Originally Posted by
bampilot06
how far off is strava watts for those that use both.
Having looked at estimated power for a long time and then getting a power meter I was surprised to see that it was actually not too far off when looking at just the average power numbers. It tended to underestimate average power, but was still better than nothing. Like Datlas said, it is basically junk if you are using it to gauge actual performance or to see if you hit target power for intervals, etc. as it doesn't take wind or other things into account and the power spikes are usually way off and way too high.
Funny enough I was most excited to see a real approximation of calories with a PM than without. And then after noticing Strava power estimates being close-ish I wonder why they don't calculate calories from that? It would be a heck of a lot closer than the standard calorie estimate they give. For instance, I did a Christmas day ride where it said average power of 154. With a PM on the same route I've actually been right around there, maybe 160 or so. The watts to calories calculation gives me about 880 calories, but the Strava app says 1,548 calories. That's nearly double. It's ridiculous.
So long story short: probably a better estimate of calories if you're counting, but not at all any real use for actual training metrics.
I actually saw this video the other day as well: