popeye

I saw the new Iwhatever came out today with VO2max. I have not been following the trackers and was ignorant of what is available. A little research showed options but the Garmin came out ahead for accuracy and will pair with my Garmin bike computer. I don't need anything to tell me when I'm out of breath but having a long term data on VO2max might be interesting or even beneficial. I found the Garmin vivosmart3 refurb for $40, they have the vivosmart4 refurb for $70 so I splurged on the 3 just for fun. Any experiences out here in BF land?

Bah Humbug

My 945 gives me VO2max readings, and they do go up when I'm performing better. That also means the numbers go down when it's hot and I have a harder time producing power, even though I assume my actual VO2max is unchanged. It's another fun number to look at, but not really important.

WhyFi

Not with a paired watch/tracker, but just with the 530 and power meter/HRM. The Garmin gives me a score just slightly higher than my Fitbit's "Cardio Score," which is their nomenclature for VO2 Max (and FWIW, the Fitbit's HR data doesn't seem to be as good as the Garmin/chest strap).

caloso

I had mine tested in a lab a few years ago. My teammate was working on his Masters in Ex.Phys. and need some lab rats for a study he was doing so I got to ride a trainer in a lab with the whole scuba assembly and an occasional earlobe prick. At the end of my suffering I got some interesting data points, including VO2max, but it wasn't that useful for training purposes for me.

popeye

I did read somewhere that using a chest strap for the HR the VO2 numbers were more exact. Thanks for the replies as this is all new to me.

Iride01 

You do realize this is just another number that the devices estimate. Accuracy is probably reasonable, but are your expectations for how accurate that number is unreasonable?

I can just see how this will be like Calories on one device don't match the Calories on my other device.

Bah Humbug

My issue is it's not even an actionable number. Knowing your HR zones is good; you can use those to structure a workout or pace a long ride. Knowing your power zones is even better; that lets you chart progress as well as structure a workout and pace a long ride. Knowing your VO2 max is... bragging rights, I guess? If it's 59 instead of 56, you could maybe use that to evaluate the effectiveness of one training plan against another. That would require having accurate numbers though, and not estimated numbers greatly affected by heat.

Cypress

I've had my V02 max measured in a lab and my Garmin presents me a value after rides from time to time. Both the lab results and the Garmin results are pretty close to one another (78 in a lab, 75 on the Garmin), but in no way do I incorporate those numbers into my training or use them as an indicator of fitness. As Bah Humbug said, it's not a terribly useful fitness metric. It'll decrease as you age, gain weight, get sick, ride too much, ride too little, etc.

Obtaining your FTP and building a training plan around that number is infinitely more useful if you want to keep track of fitness and get faster.

Cowboy905

I think this is okay as long as you're measuring against your baseline consistently. If you're switching between platforms etc its probably useless but if you're constantly looking at Garmin's, it should give you an idea of your progress relative to your initial measurement.

blacknbluebikes 

My Garmin 130+ needs power meter sensors to deliver VO2max calcs. Don't have 'em, and just as well - VO2 usually just lowers my self esteem. Apple watch does it using an algo on long vigorous walks with heart rate. Accuracy? Who knows. Does kinda give a 'trend' that's relative over time, but I don't sense that it's well correlated to how I perceive my "current state of conditioning."

drewtk

I have a Garmin 935, which also ESTIMATES VO2 max. I say estimates because that's all it's doing. I have found that its VO2 number is consistent with its own measurements, in that I see my VO2 number increase as my training load increases. However, I wouldn't take the number as absolutely accurate. I also don't think Garmin's algorithm takes outdoor temperature into account.

I've had numerous cycling and running VO2 max tests done when working with a coach. He would use the test results to gauge my progress as well as set my power (cycling) and pace (running) zones. Those actual test results did not follow what Garmin said, and real world VO2 tests also give you a lot more data.

But I think the Garmin number is okay as a rough measure.

popeye

I hope Garmin does NOT use its temperature. I have two 520's which read about 5 degs diff and a 530 which can be as much as 10 diff. I don't care what the VO2 number is as long as it's consistent and I can track fitness over a long period of time. Those Garmin temp's are with the GPS off.

billridesbikes

The new Apple iWatch can measure the amount of oxygen in your blood. Depending on how good the correlation is between the color of your blood as measured by the LED sensor is to the oxygen level in your blood I would expect you could get a fairly close VO2 reading to a lab result? Has anyone tried it yet?