Hello everyone welcome to another episode of how to run on Zwift in this episode We are doing the ultimate foot pod battle a highly anticipated episode particularly by me There's been a lot of talk on these Zwift forums about which foot pod is the best foot pod to use Well, honestly, there are probably no right answers apart from there is one right answer. That's the stride Look, I am totally impartial. Okay, let's just do a little test. Okay, I've got a few foot pods on and various things So we've got the Garmin foot pod We've got the Milestone foot pod. I'm also wearing the stride foot pod and then over here We have the Polar stride sensor and we also have the ticker chest strap and finally We're using the my run treadmill as a benchmark tool. We're going to set our Foot pods to the my run treadmill. So let's get going. I'm just going to make myself small in the corner here So let me just get rid of this resume sign here, right and all the foot pods I'm wearing should start to pop up. You can see on the right hand side. So here there That tells you what kind of information the foot pod is sending out. Is it Bluetooth or is it and plus? So you can see here I'm just wearing one stride foot pod, but the stride broadcasts in both and plus and Bluetooth so you can see I have two strides listed The Milestone foot pod is a Bluetooth foot pod the ticker listing That's a Bluetooth sensor my run is Bluetooth and The Garmin foot pod down there is ant plus and the Polar run is Bluetooth none of these have been calibrated. Okay, all I'm going to do is I'm going to start running You can already see that the ticker Thinks I'm now currently running at 3.8 kilometers an hour Why it thinks that I don't know what we're going to do is we're going to start running Leave it on this screen and all the sensors should start to show a pace will start off slow We'll go to high speed and then what we'll do is we'll calibrate each Foot pod and then do that test again and see how we go. Okay, so every foot pod is listed there There's the Polar at the bottom Garmin stride and oddly the Garmin is reading 18.4 the stride And plus is reading 16.6 and the stride Bluetooth is reading zero the ticker is reading 3.1 This is without me moving at all. Okay, so let's just go up to walking pace of Five kilometers an hour so my the my run treadmill is reading five kilometers an hour Let's give it a few seconds and see what everything else does Okay, now you can see we're starting to get some readings So the Garmin is reading five point four kilometers an hour The milestone is reading good on it five kilometers per hour. The ticker is reading five point eight My run is still on five Garmin is now five point five. Let's see what the Polar is doing Polar is reading four point one kilometers per hour So this is with the my run at five right, let's bump it up now. We'll start running at Let's say eight. Let's go up to eight kilometers an hour Remember these are all uncalibrated So we've got the my run treadmill reading eight kilometers an hour The ticker uncalibrated ten point seven The milestone pod is reading nine kilometers an hour just under the Bluetooth stride Is reading seven point eight The ant plus stride is not reading anything at all And the Garmin is reading nine point five jumping up to 25.4 and the oh now the stride ant plus is reading ten point five Let's have a look at what the Polar is doing The Polar is reading seven point six seven point seven seven point eight So the Polar is not doing too badly Milestone eight point six Right now we'll move up to ten kilometers an hour There we are my run is ten kilometers an hour The ticker on my chest is reading about eleven kilometers an hour the milestone pod Is reading ten around about ten kilometers an hour the stride Is reading nine point nine nine point eight the Garmin foot pod is reading eleven point six as We often find Garmin reads faster and the Polar is reading eight point six So remember we're running at ten kilometers an hour The Polar stride sensor is eight point six eight point seven eight point eight Garmin eleven point three Stride nine point eight Milestone nine point nine Ticker is reading fast as well eleven point eight so now let's move the The treadmill up to twelve kilometers an hour So there is the my run treadmill reading twelve kilometers an hour the ticker thirteen point seven fourteen point one The milestone eleven point three The stride eleven point eight Garmin is reading twelve point two kilometers an hour and now twenty two kilometers an hour and the Polar is Way behind reading ten point two Way slow So the Garmin is fast The Polar is way slow the stride eleven point eight is Not far off the milestone eleven point three eleven point two Is falling behind a bit Ticker is way fast at fourteen point seven Right, let's go up to fourteen kilometers an hour now so here we go fourteen kilometers an hour Give them time to catch up the ticker Is reading sixteen kilometers an hour the milestone twelve point four the stride thirteen point seven thirteen point eight So that's the closest Garmin eighteen point one kilometers an hour Polar Eleven point six kilometers an hour by I'm doing fourteen Kilometers an hour Ticker is now seventeen point three milestone twelve point three Bluetooth stride thirteen point eight thirteen point nine Garmin sixteen point two Polar eleven point six So Here we go with the my run treadmill at seventeen Kilometers an hour The ticker is reading nineteen point seven The milestone is reading fourteen point four the stride sixteen point eight seventeen now look at the stride Garmin nineteen point eight Dean kilometers an hour Okay, I've had enough I've stopped So I've stopped Ticker is coming down milestone has stopped the stride has stopped Garmin still thinks I'm running at eighteen now. It's stopped Polar has stopped Ticker still thinks I'm running So now we've got to calibrate Each foot pod, do you know what I'm gonna get changed? I'm gonna get changed into running gear because running in jeans and a t-shirt I've just realized at that speed is not a good idea Okay, so I am now changing to my running gear and I feel a lot better. I'm wearing the ticker So that's what we're going to calibrate first. Okay, so we'll click on spanner icon 12.1 kilometers an hour we're going to calibrate this device that so I'm gonna set my treadmill at 12.1 12.1 here we go so 60 seconds Calibrating at 12.1 This is the ticker X So that's the ticker done Next one on my list is the milestone foot pod So let's go for that. We'll do we'll do 12.1 kilometers an hour again. So we'll click the spanner So hopefully the milestone will wake up Need the milestone to wake up There we are finally woken up Okay, 12.1 kilometers an hour milestone foot pod Calibration here we go device disconnected Error, please calibrate again No device disconnected. Hang on a minute. Here we go. Right now now now it says we're connected But this is the problem with a lot of these devices. You see they're too troublesome too much faffing about Not just doing what they're supposed to be doing device disconnected again Right, so the milestone is now connected and we are now successfully running at 12.1 kilometers an hour to try and calibrate this darned device Looks like we might make it seven seconds to go milestone foot pod is now calibrated Thank goodness for that The next one is a stride. I am not going to calibrate the stride. The stride does not need calibrating So let's leave the stride the Garmin foot pod 12.1 on the treadmill Go 60 seconds to calibrate the Garmin foot pod the Garmin ant plus foot pod five seconds left No dropouts no disconnections Garmin is calibrated So the last one we have to do is The polar stride sensor There's the polar. So we'll select polar Away we go with calibration for the polar stride sensor And that's calibration done for the polar stride sensor. No dropouts. No disconnections So now we've done calibration for all the devices The ticker still thinks we are running at 7.4 kilometers an hour 7.5 All the other devices are stopped We don't have a milestone at the moment, right? Let's do ticker first, okay? Right, so this is with the ticker now you can see the ticker already thinks I'm moving which I'm not So that's that's a problem to start with we're walking But we're not moving at all Let's start the treadmill So the calibrated Wahoo ticker X Is reading way too fast at 8 kilometers an hour. It's reading 9.6 9.7 Let's go up to 10 10 kilometers an hour on the Myron treadmill Read as 10.1 10.5 10.6 Okay So it looks like we're about 10.7 10.8 Jumping around those paces too fast Up to 11 now look So the Myron treadmill is reading 10 And the ticker X strap is reading 10.7 Let's go to 12.1 This is our calibrated speed Should be as near to correct as possible 12.1 12.3 12 Come on Okay Yeah So that is pretty good at the calibrated speed The ticker chest strap Is within acceptable limits probably look it's jumping up and below Okay, so the ticker X is not bad at calibrated speed. Let's go to 14 This is 14 kilometers an hour 13.9 14 It hit it didn't it let's go to 17 That's not bad actually 17 kilometers now 16.6 17 Come on. That is not bad You know what the ticker X is all right It's jumping around a bit but So a bit of a surprise there with the ticker X too fast at the slow paces But get up fast It's not too bad but Your problem with the ticker X is it's a bit unreliable in terms of Well look we're not stopped are we? Doesn't know when to stop The handy thing about having the ticker X If you're prepared to put up with it not being quite so good You get to have heart rate and a foot pod essentially in one unit Um But look yeah, we're still going aren't we and I've stopped dead Okay And now we'll choose the milestone So we've got the milestone connected there. Let's connect it with a cadence sensor as well milestone Okay Right, so there's the milestone connected. Let's start the treadmill So this is the milestone At eight kilometers an hour milestone is too fast by miles on here 9.5 I'm running at eight kilometers an hour According to the treadmill All right, let's go up to 10 10 kilometers an hour 10.5 10.9 it's too fast 11.1 is way too fast That's way way way too fast isn't it? So right let's go To 12.1 This is where we calibrated out so it should be Near as damn it Should be close 12.2 that is not bad at all 12.3 We're not going to argue with that So if we go up to 15 14 The milestone should be too slow That's what should happen So this will not get to 14 Oh, it's not bad though. Is it 13.7? But it's still slow So it goes From when you're going at slow speeds, it's too fast When you're at the calibrated speed, it's about right and when You're faster than the calibrated speed. It's too slow Let's just prove that again 17 kilometers an hour It will not reach anywhere near 17 and there we are look 15.2 15.1 it's nowhere near 17 Nowhere near Okay That's enough of that So that replicates what We have found in other testing that When you're going slowly The milestone goes too fast When you're at the calibrated speed, it's not too bad And when you're going fast the milestone goes too slow So next The Garmin foot pod The Garmin foot pod is on ant plus Garmin Okay Let's go to eight kilometers now That's not too bad at 8.2 8.3 We could actually live with that probably Let's go up to 10 kilometers an hour 9.7 10.1 10.3 Even that is not too bad, is it? Maybe we could live with that as well 10.2 10.1 10.2 Look at that 10 Wow So the calibrated Garmin foot pod Is actually sitting quite comfortably At the right pace, isn't it? Look at that Let's go up to 12 which is where we calibrated at 12.1 This should be almost bang on 11.9 We live with that, wouldn't we? That is not bad at all We live with that 12 Kilometers an hour And there's 12.1 Bang on right 14 13.8 13.9 14 14.2 14.1 So that is that again that's we can live with that 14 let's try 17 And needs time to get up there Oh look at that 17 16.9 17 Bang on well done I'm impressed Okay So there we are that's interesting Good result For the calibrated Garmin With calibration That Garmin foot pod Is giving me A darn good result Almost you know give it a bit of time to get up there So you might be if you're doing intervals You're going to be slow to get up to the top speed And if it's a 200 meter interval it's going to be done before you get there But nevertheless It did get there So that's interesting Okay, so that's the Garmin Thumbs up for the Garmin Now we try The Polar Stride Sensor And let's connect it as a Cadence source as well And we'll go at eight kilometers an hour See how it does at that pace Not doing anything at the moment There we are we started moving Too fast 8.8 8.9 9 kilometers an hour Way too fast Okay, so that's we can see that's way too fast. I'm on eight kilometers an hour The Polar Stride Sensor is reading 9.2. Let's go up to 10 So the My Run treadmill is now reading 10 kilometers an hour 10.7 Still too fast and beyond the margin of error for me 10.3 is probably the max I would allow Look at that 10.8 now. So too fast again Up to 12 So this is the calibrated speed 12.1 Is the calibrated speed and now the Polar is Not too far away 11.8. It's now slow There we are 12 so Almost bang on at calibrated speed Almost Let's go up to 14 So given that it shouldn't reach 14 at all. It should be slower So it looks like we're seeing the same as the milestone foot pod Too fast at the slower speeds Too slow at the higher speeds Yeah 13.1 I'm at 14 And we'll very briefly go up to 17 15.3 15.4 15.6 0.7 0.8 16 maybe But it's still too slow 16.4 look So that's the stride sensor the polar stride sensor the same as the milestone Too fast at the slow speeds Pretty much bang on at the calibrated speed Too slow at the fast speeds Right, so now we're on the bluetooth stride foot pod Let's run at 8 kilometers an hour So we're running at 8 kilometers an hour Bluetooth stride has woken up 7.7 7.8 7.9 So it's not actually reached 8 Right, let's move up to 10 10 kilometers an hour Bluetooth stride Remember this hasn't been calibrated at all 9.8 9.9 we could easily live with that That's pretty good 9.9. It's pretty pretty on 10 there we are we're on 10 now Let's go to 12 12.1 So we're at 12 kilometers an hour The treadmill is reading 12.1 So again Nearest dammit 11.8 11.9 12 Nearest we're gonna get I think Okay, up to 14 14 kilometers an hour 13.9 13.8 13.9 Again really close just slightly under Right, let's go up to 17 17 kilometers an hour 16.8 16.9 17 there 16.7 Is about our average isn't it That's giving me a bit of a workout Bit of an interval session there Okay, so I think we're done So what we've seen is Uncalibrated The stride foot pod Beats everything hands down The milestone was too slow The Garmin was too fast The polar stride sensor was too slow And the ticket X was too fast Then we calibrated everything And we found that the Garmin Really wasn't too bad a match for the stride actually Maybe at slower speeds The Garmin was too fast But getting up to the higher speeds the Garmin actually didn't do too badly at all And in fact at 17 kilometers an hour Was probably closer to 17 than the stride we have to admit on my test there But we know that the milestone at the polar stride sensor Classic they were okay at the calibrated speed But any slower than that and they run too fast Any faster than the calibrated speed and the they can't keep up. They're too slow So that's the polar stride sensor and the milestone the ticket X surprised us Thought it was going to do exactly the same as the milestone and the polar But actually held on quite well at the higher speeds and didn't do too badly. So do you know what that's It's not a bad bet really. I mean For a heart rate monitor and a speed and cadence sensor in Zwift If you don't want to spend an awful lot of money on a heart rate monitor and a foot pod You might you might do all right getting the ticket X although it does have those issues with starting and stopping, doesn't it? It didn't know that we weren't moving basically it kept going But that's it. I think I think we're done. I think we can say From my test today unscientific as it was We can say that the stride and the Garmin are the clear winners there If if you are on a bluetooth connection, you really need to look at the stride if you can afford it Um, and also the ticker X is a good budget option um, the milestone and the polar probably You know starter entries but steer clear of if you're going to be doing intervals and those kind of things because they won't They won't stick with it or you'll just be running a lot faster than you actually need to to get up to speed Also worth considering You know if you've got the money to spend on a bluetooth connected treadmill do that And also the other option that I haven't reviewed yet that I am going to review at some point is the tread tracker Which is a little wheel that you stick under your treadmill and measures the speed of the belt of your treadmill So that's also something worth thinking about and that's it for this issue of how to run on Zwift Thank you very much for watching. Do please subscribe to the film my room website Do please go and look at these Zwift runners Facebook page to get any more information about Zwift Um, and also do have a look at the rest of the videos in this how to run on Zwift series Take care. See you again for another how to run on Zwift very soon. Bye. Bye