Originally Posted by
DrIsotope
The resolution on your GPS unit is terrible.
On rides of 30+ miles, my wife and I have had end results of the exact same distance and elevation multiple times, and the greatest variance has been ~0.25 miles between the two of us. Garmin 500 and 520, respectively.
We don't seem to have a digital doping problem around here. A whole lot of people leaving their app running on the freeway, though. A lot.
Possibly is. Or slow at picking up satellites. Or affected by dense tree cover. Or bogged down processing things besides my GPS tracker. Or any number of things. It is a cheap cell phone I bought unlocked for $30, but for what I really need the GPS for, it works far better than my needs.
My point being, handheld consumer electronics with GPS units are hardly calibrated, precise instruments that you can rely on for racing type timing results. Even your worst case distance difference is proof that one can have the discrepancy the OP was worried about.
And I have the opposite problem: I leave my app running when I am walking around, making myself look even slower than I actually am
