Strava inconsistencies

Lots of difference in the Strava stats, for the same ride, ridden together today at Swinley:

S: 18.5m, 1,042ft
A: 17.7mi, 1,530ft
T: 18.1mi, 1,750ft

S on iPhone, A & T on Garmin.

Elevation correction?

Strava had me running down the middle of the Thames last week..

Did you get KOM?

Another result in, L rode 18.3mi, 1745ft. Same model Garmin as T, same result (different model to A).

I don’t think it is Strava as such, more how the software and hardware sample the route. If you look at a GPX file it basically says where you are every second, location differences will occur depending on how fast your going, exactly where you are each second etc.

you can’t say it’s strava unless you log the same ride on the same GPS with two different apps – eg Strava and endomondo and then compare.

I’ve an Edge 500 and in the manual I think it said it’s accurate to 12 feet, if that’s the case I’d be surprised if two units would give the same stats for the same ride even if put on the same bike. Similarly if the Edge is paired with a cadence / speed sensor that would (probably) give a different reading to the same unit on a bike without the sensor doing the same ride. That sort of accuracy would more than explain the slight difference between T and L.

I gave up using an iPhone for ride tracking, kept losing the signal on the moors so the data from it was rubbish.

you can’t say it’s strava unless you log the same ride on the same GPS with two different apps – eg Strava and endomondo and then compare.

I have run Strava, Garmin and Endomondo on the same phone on the same ride, and they are all a little different.

Fair point that when Strava is gpx driven, it’s just going to show what the imported file says. T & L are in effect in agreement, the difference couuld just be a lap or 2 around tthe car park.

There’s no evidence from S’s trace that he lost GPS any time in the ride.

There’s a bit of a debate amongst us whether it’s worth shelling for a Garmin or making do (‘putting the cost towards’) with iPhone. The best bit of Strava is the segment leaderboard, and it probably makes less difference then.

I lean towards iPhone because I don’t take Strava that seriously anyway, and having 1 less device to charge/synch/lose is a benefit.

(Making do with an iPhone – a first world problem!)