Garmin Running Dynamics Pod - 010-12520-00

Garmin’s tiny but entirely capable Running Dynamics Pod is a device worn on the back of your running shorts which then communicates with your Garmin running wearable to provide running dynamics in real time during your workouts. These six combined metrics will help you with your running form and efficiency and are as follows: Cadence - measured in steps per minute (spm), this is how quickly you are moving your feet. The pod overrides your watch’s included cadence sensor. This is more accurate since the pod is far more static on your torso and is therefore closer to the ground than it would be if the data were coming from a constantly moving source (wrists). Ground Contact Time Balance - shows the balance of your left and right feet at the time of impact/strike. This is presented as a numerical value on the watch in real time, showing either a perfect 50-50 balance reading or giving you a value with an arrow showing which side you are favoring. Knowing these metrics in real time or viewing this data after your run can help improve running form. Ground Contact Time - shows the length of your impact when striking the ground and is measured in milliseconds. The lower this number is, the better as there is less strain on the joints with a lower contact time. Stride Length - this measures the length of your stride in meters and is an important metric to monitor when doing speed work and pace training. Vertical Oscillation - this is the height of your bounce measured in centimeters and the lower this value is, the less strain you are putting on your body. Think of this in terms of if you jumped high and landed on your feet, the impact would be far greater on your joints as opposed to if you did a smaller jump. Vertical Oscillation Ratio - this is a combination of the values of your stride length and vertical oscillation to help gauge how much time you are spending off the ground. This metric is expressed as a percentage. The actual pod is encased in a silicone housing from which it can be removed if the batteries need to be changed. Battery life is rated for up to a year and is user replaceable. The pod is waterproof to some degree in the sense that heavy sweat and the occasional downpour during your runs will not affect performance, but one cannot fully immerse it in water for prolonged periods of time. It is only available in a single color and while that may be puzzling at first, it is actually a smart decision on Garmin's part as the unit is highly visible on nearly all colors of clothing. This is a blessing as the pod is slightly larger than a peanut M&M and can easily be forgotten about once you throw your running shorts in the hamper. The unit is so light at 12 grams that the user forgets it's even there during a workout. The silicon layered clip is strong and never once has the pod fallen off during or after a workout. There are no physical buttons on the pod, you simply either wear it, walk to your starting point and initiate a run on your watch or wake the unit by gently giving it a vertical shake or two. Pairing is extremely simple and if your Garmin wearable supports it (check Garmin's website for compatibility), you'll be up and running in under a minute. On supported devices, there will be two visible data pages consisting of the six metrics described above for monitoring dynamics in real time. This data is also saved and logged to your run statistics under your Garmin Connect account for viewing at a later time. Having used the pod for well over a month now, I can say that these metrics update with an alarming rate of frequency during a workout. If you move your feet faster, you'll see your cadence increase and your stride length decrease almost instantaneously. The same goes for all the other metrics. When the workout is over, your watch buzzes to remind you to remove the pod. Garmin's Run, Tri and now Pro chest heart rate monitors will provide these same metrics with the added benefit of giving the user heart rate data over its optical, wrist -based counterpart. But what if you have another, off-brand chest strap or simply don't like wearing heart rate monitors to begin with? That's where this little pod comes in. Bottom line, if your watch supports it and you love data, there's no reason not to have this little device in your arsenal.

I’ve had this device for a year and I use it regularly. The battery depleted after about 9 months of use but I am using more than average so that’s OK. I mainly use it for looking at my balance since I run on the road and the cambre causes me to favour one foot over the other. I’m a bit of a data junkie so it plays i to that. The thing is very unobtrusive so gets good marks for that. Actually it’s so unobtrusive it ends up in the washing machine with my shorts. ***NOTE on CHANGING BATTERY*** As far as the battery is concerned people have complained about the RD pod saying that when a brand new batteries is inserted to the device it is reported by the device as “low, ie change the battery”. I suspect this is because the device has residual charge on it’s capacitors and it thinks the old battery is still present and doesn’t get to reset the CPU properly. The way I solved this was to take the battery out and then use a wire to short the + and - terminals in the device. This discharges any residual charge in the circuits powering the device so that when the battery is replaced the CPU re-registers the battery levels. At least this is my suspicion and it worked for me after seeing the low battery warning.

Discontinued, but this is the best. I have used this with my Fenix 6x, 7x and Epix Pro. It's a great alternative to the HRM straps which I don't like wearing. The ONLY thing the HRM gives you over this is "breathing rate" which is a questionable metric anyway. The clip keeps them on all shorts. I only lost this once when they slipped off of some new slippery shorts I was wearing with a belt and shirt tucked in. My shirt got caught on it when I pulled it up and the pod fell out onto the ground. So I used my GPS track on my watch and looked to see when the cadence went to 0, walked to that spot and the pod was right there. Unfortunately, there's no other direct way of finding these as they don't have GPS built in. Other than that, these are perfect. I think Garmin discontinued this to send people to the HRM straps or to just use the built in Running Dynamics that are built into the watches. But you get more accuracy with this pod as it's located on your hip. On a treadmill for example, if you look at your watch, the cadence measurement slows or stops. With the RD Pod, you don't have to worry about that. So easy to use. Love it. Great quality. Durable. Accurate. Hooks up to the watch immediately. And the watch reminds you to remove it from your shorts or pants when the run is over. So nice.

Todavía no lo probé. El producto llegó con batería agotada. No sé si le corresponde al vendedor tampoco traía instrucciones de como ponerlo a funcionar.

I use this product to guage how I'm running at a deeper data level. After an injury, I wanted to be sure that I was running balanced, right to left. That works great (be sure it is centered on your running shorts). Other data is useful too, including cadence and step duration time (faster cadence means less time on the ground with each step). I'm not exactly sure how to change vertical oscillation... But I can see it is less when I'm in the running zone, and more when I'm walking, which is actually pretty interesting. Overall, I enjoy the data, and I think it improved my form. Plus you do nothing after initially connecting it .. it just works. The only downside is that on most runs it drops the connection at least once. Then, the data is missing until it reconnects and the average is skewed. But, the graphs are still excellent for review, and I do like the device a lot, and all the data it gives me.

Bought this to use with a Garmin Forerunner 245 watch, to get some extra data about my running dynamics. Works as advertised to provide info about stride length, vertical ratio, vertical oscillation, ground contact time balance, and ground contact time. I am not sure yet how useful this info will be for me ultimately. Was curious to try it to see what it could tell me about my running form, and if it would be helpful pointing out anything non-ideal, or giving feedback to help me improve. Clips easily onto the back of shorts/training pants/tights, and feels secure: have not had any instances of it coming off. Wirelessly connects easily to the watch, and nice controls on the watch for activating or de-activating communication to the RD pod. Have only had it a short time and do not yet need to replace its battery. However am pleased to note that it has a user-replaceable standard battery size.

I've been using this with a Forerunner 255S which has built in running dynamics. This pod allows me to see my Left/Right ground contact time balance. The other measurements like vertical oscillation and ground contact time agree pretty closely to what my watch estimated before I had the pod. Anyway- it seems to work, and according to the pod I run very symetrically. So now I know. This sucker is tiny and I won't be surprised if and when I lose it, but until then, I'll clip it on and have extra data of dubious usefulness when I run. Have fun!

I've been pretty happy with Garmin products, having owned five or six Forerunner watches since the venerable old Garmin 305. I bought the Garmin Running Dynamics Pod and was excited to try it out halfway around the world at a marathon in Hangzhou, China. Sad to say I learned brand-new-in-box Running Dynamics Pod I bought from Amazon to work with my brand-spankin-new Garmin Forerunner 935 appears to be DOA: I have tried everything in the instructions including shaking the pod to wake it up and pairing the pod manually via the menus. The unit appears to send no signal and no pairing information to my watch. Bummer -- I ran the marathon in Hangzhou, but didn't get any usable running dynamics data. It would help users and buyers of this device if there was some manner of status light that indicated the unit was powered on and in a functional state. As it is designed right now, it is something of a mysterious black ... er, yellow box. I will update this review with my assessment of the unit and its data when Garmin supplies me with a functional replacement.

Compatible avec les montres Garmin, cela permet d'obtenir toutes les infos complémentaires de foulées en running, fournies habituellement par les ceintures de la marque, sans avoir besoin d'en acheter une. Pour ma part j'utilise quand même une ceinture pectorale car elles sont plus précises que le cardio de la montre... Mais ce sont des ceintures de la marque concurrente (deux Polar H10 et une Polar H7), et il semble en plus qu'elles soient plus confortables que celles de Garmin. Par contre, avec ces modèles concurents (H7/H10), on obtient que le cardio, et rien d'autre. Avec le RDP (Running Dynamics Pod), on obtient toutes les données manquantes, que ce soit avec la montre toute seule, ou avec des ceintures "cardio simples". Le RDP se met dans le dos au niveau du short / cuissard, en face de la colonne vertebrale. Contrairement à ce qui est dit dans la doc, il suffit de commencer à courir pour qu'il se mette en marche, pas besoin de "l'activer" préalablement. Concernant le compteur de foulée, cadence, rapport et oscillations verticales des foulées, etc.. on a une valeur identique aux infos des ceintures Garmin. Par contre, concernant le calcul de l'équilibre contact avec le sol pied gauche / pied droit, il est très sensible du placement du RDP au niveau de la colonne et de manière verticale... Du coup, des fois, on obtient des résultats pas du tout cohérent avec les résultats habituels. Si cette valeur est vraiment importante pour vous, je conseille donc de faire vérifier visuellement le placement du RDP par un de vos proches ou un de vos compagnons de course avant celle-ci. A part cette petite remarque, le produit fait vraiment bien son boulot.

If, like me, you love poring over the stats after your run you'll already have a state of the art running watch and will need no persuading to buy this extra gadget. Whether the data it produces is actually useful is a moot point. But first things first; the device weighs virtually nothing and clips onto the back of your shorts or tights (note that it has to be there and nowhere else to function correctly). If you have the right Garmin device it pairs very easily but it won't work with older or non- Garmin devices (despite recent moves to open up the ANT+ standard). If you want to measure power as well as the Running Dynamics data, you'll also need to download the Running Power Connect IQ app and create a data screen with the Run profile (or it won't record the power data). You'll get loads of extra stats about how much you bounce when you run, whether you're running evenly (L/R balance), etc. as well as arguably more accurate cadence and stride length data than the watch produces alone. The question is what it tells you and whether you can use it to improve your performance. Read up on the internet and opinion is divided. Finally Power which has now taken over cycling as the key metric. It's early days for running and Stryd for example gives different data from Garmin with no real idea which is correct. However comparative studies seem to suggest that the profile is similar even if the absolute numbers differ. I love this stuff and I'm coming back from heart surgery after a couple of years out so it's too early to tell whether it will be helpful as I progress to full racing fitness or not. Read the reviews on DC Rainmaker for a more detailed evaluation. However it's relatively inexpensive and seems to work well. UPDATE January 2020 Having used it for a good few months now, I can say that I do find it very useful and the figures seem plausible and consistent with my form - no funny blips in the data. My shoes wear pretty evenly and my L/R balance is pretty even. My stride length has increased as I've got fitter and faster but my vertical bounce has remained pretty static as has my cadence. Power is also gradually increasing. Planning to look at improving my running form and this will definitely help to tell me how it's going. Not essential by any means but worth the money for me. Update February 2021 Still on the original battery after 854 miles! Unlike some reviewers, I've not managed to wash it yet and I make a point of removing it when I take my key out of the back pocket of my shorts or tights. I have accidently dropped it several times and there's been no effect. It still fits very tightly and there is no prospect of it falling off. I do look at the power number (which is what I bought it for), but not convinced that it adds to my running pleasure and it does not account for underfoot conditions and has a limited adjustment for wind. Stryd may be better but everything I read is suggesting that Running Power is just too difficult to measure as accurately as cycling where it has taken a hold. On the other hand, I really have found the other stats genuinely useful. As I've relearned how to run well, it's given me valuable insights into my stride length and ground contact time and if I've had a quick run I can see how I've achieved it. I've also noticed a definite change in my left/right balance as I run faster which I will need to keep an eye on to avoid injury. Update August 2022 Still using the same RD Pod but now with a Garmin Epix 2. Still an essential piece of kit for me. The new generation of watches give you a pretty comprehensive measure of how your cardiovascular system is coping with training, the Pod completes the picture by adding in how your legs and feet are doing it. Everything I need, maybe overkill for others.

I bought this for use when running outdoors, as I read that it won't work on the treadmill (without a GPS). But it does work.

Best product a runner must have it has improved my running technic and help in reducing injury

I have a Garmin Forerunner 935 watch - and I have so much extra data from my runs. 2 minor annoyances: - Last week, the Pod fell out. I realised couple of hours later. There is no "Find my Pod" functionality, so using the time of last Pod data element - I approximately knew where it might have fallen off. And voila it was there. So if you get it, make sure to secure it to the back of your shorts during a run and store it away after the run. - I am thinking of getting a second one for the partner. She has a Garmin watch too. Only problem, these Pods come in Green and Green.