Strava or Garmin Connect?

Stablemaster

Which better? Also why ?

robinph

Stablemaster wrote: »

Which better? Also why ?

What are your thoughts?

Krusty_Clown

I don't think that either is necessarily better. They just have different ways of representing the same data. It's the different feature sets that make them unique. Strava seems to continuously get there first with GC always lagging some 6 months behind for new features. While I have migrated from GC to Strava, I still keep all of my data in GC (I upload to GC and it synchs with Strava).

Advantages of GC:
1) All your Garmin stuff in one place - one stop shop, including watch updates etc.
2) Provides access to some data fields that Strava does not (e.g. run dynamics, like: Vo2max, stride length, oscillation etc). Whether or not you use any of that stuff....
3) Pretty good workout and route creation
4) Access to non-workout data, like sleep, steps etc - again, if you use this stuff.


Advantages of Strava:
1) Better community management
2) Trophies, segments, and all that other 'stuff' that so find useful/appealing
3) Can export all of your data in one go.
4) Better user interface
5) Better sharing management, including private zones, to hide home/work locations
6) Extendable, through plugins
7) Flybys - awesomeness!

Stablemaster

Good post mr. clown. Robinph i am undecided dat is why I asked

Myles Splitz

Agree with KC, different elements of both I think work well. Only thing I use on GC is for programming workouts for the watch after that I use Strava.

The one thing that I do think is a lagging and it may just be me but visually the Garmin elevation is pretty poor.

I think strava graphs up and down hill elevations better visually to actually comprehend a tough uphill or handy downhill course for workouts or races. You are immediately able to spot this on strava and match it to splits without too much difficulty

fletch

Myles Splitz wrote: »

I think strava graphs up and down hill elevations better visually to actually comprehend a tough uphill or handy downhill course for workouts or races. You are immediately able to spot this on strava and match it to splits without too much difficulty

Agree...check out the same trail run I did at the weekend on Strava versus GC...Garmin Connect makes the run look like a gentle incline...Strava is definitely more representative of the actual incline!

Strava


Garmin Connect

Krusty_Clown

Hi Fletch, your x-axis unit types are not the same across both platforms. You're plotting against distance in Strava and time in Garmin Connect. Try changing the units to distance and see what it looks like. You should see a little 'Over Time' drop-down box, just on top of the Y axis of the Elevation graph.

fletch

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Hi Fletch, your x-axis unit types are not the same across both platforms. You're plotting against distance in Strava and time in Garmin Connect. Try changing the units to distance and see what it looks like. You should see a little 'Over Time' drop-down box, just on top of the Y axis of the Elevation graph.

Ah I see now...it does improve things

But by default I'd rather see the expanded views aspect ratio...albeit maybe not so big on the page

Krusty_Clown

fletch wrote: »

But by default I'd rather see the expanded views aspect ratio...albeit maybe not so big on the page

Hmm.. Looks like things went a bit weird! But yeah, certainly Strava know how to present the data a lot better.

davedanon

I started with GC, downloaded Strava some time later, looked at it, and there was nobody I knew using it, or talking about it, so I just left it there. Then all of a sudden everyone was talking about Strava, so I went back to it, and it really makes all the difference having a community to interact with and compare to. That never happened on GC, for whatever reason. In fact, there are a surprising amount of people in the club who wear Garmins but never use GC, so they literally just use the watch on a one-off basis for each run, unless of course they're arsed to scroll back through runs on the watch. Of course they have to delete everything every so often anyway, as the watch gets full. I use it like Krusty, uploading wirelessly to GC and thence to Strava, although it's more or less simultaneous, to be fair. I'm more familiar with GC, so I tend to use it more when analysing my own data, but I can see where Strava has the edge. I particularly like the flybys, and the way Strava will tell you the grade on every incline. that's invaluable when you want to find a hill with a particular 'loft'.

BeepBeep67

Some nice chrome extensions for Strava also https://thomaschampagne.github.io/stravistix/

RacoonQueen

They're completely different mediums and incomparable really. I've been on strava for years but stopped using it last year when I switched from Garmin to Polar, at the time, Polar didn't automatically transfer workouts. I still don't really use it as it doesn't really give me anything that I can't get on polar flow. Though every time I can get free premium membership for a few months I get reeled back in (then I forget to cancel before the trial membership is up. I'm a sucker!)

Strava is good thoguh from a multi-sport point of view more so than just for one sport.
I'm not sure about garmin connect anymore, but I don't think strava really gives much that flow doesn't other than the ability to have a mickey waving contest or have people 'like' my workout even though they don't actually give a flying fiddlers that I've just had the most horrendous 15 mile run in the history of the world.

The GAP thing is pretty cool and the way it compares your workout to other ones you've done on the same route and I do like the way it adds together your various stats like total climbing, total time spent training etc I guess it wouldn't work without the whole community aspect, not involved really in any strava communities other than being a member of the cycling forum strava group and tri club strava group but almost never browse into tehm.

RacoonQueen

davedanon wrote: »

In fact, there are a surprising amount of people in the club who wear Garmins but never use GC, so they literally just use the watch on a one-off basis for each run, unless of course they're arsed to scroll back through runs on the watch. Of course they have to delete everything every so often anyway, as the watch gets full. I use it like Krusty, uploading wirelessly to GC and thence to Strava, although it's more or less simultaneous, to be fair.

I don't understand this, so many people with flashy watches that don't even know how to use them to their full advantage. What's the point of having a garmin if you're not going to upload/analyse etc? just get a normal stopwatch? Even seeing people doing interval sessions and not lapping it at the end/start of a rep. Whats the point in that? You can still get the data but it's a pain in the backside to pull the rep times / hr's etc from your watch if you've just done it as one big run.

Slogger Jogger

Strava for me. Only really use Garmin Connect as a mechanism to link data to Strava. As a hill runner I like the stats and graphs that come with Strava. I also play around with Veloviewer which gives even cooler maps.

hot buttered scones

I mainly use Strava, both also use GC for programing workouts etc. I prefer Strava and think it's easier to use than GC. I also use a site called Smashrun - it has some pretty cool graphics and is the best for the 3 at displaying pace over a run. On the phone so can't post a screen grab but will do tomorrow.

Baggirshorts

Use a Garmin 235....
Always upload after a run..... Find the data read out excellent on screen while running and enjoy looking over the stats afterwards.....
The OHR monitor...is grand and finds the GPS instantaneously when turned on.....

But just my preference.....

DubOnHoliday

Strava for me, amazing how Garmin missed and continue to miss the boat completely with regards to the community features.

Mulberry

Slightly off topic but..

After reading this thread yesterday I decided to have a go at uploading my workout via GC to my watch - for the first time. The workout was 2 X (5X300 meters) complete with warm up and recoveries etc. The first set was fine but then something went wrong (probably my programming) so I switched to recording / timing the second set manually.

Most annoyingly though, the times on the automatic set are all around 7 seconds above the times for my manual ones! Is this because the meters aren't measuring properly? Each started on a slightly different point, not on my usual (reliable!) track markers).

So, also after reading this thread I decided to give Strava a proper go and upload everything on there, and am particularly keen on comparing similar sessions. Unfortunately though my times for this session are now completely off! Imagine having the whole world* think I did 65 seconds for a 300 when it was really 58 seconds

*i.e. all three of my followers :P

So, getting back to the point, I won't be using Garmin Connect to pre-load my workouts in future! But I will be using it to look at detail that I can't seem to find on Strava, like the decimal on the lap time. Otherwise I'm starting to like Strava - it's fun to see what my pals are running and flybys are gas.

BeepBeep67

Small gripe with Strava is that it doesn't show 2 decimal places, probably as it was originally developed as a cycling app, very noticeable when analyzing shorter sessions, etc.

Also it uses it's own distance algorithm so rarely matches what your Garmin shows.

Having a little more customization around points like this would be useful.

28064212

Mulberry wrote: »

Most annoyingly though, the times on the automatic set are all around 7 seconds above the times for my manual ones! Is this because the meters aren't measuring properly? Each started on a slightly different point, not on my usual (reliable!) track markers).

Consumer-level GPS isn't accurate enough to measure intervals of that distance. Use your track markers and the lap button to get a reasonably accurate measure

davedanon

28064212 wrote: »

Consumer-level GPS isn't accurate enough to measure intervals of that distance. Use your track markers and the lap button to get a reasonably accurate measure

My Garmin 225 is all but useless for track intervals, and I suspect all GPS devices are too. They are simply not accurate enough down to the level of metres. It won't even measure a lap of the track accurately, so if you set up an interval session of 400m reps, it will be off from the very first lap. What you would need to do is use a stopwatch for accurate results, and have the GPS keeping track of the overall distance.

Mulberry

28064212 wrote: »

Consumer-level GPS isn't accurate enough to measure intervals of that distance. Use your track markers and the lap button to get a reasonably accurate measure

davedanon wrote: »

My Garmin 225 is all but useless for track intervals, and I suspect all GPS devices are too. They are simply not accurate enough down to the level of metres. It won't even measure a lap of the track accurately, so if you set up an interval session of 400m reps, it will be off from the very first lap. What you would need to do is use a stopwatch for accurate results, and have the GPS keeping track of the overall distance.

You betcha folks, I will NEVER be using my garmin again to measure rep distance - it's tough enough to do those darn sessions without coming away with nonsensical times!

happygoose

Were you going 'line to line' on that track Mulberry? It's 280m, as opposed to 300m in lane 6, don't know if that has any influence on the issue!

Mulberry

happygoose wrote: »

Were you going 'line to line' on that track Mulberry? It's 280m, as opposed to 300m in lane 6, don't know if that has any influence on the issue!

No way :eek: Impossible! We must be talking about different lines. We probably are. But I will be measuring the 300 I run to check! Next time I'm down!

Murph_D

I prefer the Strava interface. GC is very slow and clunky. But as mentioned above good for workout creation, route planning etc. Route upload to watch is a great feature if you're running in an unfamiliar location (would have saved me getting lost in Rome that time). Some of strava's extensions are very cool - heat map, flybys etc. GC's recent phone app upgrade is nice but still a way off strava visually.

I don't know where these apps get their elevation data from (I understand it's not from GPS, but from cross referencing to an elevation database) but it doesn't seem very reliable (i.e. Strava thinks there's a about a 10-foot elevation difference between one end of the Irishtown track and the other).

Also, for me and my 410, the algorithm Strava uses to recompute the garmin data always seems to result in a shorter distance, shorter workout time, faster lap times (which doesn't make sense, especially if you're lapping manually via the lap button). The strava laps don't match garmin's "moving time" either so that's not it. Frustrating.

Shuttle666

Strava would get my vote, but it doesn't like Windows Phone / Surface so I actually upload into GC and have that synced with Strava - the Virgo in me likes have the data in two places

Like other mention, I get sucked into the free premium membership, but other than strangely liking the heat-map feature, can't really justify paying for it.

Dubgal72

hot buttered scones

Here's a screen grab for that smashrun website I was on about earlier. I like the way it colour codes the different pace ranges. This is a set of 3 minute intervals

kit3

One thing I find funny about the Strava flybys is the way it automatically links you with someone if you do a certain distance in close proximity. A certain fella has been my '+1' on numerous occasions on my 'morning ride'. If my other half ever sees it there might be questions to answer

DubOnHoliday

kit3 wrote: »

One thing I find funny about the Strava flybys is the way it automatically links you with someone if you do a certain distance in close proximity. A certain fella has been my '+1' on numerous occasions on my 'morning ride'. If my other half ever sees it there might be questions to answer

There should be a 'I don't know this person' button

Coffee Fulled Runner

Not sure where else to put this...
https://youtu.be/TSp6_v6P17o

runnter

I like strava but I also like my privacy. Too many people I don't know trying to follow me or give me unwanted kudos!! I am just trying to use it to log my runs

adrian522

runnter wrote: »

I like strava but I also like my privacy. Too many people I don't know trying to follow me or give me unwanted kudos!! I am just trying to use it to log my runs

You can set it so that you have to approve people before they can follow you, worth doing I think

kit3

Coffee Fulled Runner wrote: »

Not sure where else to put this...
https://youtu.be/TSp6_v6P17o

Haha, my use of Strava is extremely mundane in comparison !

kit3

runnter wrote: »

I like strava but I also like my privacy. Too many people I don't know trying to follow me or give me unwanted kudos!! I am just trying to use it to log my runs

In terms of unwanted kudos, are you part is a group like the Boards group for example ? I know that I've accidentally given total random strangers kudos by scrolling on my phone & hitting the button by accident. Can't be delete either - have no idea who they were (only happened about 3 times in fairness). Felt like a stalker !!

gucci

kit3 wrote: »

One thing I find funny about the Strava flybys is the way it automatically links you with someone if you do a certain distance in close proximity. A certain fella has been my '+1' on numerous occasions on my 'morning ride'. If my other half ever sees it there might be questions to answer

At least everyone you both follow can tell if one of you are late or early for work by it being a solo cycle or a +1 cycle!

I never even knew the flybys existed until i started reading this thread....pretty pointless for my level of running, but strangely hypnotic!!

Maybe athletic clubs could run race night fundraisers showing events and having people gamble on random dots flying around a track? :P

ThisRegard

I actually like the new version of the Garmin Connect website, it's nicely designed. It's really only the place to go if you use the Garmin run dynamics stuff.

But as others have said, they missed the boat with the community features, and I like how Strava will tell you how your run compared to previous runs on the same route.

GC allows you to create segments but I've never messed around with it as there's enough in Strava.

tomwaits48

Strava premium are sneaky in so far as auto renewing you without a courtesy email and no way to cancel until the following year

The Muppet

I prefer garmin connect probably because it's what I used when I got my first watch . I also sync with strave and endomondo the later because I used it on my phone when I stared running.

I have garmin set to miles and strava to kms which is handy on occasion.

I do like to keep up to date with the boards running group on strava.

TrashyTrackman

In my opinion Strava is better suited for cycling (especially with competitive segments and Koms) and Garmin connect is better suited for running. But if you have a Garmin you can set it up to automatically do upload to both with minimal hassle so why not try both and see which works?