I am a little confused on how to setup Edge and Forerunner so all the Garmin Connect metrics are recorded and calculated as expected.
I have an Edge head unit and have been using it since a while for my outdoor rides.
When training indoors I only use TR or Zwift on the computer. I do not use the Edge.
Recently I had to undergo surgery so to help me to track my overall recovery progress (HR, HRV, sleep quality etc.) I decided to buy a forerunner 265. I understand this should also work nicely when I will go back to training to track recovery, training readiness etc.
What confuses me is how to setup the two devices to work together.
My assumption is that I will never start an activity from the watch. When riding outside Edge will send data directly to Garmin Connect. When training indoors, TR or Zwift will sync via integration with Connect.
So what is the role of the Forerunner? Shall I wear it during the rides at all?
And how about the Primary Training Device and Primary Wearable Device settings?
Moreover, will the forerunner show my cycling abilities? like VO2max FTP etc. Currently it is not showing them (but I did not record any activity since I bought the Forerunner).
I just want to avoid silly configuration mistakes that then generate strange data inside Garmin Connect.
Thank you.
Cheers.
G.
PS Asked Garmin support and I am getting conflicting answers. Some says Edge should be PTD some the opposite.
If you are wearing the forerunner, then make it the primary device. When you run the Edge, it will still function as prior. However, it will run in conjunction with your primary device (forerunner). If you are not wearing the forerunner regularly, I am not sure it matters. I don’t wear mine regularly but it still is my primary device. FWIW.
I keep my Forerunner off during rides. I have it set as the primary device. You do see your cycling info on the watch after rides, even Zwift if you have it connected. The watch gets the daily life stuff plus whatever other activities I do (run, walk, kayak, etc).
I have the forerunner 165, edge 840, kickr v5, zwift…i only use the 165 to track sleep and other fitness metrics of my daily activities…i use the 840 for all outdoor rides and the indoor devices for indoor rides.
the edge, and other brands, is far more useful and especially accurate for heart rate, with a monitor strap, and power…i use the assioma uno pedals…
there really isn’t any reason, perhaps accuracy comparison?, to use the forerunner and edge at the same time.
i also use the 165 for all non cycling activities, hiking, walks with wife, once while using the snow thrower lol, etc.
I wear my Garmin Marq as my primary tracking device pretty much 24hrs a day. EXCEPT when I’m on the trainer. During the ride my HR strap is measuring heart rate. After the ride everything syncs with the watch (HR, calories, activity, etc) and I have the watch face set up with all the metrics I like to have an ongoing knowledge of. (Steps, calories, HR etc). So all stats for the day are continuous, mostly on the watch but via TR/Zwift/Edge/HR strap while on-bike.
The only time I ever start an activity from the watch is when I’m on a hike or some other non-cycling activity or when I do bike packing trips and might want an alternate backup tracking of the gps data along with the Garmin Edge that runs on my bike.
FWIW: I just broadcast HR from my Garmin watch to the Edge and record the activity on the Edge. I have recorded rides on my watch (PM and all sensors connected), but much prefer to use my Edge while riding. Any rides I recorded on the watch uploaded to GC and then to STRAVA and TR as if I had used the Edge.
I’ve used Edge computers since 2010 and got the watch last year. The Edge is my ‘Primary Training Device’ and the watch is my ‘Primary Wearable.’ I’m not sure what that means or what it affects.
Unified training status means it should all just work with no special usage required. record rides on the edge, you don’t need to wear the forerunner while riding (body battery won’t be quite right without it but close enough). wear the FR the rest of the time for general life stress and overnight HR/HRV metrics etc.
as far as i can tell, primary training device settings don’t matter (and i don’t know why they would). my training is primarily with the edge but the FR is what i wear most of the time and sometimes train with. its all supposed to sync both ways regardless. i have also had garmin support tell me both options.
i’ve used edge 530 and various forerunners for years and its all been as expected. however the last 6 months i’ve had an edge 850 and in combination with the FR965 i was previously happily using with the E530, the E850 combination is appalling. the basic metrics sync fine but secondary impacts such as Vo2 max changes, FTP changes, recovery times, impact on battery battery, daily suggested workouts… they are all over the show and different between devices. i’ve had a case open with garmin support for over 5 months and they have not been able to help at all (haven’t even responded to my latest request for an update).
my best guess is that whereas the E530 was basically dumb in regard to the advanced metrics, leaving it all to the FR965, the E850 tries to add its own smarts and the 2 can’t coordinate. sometimes some things work, sometimes not - it really is like a disfunctional couple arguing! i’m not sure whether a FR970 might be better.
one other note, when using TR or swift, i think you can get the basics to sync through to garmin but i’m not sure that all the metrics will be there unless you record on a garmin device. i hate the trainer though so haven’t got recent experience on that
Can’t speak for anyone else, but my Garmin watch gets VERY inaccurate at heart rates over about 90. I talked to Garmin and their conclusion is that it may be age-related; regardless, I use a strap.
I wear the Forerunner all the time as it does a good job, imo, in tracking ‘all’ my daily activities and especially sleep metrics…at 71 I don’t sleep as well as when I was young and I do take it into consideration when looking at my training metrics.
It works really well when hiking especially elevation…we hike a lot in the Adirondaks and it is fun to see the elevation, my heart rate, etc…I think it does a pretty good job for a small wrist device to track and measure bpms…but for any riding activity it is my Polar H10 and Garmin Edge 840 for data and accuracy…at least that is my opinion.
ya its way off unless you run an indoor bike activity. I’ve always assumed its because it sees my heart rate as high but I’m not moving (I’m usually on a trainer) and so it assumes it’s readings are wrong and interpolates it down to something much lower that’s closer to something you’d expect to see for someone stationary. But ya, it’s never right during training. But who knows either way, I just take it off during activities unless I’m traveling on the bike.
No particular reason. When the activity syncs from TR to Garmin to my watch it fills in all the data anyway and while I’m training the HR readings on the watch are wildly inaccurate unless I run an indoor bike activity. I just don’t like sweating onto the nice leather strap I have on it. If I do use it for sports of any kind I switch to the rubber strap.
But you’re right, wearing it doesn’t complicate anything really.
Bu I do like to keep my watch all the times so my plan was to wear it during workouts and because I always use HR strap I was not sure how the HR during workout would be “merged”. Assuming that the strap will be the priority 1…
Regarding the inaccurate HR - I use a watch for off-road riding, and I’ve found that HR is always too low for the first 8 minutes or so. After that, it is fine and as expected. For example, in a cyclocross race, my HR is likely relatively low before the start, as I’m standing around in the cold, but then jumps to near-max within the first minute of the race. The watch HR will rise, but only to “moderate activity levels” (and I definitively don’t feel like I’m at low HR!). After about 8 min, it jumps up to near threshold, and then seems pretty acurate - in cross, my HR sits near threshold, with small changes that correspond to features on the course.
My idea was that the watch can’t cope with the sudden jump in HR. It expects HR in a certain range, and is very slow to move out of that range.
A workaround for me is to start the activity early, and do some high-HR stuff to get out of that “warm up” time.
My watch is a Vivioactive 5, its at the top of my Garmin device list but my Edge (2nd) records in conjunction with a power meter and HRM records Training stats including the VO2max Guestimate, Training Status etc and they seem to carry through to Garmin Connect OK. The watch just feeds in things like HRV and sleep etc being on nearly all the time to complete the picture. The watch records HR in parallel to the Edge/ HRM when I using them but doesn’t seem to overrule them for the Training Status.
Just don’t record the workout on the watch. It will then use the workout data from the Edge and merge that with the rest of the day’s data from the watch in Garmin Connect.
either way, I just take it off during activities unless I’m traveling on the bike.