Extreme disconnect with AW

[oeagleo]

Today, I decided to put my AW Series 4 up against my Fenix 5 Plus. Mainly because the AW tracks on my walks, and short hikes around the trails here in town are so much better than the fenix, I wanted to see how they compared on a bike ride. The results are totally disappointing. I used the "WorkOutdoors" app on the watch, and with the fenix, I have a PowerCal Chest strap that will give power from the heart rate. I also have the Garmin magnetless speed and cadence sensors on my bike.
So, I fire up the Garmin, and get a DEM elevation fix, (most accurate), and then opened the biking app on the Fenix. After that, I let both "soak" while I pulled my bike off the rack, hooked up the little Edge Touring I use to see where I'm at, and how far to my next position. I also use it in case the Fenix upchucks on me, I've had earlier fenix's do that.
The tracks are pretty darn good on the fenix, but the tracks on the Apple Watch are HORRIBLE. Oddly enough, the heart rate data appears to be fairly close, but also totally disappointing is the exercise credit, and movement/calories credit.
For an hour and 17 minutes, worth of ride, the AW only credited me with 12 out of the 30 minutes! It only credited me with 336 calories for the entire ride!
On the other hand, the Garmin says I burned 633 calories, which given that I was in zone 3 and 4 for most of the trip, (HR >130-150 for me, a 71 year old male with a max HR of 161), and a training effect of 4.7. This translates to a TRIMP of 145, or a Training Peaks TSS Score of 51, and an intensity factor of .63. Here is the MYGPSFILES link to compare the Garmin and AW tracks, along with the Garmin Connect link to the activity.

http://www.mygpsfiles.com/app/#RttnP9Jt

And the Garmin Connect Link.

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/3584434576

I don't know how to export the Activity/Health data, or it would be here.

Anyone have any ideas what's going on here?

 

[waw74]

so you're basing your opinion on the Apple Watch based on a 3rd party app?
instead of using apple's built in app?

when using apple's workout app, it measures differently,
and will give you more exercise credit.

 

[oeagleo]

so you're basing your opinion on the Apple Watch based on a 3rd party app?
instead of using apple's built in app?

when using apple's workout app, it measures differently,
and will give you more exercise credit.

I have used WorkOutdoors numerous times, and never have had this happen. This is the first time I've tried a bike ride with this watch, and I believe that @cfc has done a good job with this app. I'm not sure of the internal workings of his app, but I believe that it takes the native data and presents it in a more useful format. This is most likely an anolomy in the export, but still that doesn't negate the fact of the terrible GPS track. Oh, and by the way, for data, and information during a ride, the internal workout apps within the watch are totally useless. It will show your heartbeat, and time, and that's about it. Check out WorkOutdoors if you're serious about training.

 

[cfc]

I have used WorkOutdoors numerous times, and never have had this happen. This is the first time I've tried a bike ride with this watch, and I believe that @cfc has done a good job with this app. I'm not sure of the internal workings of his app, but I believe that it takes the native data and presents it in a more useful format. This is most likely an anolomy in the export, but still that doesn't negate the fact of the terrible GPS track. Oh, and by the way, for data, and information during a ride, the internal workout apps within the watch are totally useless. It will show your heartbeat, and time, and that's about it. Check out WorkOutdoors if you're serious about training.

Like most 3rd party workout apps WorkOutDoors uses Apple's workout system, which supplies the data back to the app. If you send me the proprietary ".wkt" file for the workout then I will take a look at the data. To do this please tap the Export button 3 times quickly (instead of tapping once for a GPX file) and send the file to info@workoutdoors.net. Thanks.

To only get 12 minutes exercise credit is very surprising when averaging over 130bpm for over an hour, as is only 336 kcal (although that is not beyond the realms of possibility for Apple's estimates). Out of interest what does it think your resting heart rate is? To find this look at the Health app on the iPhone, go to the Health Data tab and tap Heart. Then tap Resting Rate and if necessary swipe the graph back a few days until you see a value.

In terms of the GPS did you have your iPhone with you? WatchOS uses the iPhone GPS if available (the app has no say in the matter) so you may be comparing a watch GPS with a phone GPS. The track does look very poor though.

Thanks for recommending the app!