8,160
edits
Changes
From Fellrnr.com, Running tips
no edit summary
{{DISPLAYTITLE:Stryd footpod review (Dec 2019)}}
Stryd is one of the most useful and impressive running technologies available. It's a [[Footpod]] that analyzes the movement of your foot with greater accuracy than most traditional Footpods, and with vastly greater accuracy than GPS. While a lot of the Stryd marketing focuses on their "running power meter" functionality, I see the greatest value coming from their accurate measurement of pace and distance. If you look at my [[GPS Accuracy| testing of GPS Accuracy]], you will see that Stryd gives a far more accurate measurement of distance than any GPS watch. It accurate enough that it really doesn't need any calibration, and unlike GPS, it should work in any situation (see below for details.) Not only is it providing accurate distance measurement, but it provides real-time pace, something that's impractical to achieve with any GPS device. While I believe [[Running Power Meters]] are quite different to cycling power meters and are more of a "power estimate" than a meter, I think that Stryd's power estimate has improved to the point where it's a valuable training and racing tool. At $220 I think that Stryd is good value for money, and it's one of the few running devices that I would replace unhesitatingly if I lost it.
{{BuyStryd}}
Stryd seems reasonably responsive to changes in pace, though it's hard to determine how the smoothing of Stryd interacts with any smoothing of the watch. I've found Stryd responds within a few seconds, though the power estimate is a little slower to adjust. Recent firmware updates have improved the responsiveness of the power estimate, though it's still a little slower than I'd like on rapidly changing slopes.
=Treadmill Problems=
The Stryd is so accurate outdoors, I couldn't understand why it was so bad on a treadmill. To my chagrin, I discovered that the Stryd Footpod was right, and main problem is my treadmill was speed display is way wrong. Accurately calibrating a treadmill proves to be rather more complex than I'd have expected, as the treadmill will slow down when your foot is in contact with the belt, then speed up when you're in the air. For details on how to evaluate your treadmill have a read of [[Treadmill Calibration]].However, this variation makes it tricky to know what the "true" speed should be. Obviously, the average speed of the belt is completely wrong, as the speed of the belt while your airborne has nothing to do with your running speed. During the time your foot is in contact with the belt, should you use the minimum speed, the average speed or the maximum speed? With my treadmill, the difference between minimum and maximum during contact is about 15%, and between average and minimum is about 9%. I've found Stryd seems to be quite close to the minimum speed rather than the average during contact. I calibrated my treadmill and then calibrated Stryd to the corrected treadmill speed. [[File:Treadmill During Contact.jpg|center|thumb|300px|Treadmill speed during contact with the belt.]]
=Testing Battery Life=
I've not done a single long run that would allow me to test the battery life for an ultramarathon. However, on multiple shorter runs (25-120 minutes) I found that Stryd was reporting 10% battery life left after 5.5 hours, which is far short of the claimed 20 hours' battery life. However, this may well be due to one of the many watches I have paired to Stryd keeping the pod alive well after the run, plus I tend to pair my Stryd to different watches many, many times. I will attempt some more realistic testing in the near future. I've seen one report of an ultrarunner who completed 100-miler in 28 hours and had 27% battery life. This is anecdotal, but encouraging.
