Unfortunately, I have to return the Lactate Scout Sport, as the device turned out to be too inconsistent and unreliable for field use.

After consuming over 20 strips, only about five readings seemed trustworthy — the rest were completely off.
For example, during today’s easy run (cool weather, HR ~142 bpm, pace ~6:20/km), the device reported absurdly low values of 0.5–0.7 mmol/L.
Just two days earlier, after 7 × 1.5-minute intervals at 3:57/km, it showed 9.4 mmol/L, which made sense.
Similarly, on an earlier easy run (~6:20/km), I got 2.4 mmol/L, again plausible.

So the pattern is clear:
👉 the meter performs fine indoors, but becomes unreliable outdoors — especially in cold (6–10 °C), humid, or rainy conditions typical of autumn.
The strips are extremely sensitive to temperature and moisture, which makes real-world measurements impractical.

For verification, I ran a control test using the manufacturer’s calibration solution:
at a reference of 10 mmol/L, the device displayed 10.3 mmol/L, confirming that the analyzer itself is accurate.
The issue clearly lies in environmental sensitivity, not the internal calibration.

A word on Allmed

The distributor, Allmed, showed remarkable professionalism and empathy throughout the entire process.
They advised me patiently, suggested potential troubleshooting steps, and supported my efforts to identify the root cause.
Wanting to be fair, I even asked them to reduce the refund amount slightly and covered the cost of the test materials myself — it felt right to do so after such great customer service.

Conclusion

While the Lactate Scout Sport works fine in lab-like conditions, it’s not a reliable tool for field testing during typical outdoor training seasons.
Consistency is everything when you’re tracking physiological adaptation — and this device simply can’t deliver that under variable weather.

Still, it was a fun experiment — and I learned a lot about how sensitive lactate testing really is.
Also… quite a painful one 😅 — I used the deepest 21G / 2.4 mm lancets, which left real bruises. Now I know: 1.8 mm max next time!

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Finally, I’ve got my Lactate Scout Sport — and, unlike most people, I actually started by reading the manual 😄
(Good thing I did: the strip code had to be changed in the device first.)

As it turns out, measuring lactate isn’t that simple.
My first test was a mess: the blood drop was too small, I pressed the strip too hard, and the result came back 4.0 mmol/L at rest, which made no sense.
A moment later, more blood started flowing (the 2.4 mm / 21G lancets are no joke).

Then I went for a run:

• Easy run: ~5:40 / km, upper Z2 → 3.8 mmol/L.
• Tempo segment: 3.2 km @ 4:42 / km, avg HR 171 → 177 bpm at the end → 4.3 mmol/L.

Testing blood mid-run was a hassle:
blood flowed much faster with high HR, I ended up with a hand literally covered in blood, strips kept throwing errors, and each test took over a minute.

Three hours after the session, lactate was 0.9 mmol/L at rest,
and the next morning (fasted) 1.2 mmol/L.

Takeaway

Garmin’s LTHR estimate (177 bpm at ~4:42 / km) seems reasonably accurate.
But the key insight is that what my watch calls “easy” may not actually be easy for my body —
my real Z2 could be sitting in the gray zone, with lactate already between 2–3 mmol/L.

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