do I trust my watch or my phone? (run distance tracking)

[kofman13]

So I like to run around a certain block next to my apartment. it has the perfect mix of incline and decline and has a pristine pavement. I was curious and measured the distance. When I run with JUST my series 5 GPS, leaving the phone at home. It says one block is around 0.25 mile, sometimes .27 rarely. but basically average 0.25.

Now... when I run with my iphone AND Apple Watch, , my watch will say that the block was around 0.17 or 0.19. so basically its telling me longer distance with JUST watch. and shorter distance when running with my Apple Watch AND iPhone on me. This happens consistently over dozens of laps over a week. So which distance do I trust? which one do you guys think is more true?

 

[QCassidy352]

Map it with this:

milermeter mobile

gmap-pedometer.com lets you measure how far you ran, walked, or biked, and store a record of your workouts in a fitness log

www.gmap-pedometer.com

Also, that’s a crazy amount for it to be off by! 28%??

 

[millerj123]

So I like to run around a certain block next to my apartment. it has the perfect mix of incline and decline and has a pristine pavement. I was curious and measured the distance. When I run with JUST my series 5 GPS, leaving the phone at home. It says one block is around 0.25 mile, sometimes .27 rarely. but basically average 0.25.

Now... when I run with my iphone AND Apple Watch, , my watch will say that the block was around 0.17 or 0.19. so basically its telling me longer distance with JUST watch. and shorter distance when running with my Apple Watch AND iPhone on me. This happens consistently over dozens of laps over a week. So which distance do I trust? which one do you guys think is more true?

Are you starting and stopping your run at exactly the same point, and following the exact same path?

 

[andyw715]

My daughter and I walk daily. Usually we do 2 laps of our neighborhood which is around 2 miles total.

She has a Amazfit Bip watch (from amazon) and both her's and my AW6 are within a tenth of a mile after the walks.
I think you might be getting some "interference" in the calculation. Maybe it doesn't know how to rectify both sources at the same time.

What is the measurement with JUST the phone? Maybe its an average?

I would trust the watch.

 

[waw74]

to figure out which measurement is closer to reality....
on google maps in a browser on your computer, you can measure distance, (right click, measure distance) it will place a marker where you clicked, then go through and click on all the corners along the way, it will give you distances for each section as well as a grand total. you can drag points or the line to make it more accurate.

and a few words about calibration from apple.

Calibrate your Apple Watch for improved Workout and Activity accuracy - Apple Support

You can calibrate your Apple Watch to improve the accuracy of your distance, pace, and calorie measurements. Calibrating your watch can also help it learn your fitness level and stride, which improves accuracy when GPS is limited or unavailable.

support.apple.com

 

[jz0309]

why don't you use a tracking app on the phone and do the phone alone, with no watch ... there are folks here that say when you use the AW and the phone at the same time, the AW uses the GPS of the phone and not the built-in one, I do not know however if that is true ...

for comparison, I use AW outdoor cycling workout AND MapmyRide on the phone simultaneously when I go mountain biking, the watch report 15.6 miles and the mapmyride app reports 14.9 - and funny enough, up until late last year, it was the opposite, AW lower distance ... so clearly, there are discrepancies and I frankly do not have any explanation