Forums >Gears and Wears>Sensoria Anklet and Socks - My Experiences
There were a number of glowing reviews for the Sensoria Socks and accompanying anklet device from the consumer electronics show this past winter in Los Vegas. Based on them I decided to ask for a set as a birthday present. Before others purchased them I figured it might we worth writing up my experience with them. I plan to update this as I use them. My bottom line after a week or so, this device is not ready for prime time. If you buy them, you will basically be paying to become a beta tester.
Purchase: My SIL order a set of socks and the anklet. She ordered the socks in medium. I am a men's size 8 and the mediums cover up to 9.5. They shipped her an anklet (good) and a set of large socks. When she complained they encouraged her to have me use the large ones instead. Not a chance I was going to do that. The sock's sensors have to sit at the right spot on your foot or the whole thing will not work. It took from February to early May for them to ship a set of medium socks. The medium socks, by the way, are the right size for me.
Day 0: The web page claims that the anklet takes about 1.5 hours for an initial charge and should then hold a charge for about a month if you do not use it. https://help.sensoriafitness.com/support/solutions/articles/5000571467-how-long-does-the-battery-in-the-anklet-last-. I put it on the charger. About 2 hours later it is still not fully charged. I decide to see about trying to use it on a partial charge. It connects to the phone app for about a minute and dies. The phone app says the anklet has a 0% charge. I give up and go running without the anklet. When I return about 90 minutes later the anklet is finally charged up.
Day 1: The anklet lost its connection to the phone app after about 2 miles. I tried getting it to reconnect by bringing the phone close, taking the anklet on and off. Nothing worked. Then just after 4 miles the phone app died too, meaning it stopped recording pace, time, etc. I recharged the anklet after my Day 1 run. Some devices do not like remaining on a charger after being fully charged so I take the anklet off once it indicates it has a full change.
Day 2: While the web page says the anklet will hold a charge for a month, the app indicates that just sitting unused overnight has dropped the charge to about 80%. At least that is what one screen says. Another registers a 0% charge. Despite several attempts, the anklet would not even make it out of the house before dropping the connection.
Day 3: This time I leave the anklet on the charger until I am ready to go. Now both batter indicator screens show it charged 100%. Just short of 5 miles into the run the anklet disconnected. I figured out that if I stopped. Ran through the app menus, told the app to stop trying to pair with the anklet. Restarted the pairing from scratch, that got it to actually pair up again. At least the app did not die mid run.
Other issues:
Units: I changed the units from metric to imperial. Now the phone calculates minutes per mile, but ends it with the tag line "kilometers" as in your pace is 9 minutes and 32 seconds per kilometer. This is an obvious bug that I reported to Sensoria. Their response was to change the units to imperial. I pointed out that had they read my note they would find that was not the problem.
Shoe Closet: I wanted a Sensoria anklet and socks because I thought it would tell me if using different sneakers caused me to run differently. For that the app's "shoe closet" is potentially pretty handy. You enter in your shoes and then presumably you can have the app track what happens shoe-by-shoe. It turns out that you cannot add a shoe to a run after the fact. Neither the app nor their web page will let you do so. None of the company's help screens, videos, etc. explain anything about the shoe closet, including how to get the app to attach a run to a shoe. It turns out you go through the shoe closet via a button labeled "start" which, silly me, mistook for a button to have the device start recording my run.
Virtual Coach: The app comes with a virtual coach. It is supposed to give you advice while you run. So far at least I have not found the advice to be at all useful. Not that it matters much. Most apps suppress background music when making an announcement. The Sensoria app does not. That makes it very hard to hear the voice overs if you have music playing.
I will further notes as I use the app.
Live like you are dying not like you are afraid to die.
Drunken Irish Soda Bread and Irish Brown Bread this way --> http://allrecipes.com/cook/4379041/
Wait. What?
Runners run
My shoe is closet is simple, couple pairs of Nimbus, 2 pairs of La Sportiva Wldcats, a hiking shoe I dig. A few pairs of Burberry Wingtips, but anywho, for running, it's the same shoe until the fit changes, Asics Nimbus. Can't really comment on sock thingy, good luck though.
Kalsarikännit
La Sportiva Wldcats, a hiking shoe I dig.
Yup, yup. I love those bad boys. I did Nepal in them, and I'm using them on the AT.
I want to do it because I want to do it. -Amelia Earhart
You're on the AT, thru hiking? AWESOME, good for you!!! Post when your're close to Ct. and i'll leave a lil' trail magic in the Brassie Brook shelter for you, it's right before Bear Mountain. I'll leave some beer, booze, or whatever. Hope you're enjoying your hike.
I tried the socks and anklet again today. The anklet lost its connection right out the door. I terminated the run on the app, restarted it, reconnected the anklet again and started off. I managed to get about a quarter mile out when the anklet's connection dropped again. Same routine. I terminated the run on the app. Reconnected the anklet and this time the anklet stayed connected until about a quarter mile before I finished the run.
Accidently I, at least temporarily, fixed the problem where the app would 8 the pace per mile and then announce something like your pace is 9 minutes and 12 seconds per kilometer. I am not sure it matters much, the app's pace calculation is so inaccurate as to be nearly worthless.
After charging the anklet overnight, I took the following screen shots shortly after pulling it off the charger. Notice that on this screen the app indicates the anklet has a 0% battery charge.
Going to the start page, however, and you see it showing a nearly full charge.
One would hope that after the anklet charges overnight both screens would show a 100% charge.
A positive report. The Sensoria app tells you if your cadence is faster or slower than optimal. I am not sure if you can change what the app thinks is optimal. If you can, I have yet to locate where it is. While running, the app has been telling me to slow down my cadence. I finally did as it suggested. This resulted in my taking a longer back stride. My pace increased, with very little added effort. I would chalk that up to a good call by the app.
How do I post a pic from my damn phone? If I click that lil' mountain thingy, it get prompted to some nonsense about source and size, does size really matter? It's just a few random pics, nothing dirty, gotta PM for those
an amazing likeness
When you've got some downtime between romps in the hay with your lady, jogging a bit, and other top-level hipness....upload your pics to any of the hosting sites (like tinypic.com), and then paste the link to the pic into that lil' mountain thingy. Adjust size to make it nice and pretty, as needed.
Acceptable at a dance, invaluable in a shipwreck.
AHHHH, thank you. In case Wrigley Girl is hiking the AT, i've got some pics from around Bear Mountain, Sages Ravine I could post up. Nothing too special, not like Franconia Notch, which is just south of the Whites. If you are doing the AT, try and bust out the 4 state challenge. I was thinking of dropping a box at one of the shelters in CT for you, with a lil' Grey Goose and Starbucks vias and things like that, but it would be left in the shelter at the mercy of your thru hiking brethren, or day hiking jackasses. Either way, I'm not sure it would still be there when you get up here. I prolly won't be back out there anytime soon either, gonna be spending my spare time up on Cannon mountain, and Cathedral Ledge climbing. Happy hiking, and stay dry. Thanks again Milktruck
AHHHH, thank you. In case Wrigley Girl is hiking the AT, i've got some pics from around Bear Mountain, Sages Ravine I could post up. Nothing too special, not like Franconia Notch, which is just south of the Whites. If you are doing the AT, try and bust out the 4 state challenge. I was thinking of dropping a box at one of the shelters in CT for you, with a lil' Grey Goose and Starbucks vias and things like that, but it would be left in the shelter at the mercy of your thru hiking brethren, or day hiking jackasses.
We call the day hiking people the jeans and bear bells crew. I would love to do the four state challenge, but two of my BFFs are going to be meeting me around Harpers Ferry, and there will be good times to be had. Thanks, nantucket, but those bastard thru-hikers would take the stuff asap, especially the shelter rats. Post some pictures, man.
I'll try to post them in next few days. I'm thinking of heading back over there on Tuesday. Too bad about the shelter rats, mother effers!!!
Some of you may find this mildly interesting.elcapreport.com. I hope this is clicky. http://elcapreport.com/
Those pictures are amazing. I love looking at them and reading about El Capitan and Camp 4 back in the olden days and the culture there.
I went itno Yosemite last year and promptly left to go backpack in Stanislaus National Forest. I'm sad that I never got to see El Cap or Half Dome, but I had to escape that shit show.
Those climbers are crazy and amazing.
Yosemite (and the Sierras) is my favorite NP. I suppose I'd say the same about the Rockies if I lived close enough to make frequent trips. I once backpacked from Whitney Portal (including to Mt Whitney with our 55 pound packs) up to Yosemite's Tuolumne Meadows via the JMT. Three weeks of unbelievable beauty and solitude - you could go that entire time without crossing a single road if you could sustain food that long. That was about 10 years ago. Before I get too much older I want to do a significant portion of both the Continental Divide trail and AT. Retirement where are you?!