XXLHardrock

How accurate is the calories counter on this or other apps like Strava? If it can account for hills, it certainly cannot for wind.
Is it even close?

hyegeek

About as accurate as the one built into your gps...

As far as I can tell, none of them are terribly accurate and I consider most calorie calculations to be more entertainment then tool. Between MMR, my GPS and two methods of calculating calorie output, I end up with numbers that I think could be within 25% of the "real" number. The funny thing is that the methods I use swap around as to which one says I burnt the most or least. I would have expected one method to always be higher or lower than another.

BTW. MMR has changed their calculations many times. The current one seems to be in the same ballpark as my other methods.

Machka 

Calorie counters are not accurate.

It would be more accurate to assume 400-500 calories per hour.

linnefaulk

The best thing to do is ignore those calories and not eat them back.
Though I will eat some of them back on longer rides. Today I rode for 2 1/2 hours and MFP awarded me almost 1700 calories!

no1mad 

After trying a handful of apps, I'm gonna have to agree with my wife. "Pay attention to what you eat and don't bother tracking calories- let your body tell you by how you feel and how the clothes fit."

For the record, I've used MMW, Runtastic, RunKeeper, endomondo, Sports Tracker, and Google's My Tracks. On a known route at a comparable pace/speed, there is typically a difference of some 40 calories burned per mile between endomondo (highest) and Sports Tracker (lowest).

I've gotten rid of Runtastic and MMW and now just need to figure out which of the others I like best (pros and cons of each are making it difficult for me ).

Inpd

So I also was deceived by MYR!. It was reporting (as a 199 pound guy) I would burn 800 calories on a 15 mile ride done in about 55 minutes.

But here's the problem. All these other online calculators (i.e. Calorie Calculator | Bicycling) report similar high numbers. So are they all wrong.

Even the walking apps (i.e. Walking Calorie Burn Calculator) report I would burn 500 calories if walking an hour at 4mph.

I'm shaking my head that all these apps/web-sites could go so wrong.

Carbonfiberboy 

I think the Strava kj number is reasonably accurate, though of course it can't account for wind. Yesterday I went for an hour ride, about 50' mile climbing, rode moderately hard a good bit of the time, and Strava gave me 494 kj, which most folks say you can just convert 1:1 to calories. I've been watching it for years and it seems closer than anything else. But as was said above, I didn't eat any of that back. Didn't eat on the ride or after.