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Any questions for the Garmin people? (Read 2236 times)


Tiefsa

    I am working on interview questions for the folks at Garmin about their GPS running watches.

     

    Anything you want answered?  Let me know Smile

     

    I just got some of the answers to the questions I asked the Garmin folks.

     

    They didn't answer a lot of what I asked. Hopefully, they will get back to me with all the information, but you can look at the answers hear - Garmin GPS Watch

     

    I also made a video of how the 410 works when I am doing a workout.

    AmoresPerros


    Options,Account, Forums

      Here's a suggestion, if you think it's worth mentioning -- add a track mode option, to tell the watch you're running on (lane#1 on) a track, so if you hit lap every 0.26mi or whatever the watch measures it at, it autocorrects it to be 400M.

      It's a 5k. It hurt like hell...then I tried to pick it up. The end.


      Tiefsa

        Here's a suggestion, if you think it's worth mentioning -- add a track mode option, to tell the watch you're running on (lane#1 on) a track, so if you hit lap every 0.26mi or whatever the watch measures it at, it autocorrects it to be 400M.

         

        That is an awesome idea!!!  Thanks for the question.  I'll make sure to ask that.

          When using auto lap, why can't the display box be bigger? If you're going to cover part of the screen with the lap information, why not cover enough so you can better view the lap information.

          Trent


          Good Bad & The Monkey

            Why does the garmin connect driver fail unsafe?  That is, when it fails (i.e., pulls corrupt info off my device), why does it crash the browser?  Why not just have the operation abort?


            Cripes.

            zoom-zoom


            rectumdamnnearkilledem

              Why does the garmin connect driver fail unsafe?  That is, when it fails (i.e., pulls corrupt info off my device), why does it crash the browser?  Why not just have the operation abort?


              Cripes.

               

              This.  I'd estimate that at least 80% of my uploads crash my browser.

              Getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to

              remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air.    

                   ~ Sarah Kay

              joescott


                When using auto lap, why can't the display box be bigger? If you're going to cover part of the screen with the lap information, why not cover enough so you can better view the lap information.

                 

                Hey hey!  Now you and I already talked about this one over Italian food in Boston....  

                - Joe

                We are fragile creatures on collision with our judgment day.


                an amazing likeness

                  1. The Garmin OEM software (specifically Training Center and Connect) is mediocre, and that is being generous. The poor quality of these products detracts from perception of their hardware products, what are their long term plans for both these software products?  Are they going to increase investment, decrease, or remain static?  Why not get out of these products and let ISVs (like RA) handle it?

                   

                  2. Is it technically practical to utilize the surface area of the Forerunner to add some solar charging ability to the unit?  Or is this a cost-driven restriction?

                   

                  3. Why not build a software app to let us totally configure the device (displays, settings, features) from the app, rather than on the device?

                   

                  4. Please add a "predicted finish time" function to the device -- I put in the distance to be covered and the device looks at average pace over the distance currently covered and predicts a total elapsed time.

                  Acceptable at a dance, invaluable in a shipwreck.


                  Tiefsa

                    1. The Garmin OEM software (specifically Training Center and Connect) is mediocre, and that is being generous. The poor quality of these products detracts from perception of their hardware products, what are their long term plans for both these software products?  Are they going to increase investment, decrease, or remain static?  Why not get out of these products and let ISVs (like RA) handle it?

                     

                     

                    I'll ask this , but I will probably reword this one to sound nicer!  The other three I'll ask as is.  

                    ymmv


                      Why does the garmin connect driver fail unsafe?  That is, when it fails (i.e., pulls corrupt info off my device), why does it crash the browser?  Why not just have the operation abort?


                      Cripes.

                       

                      I have a 405. I just got it replaced with a refurbished one ($79) as the old one failed, after about 3 years and 7400 miles, from too much exposure to rain. I've used it on several different Mac computers, and with several browsers (Safari, Firefox, Chrome). I always let the data auto-upload to garmin connect, then I also upload it to RA. I do this nearly every day.

                      I can't recall ever having it crash a browser or upload corrupt data. Way back (a year or more). it would sometimes fail the transfer and repeat it. I have also pressed the force send option maybe a dozen times out of a thousand or more.


                      tomatolover

                        1. The Garmin OEM software (specifically Training Center and Connect) is mediocre, and that is being generous. The poor quality of these products detracts from perception of their hardware products, what are their long term plans for both these software products?  Are they going to increase investment, decrease, or remain static?  Why not get out of these products and let ISVs (like RA) handle it?

                         

                         

                         

                        Probably one of my biggest gripes about garmin...I love my 310x, but the training center through garmin connect is just about worthless, particularly  when trying to find and use other's running routes.  I've wondered about MIlktruck's question myself, as it almost seems to be DELIBERATELY shodddy work. 

                        drrbradford


                          I'll ask this , but I will probably reword this one to sound nicer!  The other three I'll ask as is.  

                           

                           

                          The Garmin Connect website has potential. If they could introduce some slightly more advanced features (taking inspiration from things like the customisable summary page on RA) and the ability to upload routes/advanced workouts onto the device (which is the only reason I used TC) then Connect could fairly easily replace TC.

                           

                          A question I'd like asked loudly: WHY THE FUCKING HELL DON'T YOU JUST SPEND A COUPLE OF HOURS WORKING ON A LINUX COMPATIBLE DRIVER?

                          zoom-zoom


                          rectumdamnnearkilledem

                            1. The Garmin OEM software (specifically Training Center and Connect) is mediocre, and that is being generous. The poor quality of these products detracts from perception of their hardware products, what are their long term plans for both these software products?  Are they going to increase investment, decrease, or remain static?  Why not get out of these products and let ISVs (like RA) handle it?

                             

                            2. Is it technically practical to utilize the surface area of the Forerunner to add some solar charging ability to the unit?  Or is this a cost-driven restriction?

                             

                            3. Why not build a software app to let us totally configure the device (displays, settings, features) from the app, rather than on the device?

                             

                            4. Please add a "predicted finish time" function to the device -- I put in the distance to be covered and the device looks at average pace over the distance currently covered and predicts a total elapsed time.

                             

                            Ooh, I like ALL of these!

                            Getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to

                            remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air.    

                                 ~ Sarah Kay

                              +1 on a linux driver for the ant usb stick thingy - it really can't be hard to do.

                               

                              Generally I like my 310xt.

                               

                              One thing that I would like (and that you can do on the polar watches) is set current pace as a target for workouts. It seems that if you have pace as a target then it's the average pace for that interval.

                               

                              A quicker keybind for disabling the gps. If I run on the treadmill at the gym I still like to use the watch so that the run gets logged, but it's a large number of keypresses to turn off the gps.

                               

                              MTA: the move to Bing maps on the connect website was a step backwards, the old google maps were better.  What would be even better, here in the UK at least, would be to use OS maps, which are much higher quality, especially when you're away from roads (although I think there are licensing/cost issues).

                              zoom-zoom


                              rectumdamnnearkilledem

                                A quicker keybind for disabling the gps. If I run on the treadmill at the gym I still like to use the watch so that the run gets logged, but it's a large number of keypresses to turn off the gps.

                                 
                                Perhaps it's different than on the 305, but all I have to do is hold the mode button until a pop-up window opens that allows me to quickly change sport and indoor/outdoor mode.  I have found this to be useful during multi-sport events, since I don't trust myself to remember to do the actual auto multi-sport set-up and push the buttons before/after each transition.

                                Getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to

                                remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air.    

                                     ~ Sarah Kay

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