion in the past.

Bump for the idiots

WinnytheBish wrote:

Bump for the idiots

Now that strava has risen to prominence it is important to remind everyone.