Higher Strava distance than Garmin

[NadiaK]

I have a Garmin Forerunner 745 and a Fenix 7s, both of them display the exact same distance when I run, but Strava always shows 200m extra distance when I log the activity on Strava directly without the watch. 
I have tried different courses, different locations, different speeds, sometimes with stopping in between, others with a continuous run, still Strava GPS records around 200m more than Garmin GPS. Why? It is so frustrating 😭

[Bmulder]

I have a related question but not between different programs. I often find that a strava run distance is more than a strava mapped distance. On a recent run the mapped distance was 18 and the run distance was 20, which is way more than I would expect.  Is there a setting that I don’t have activated is is the distance discrepancy considered within normal range? 

[Charlotte1]

Hello, I have a Garmin Venu 3 and an Iphone 14 and i have the same issue. Every run on Strava has a longer distance than the one my Garmin. Which one is correct?

[Scout · Accepted solution]

Update from support:  We are two separate platforms with different calculations so certain aspects of your activity analysis may be different. In general, this is because Strava is more strict about resting time so we remove less of it than Garmin Connect. In other words, we're a bit more likely to consider you moving in places where Garmin considers you stopped. This means that even though the elapsed time is the same, the moving time can be a bit different, which can cause differences in average speed. Strava typically reports a bit more moving time and so a bit slower average speed.
 
We feel confident that we are accurately representing your data, but are always working on improving our calculations and appreciate your feedback. You may want to search our support site for more information and discussions on this topic.

If you have further questions or need additional assistance, please submit a support ticket and we will investigate further.

[johntennant]

I really don't think I would call this issue 'solved' if I were you guys. It's a major problem specifically with Strava. I routinely record my routes using Strava and Gaia, or Strava and RunGo, or Strava and Garmin.

I ran a 50k race last Saturday and recorded using RunGo and Strava. There is a massive discrepancy between the two apps and they are running on the same iphone 14!

Strava thinks this is 65k.RunGo running on the same iphone 14 is far more accurate with the same GPS data.

The next day I did a hike with my wife and recorded with Strava, Gaia, and Garmin. Gaia and Strava were recording on the same iphone 14--so they're supposed to be using the same GPS data. How can they be so different?

Gaia measured 13.Strava thinks this is 20k

If you look at my account, you'll notice I've been using Strava for quite a while. I noticed this problem started specifically when I got my iphone 14. On previous phones, there was never this discrepancy between apps.

I'd love to know that you guys are taking this seriously and trying to figure out a solution. Currently my only solution is just to never trust any distances from the Strava app. It's getting old.

[Jane]

Hello @NadiaK 

Thanks for getting back to us.  I'm going to escalate this query to our Support Team.  Someone from Support will be able to take a look at your activities and help determine why there is such a large discrepancy, and which device/App is more accurate.

Sit tight and someone will be in touch soon.

[Jane]

Hi @NadiaK 

Thanks for posting about this.  I want to clarify - are you recording with the Strava Mobile App and a Garmin device at the same time?  If so, the first thing I would recommend is that you set up the Garmin>Strava sync so you can sync your Garmin recorded data into Strava.  That may simplify things a bit.  Instructions to do that are here

As for the Strava App consistently recording extra distance - a common reason distance may be overestimated is a weak GPS signal.  Here are some general tips on improving GPS quality 

If you let me know what Mobile App you're using (Android or iPhone/IOS), I can provide some specific GPS troubleshooting tips for your phone.

[NadiaK]

Thank you Jane for picking this up 🙌🏼

The only reason I am using both Strava mobile app and my watch to calculate at the same time is because I was told multiple times (by fellow runners) that my watch is reporting leas distance. So I used Strava to verify and it does. So either my Garmin is under reporting, or Strava is over reporting, and I dont know which one it is 😭

I am using an iPhone 14 with latest IOS and my Garmin is a Phenix 7s.