alexaschwanden

Isnt the average calorie burn about 30 calories per mile at 12-14 mph, that's how i calculate it.

Drew Eckhardt 

20 on flattish ground.

mtalinm

enter half your actual weight in the garmin device and you will get more believable estimates

helmet4000

GPS signals are maintained by "...a network of 24 satellites placed into orbit by the U.S. Department of Defense."

"GPS was originally intended for military applications, but in the 1980s, the government made the system available for civilian use."

Each time a U.S. consumer purchases a GPS device, they are "double-taxed" because they already funded the R&D, the continued maintenance of the satellites, and the unearned "rent" of the private company that is selling them a GPS product (in this case Garmin).

While I enjoy using my Garmin Edge 500 and all the technological innovations, I know full well that, in part, Garmin's success and ability to derive potentially monopolistic power and profits stems from its ability to have let taxpayers absorb the high R&D costs of the development of GPS.

mtalinm

Garmin's...monopolistic power? that's a good one.

gregf83 

Garmin doesn't even make the chips for receiving GPS signals. Pretty well all cellphones now receive GPS signals and taxpayers haven't paid a dime for development of GPS receivers.

jbenkert111

Double Bingo!

I know nothing about technical aspects of different GPS instruments. I would like to comment on the counting calories concern. Who cares how many calories you burn. If you eat properly and do workouts that enable you to meet your goals, calorie counts will take care of themselves. It doesn't mean anything and will not have an effect on your training or results. Don't sweat'em.

jbenkert111

In fact, if you are eating properly and working out really hard, you may gain weight and speed, by way of adding muscle and losing fat. Muscle weighs more than an equal amout of fat.

helmet4000

Capitalism in the U.S. is often rooted in technology paid for by taxpayers (channeled through Pentagon appropriations). There sure are a lot of bicycles parked outside M.I.T.

I said "potentially monopolistic" which is different from pure monopoly. 70% market share likely means they can inflate prices.

"Garmin remains the number one supplier in the U.S. (with a market share of more than 70%) and one of the largest suppliers in Europe (around 32% market share at the end of the last quarter)." European socialism has a more competiitve GPS market than U.S. capitalism! Kind of like ISPs in Europe, faster speeds, much less expensive.

It is logically impossible for the D.o.D. to have developed GPS without developing the technology behind the receivers. While private companies may have made revisions to the original design (much less expensive and risky), the high cost was borne by the U.S. taxpayer.

I am a U.S. consumer and taxpayer. I now pay Garmin high prices due to a mixture of their potentially monopolistic domination of the market for a technology that my parents and grandparents' tax dollars helped fund. There should be some kind of discount for products sold by companies who use technology paid for by U.S. tax dollars. The same argument can be made for the large pharmaceutical monopolies in the U.S.

RPK79

I thought calories were just something that people with eating disorders worried about.

Dunbar

You're getting way off topic. Of the trillions of dollars the US has spent on defense over the past two decades US consumers should consider themselves lucky to get a technology like GPS. Usually the money just gets thrown down a rabbit hole and we get no benefit from it. GPS is also being used in aviation to replace older forms of navigation and instrument landing systems that cost much more to maintain. It is quite a stretch to suggest that Garmin is gaining some unique benefit from it since any market participant can make a GPS chip/receiver.

gregf83 

70% market share in what? Location devices? Incorrect and not even close. We're talking about fitness equipment here not some narrow segment of the automotive market.

Ignorance is bliss. The technology behind the receiver is basic math and physics. the DOD didn't invent anything here. Making small, low power, low cost multi-channel receivers takes hundreds of millions of dollars in R&D investments. While Garmin made none of these investments, other companies did.

Next you're going to want a discount from your local grocer because they delivered your broccoli on road paid for by taxpayers.

gsa103

Eating disorders are basically required for cycling.

StanSeven

Absolutely amazing. Why the constant support and defense of Garmin? You have something like 27 posts in this thread essentially supporting Garmin when others are critical. Do you work for them?

gregf83 

Just having some fun with the tinfoil hat crowd. It's clearly a hot-button issue for a few of you so it's kind of entertaining to wind you up.

edit: and no I don't work for Garmin but I have had a fair amount of experience developing products and understand the challenges associated with releasing quality products and trying to keep multiple parties happy. So it's fair to say that I empathize with Garmin and realize it's not as easy as many people think.

If you think it's easy to make products like Garmin's then you should probably get into that business as it appears to be very lucrative.

StanSeven

Great. Thanks for the insight and sharing your perspective.

dalava

Amature

VaMoots

Couldn't agree more. I've had three Garmin devices and will never have another.

VaMoots

Besides the childish attitude of trying to wind people up I seriously doubt you have any of the experience you speak of. if you did or if you knew anything about Garmin you would know their quality control is the issue. They must have their code written by and tested by monkeys. They knowingly release products they know have major issues figuring they will fix it later. Maybe. Then they provide terrible support.
Newsflash. There are many companies that make similar devices without all of Garmin's issues. This is obvious.

VaMoots

Lucky? To get something we paid for many years after it was developed at massive cost? Puh-lease.

VaMoots

What? All these people are just making it up? Then you cite the Edge 1000 which was a disaster when it was released, which Garmin knew, and is only marginally better now? Saying that 9 out of 10 issues are from not reading the manual just means you lack reading comprehension.

achoo

Do you mean "amateur" or "armature"?

achoo

Slow learner?

VaMoots

Apparently. It's not like there are a lot of other options. I'm looking at the Mio's right now.

I'm surprised nobody has posted DC Rainmakers article on how Garmin devices measure calories.

How calorie measurement works on Garmin fitness devices | DC Rainmaker

gregf83 

We are talking fitness equipment here correct?