Platform gaps
The gaps in general running trackers that Trailbuddy is built to close, each supported by the vendor's own documentation.
Claim 1
Garmin's ClimbPro shows the gradient and remaining ascent of climbs on a course you are following; the manual describes it as a feature for courses loaded in advance.
Trailbuddy finds climbs after any run, with no course loaded.
Claim 2
Strava segments are drawn by hand, and Strava's documentation notes that recording issues and GPS drift can keep an effort from matching its segment.
Claim 3
Strava's Matched Runs, a subscriber feature, groups runs that followed the same route into a trend chart.
Trailbuddy keeps a history for every route of 1 km or more, with the trail surface and the weather on every row.
Elevation
Why the same run shows a different vertical total on different devices and platforms, and why Trailbuddy reads the phone's barometer.
Claim 1
Strava keeps barometric elevation from devices it recognizes as having an altimeter and computes elevation from a basemap for everything else.
Claim 2
Two runners on the same run often see different elevation totals; Strava keeps a support article for exactly that question.
Grade-adjusted pace
The research behind Trailbuddy's grade-adjusted pace and the GAP calculator, and where every grade model stops.
Claim 1
Minetti and colleagues measured the energy cost of running on treadmill grades from 45% downhill to 45% uphill: about 3.6 joules per kilogram per meter on the level, more than five times that on the steepest climbs, and the lowest cost near a 20% descent.
Trailbuddy's grade-adjusted pace and the GAP calculator use this curve and stay within the grades the study measured.
Claim 2
Strava rebuilt its grade-adjusted pace from heart rate across a large set of its own runs, which reduced the credit given to steep downhill running.
Claim 3
Grade-adjusted pace accounts for the gradient only; Strava's documentation notes that it does not account for the technical difficulty or condition of the terrain.
Trailbuddy shows the trail surface and the weather next to every time instead of adjusting for them.
Spot a claim that needs more support?
Trailbuddy would rather correct a claim than defend one. Write to hello@trailbuddy.run with the page and the point in question, and Trailbuddy updates the site or the source.