PM5 Problems

[jackarabit]

http://www.c2forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=105776

May provide some answers and an avenue for further investigation, Valgozi.

[valgozi]

http://www.c2forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=105776

May provide some answers and an avenue for further investigation, Valgozi.

Jackarabit

I had not seen that thread since your original post, thanks for the link. I can see you have tested this, and reported the results a few times
It's weird there aren't any comments on the fix you have found as it seems that it would stop all the problems everyone has.

So PM5 fix is additional power (a USB battery pack) connected to the USB B port

Not sure this helps me with decision to upgrade.

[Bob S.]

Not sure this helps me with decision to upgrade.

My own decision is quite clear and was made several months ago after reading so many postings about the problems many have been having, plus my own brief encounter with the practice machines at C-B last year. The decision is to hope and pray that my PM4 will last as long as I am able to use the machine.

[rowbike]

I too had been planning to upgrade to the PM5 mainly for the backlight feature, but with all the issues with USB drives I am no longer considering it. I use the logcard to record all workouts on my PM4 and it works flawlessly. It appears the PM5 USB drive feature is nowhere close that that reliable.

If the solution is to use a name brand 1GB USB flash drive on the PM5, anyone who does not already have one is pretty much out of luck since the only 1GB drives available now are Chinese off brands. Major suppliers like Sandisk and Kingston are focusing on 16GB and above at this point.

If it remains that a 1GB or 2GB USB drive is necessary for reliable performance on the PM5, and the drive needs to be procured independently of the PM, then that feature on the PM5 risks becoming obsolete or non-functional as compatible flash drives become less and less available.

[lcantey]

Not sure this helps me with decision to upgrade.

My own decision is quite clear and was made several months ago after reading so many postings about the problems many have been having, plus my own brief encounter with the practice machines at C-B last year. The decision is to hope and pray that my PM4 will last as long as I am able to use the machine.

As another data point, if I could walk up and choose a machine with a PM4 or a PM5 to take home I'd choose the PM5. I rowed with a PM3 for a number of years in the gym and I have a PM5 at home. The wireless connection with ErgData and support for both ANT and BTLE beats the previous generations hands down.

Have I seen occasional problems with the USB? Yes. I use a wall charger now and issues are fewer but not quite absent. That said, I had a number of issues with my log card also with either not being recognized or requiring reformatting.

[jackarabit]

I have a late S/N PM3 in a box and a late S/N PM4 on my home rower. Both have functioned reliably for me, to include storage to internal memory and chipcard, upload to C2 utility, operation with both ErgData and RowPro. I have no wish to use a PM5-equipped machine but I do enjoy rowing (although sometimes anything but enjoyable!) at a YMCA gym which has them and would prefer that solutions be found sooner rather than later for the good of the sport and the obvious benefits accruing to C2.

[jag]

Everyone is different. I bought a PM5 about 15 months ago and have had no problems whatsoever. I use a Bluetooth smart heartrate monitor (cheap generic unit purchased online) which always connects without problem, and I store my workouts to PM5 memory, and I have never lost a workout (ever). I update my firmware when they come out with a new release (so I'm running with rev 20 now), but for my purposes it has not seemed to be necessary. I also received (for free) the battery door replacement since my PM5 had the early battery door, though again I had not seen any problems with the one my PM5 had shipped with. I use my erg for 5K, three times a week, and I am still running with the batteries that shipped with the PM5. I haven't bothered to check what kind of batteries they are, but they are clearly not wearing down fast enough to be a concern.

Now it is true that I don't use a USB flash drive, but I've never wanted to. I occasionally connect my laptop if I want to upgrade my firmware or download my results from memory, and this has always worked flawlessly. I like the backlight of the PM5 and the fact that I could get a working heartrate monitor for less than $20- so my PM4 sits in a box.

[rowbike]

The wireless connection with ErgData and support for both ANT and BTLE beats the previous generations hands down.

How does the PM5 connect with ErgData wirelessly? The C2 website says you need either the iphone or android connection kit to do so.

[Carl Watts]

Basically don't do just rows, set-up a set distance or a set time. The PM3 and PM4 don't like just rows either and failed to put them in memory at the finish.

Unless you explicitly hit the [BACK/MENU] button at the end of the "Just Row".

Ahh thats what I always do, hit the menu back as I want to see the result. So your saying you just have to wait for the monitor to shutdown by itself before it stores the row ? thats not very useful.

Just filled my LogCard in the PM4 with three months to go in the season so just plugged in a second freshly formatted card.

I think I will wait for the next version of the PM5 to come out. Like I said a year ago, there needs to be an option thats not a monitor at all now, just a smart tach pickup with a Litium battery and self powered from the rower (reset button, green LED for power and Blue LED for connection status) that connects via Bluetooth to your tablet or phone and the "Monitor" can now be an App on your phone. The monitor arm just has a universal cradle on the end of it and you put your phone or tablet or iPAD on it. You then have a large colour display with internet connectivity and BOOM you also have RowPro at the Gym and your rowing log at your fingertips.

[RBFC]

The wireless connection with ErgData and support for both ANT and BTLE beats the previous generations hands down.

How does the PM5 connect with ErgData wirelessly? The C2 website says you need either the iphone or android connection kit to do so.

The PM5 connects via Bluetooth Smart to the iPhone. You go into "More Options" on the PM5 and choose "Turn Wireless On". It will connect to your iPhone and you will see "Connected to Erg" in green on your ErgData screen. It has worked perfectly for me for over a year.

Lee

[Mat]

Like I said a year ago, there needs to be an option thats not a monitor at all now, just a smart tach pickup with a Litium battery and self powered from the rower (reset button, green LED for power and Blue LED for connection status) that connects via Bluetooth to your tablet or phone and the "Monitor" can now be an App on your phone. The monitor arm just has a universal cradle on the end of it and you put your phone or tablet or iPAD on it. You then have a large colour display with internet connectivity and BOOM you also have RowPro at the Gym and your rowing log at your fingertips.

Hi! I hope I will never have to have my smart phone as the only option to have my workout recorded an transfered into the online logbook. There needs to be always a posibility to get a 'real' PM for the erg. If I wanna do a workout then I don't wanna care about connections, operating systems and app versions or any other electronic device bugs or compatibility problems.

And the gyms will want to have PMs, too!

Mat

[wyattwyatt]

amazon still sells sandisk 8gb (2 for $12.99) and 16gb (5.99) usb 2.0 drives.

rated 4.6 out of 5 stars, 11,0000 reviews.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007JR ... 15&sr=8-15

[grahamf]

How does the PM5 connect with ErgData wirelessly? The C2 website says you need either the iphone or android connection kit to do so.

I run ErgData on my Android phone. Connection is by Bluetooth. Connection to my heart rate belt is by ANT+ and they both run at the same time. That has been standard on the PM5 since the V16 (I think) firmware upgrade. It certainly wasn't there when I got the machine in January last year but one of the first updates gave BT capability.
My PM5 has V20 and I still get regular errors on the Concept2 supplied USB flash drive - so it obviously doesn't even work well with their own supplied equipment.
I "solved" the problem by using RowPro to remember and upload my workouts. The only downside is that warm ups/downs don't get uploaded.

[Carl Watts]

Just setup separate rows for the warm up and the cooldown and it gets stored in the Logbook no problem.

I only row Online so this would just make sense as I'm only ever rowing with others anyway.

Even a quick row is stored so this is what we use rather than everyone having to pre-register for the row. Takes like 10 seconds to set-up a quick row.

[Bob S.]

amazon still sells sandisk 8gb (2 for $12.99) and 16gb (5.99) usb 2.0 drives.

rated 4.6 out of 5 stars, 11,0000 reviews.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007JR ... 15&sr=8-15

Fine that it is usb 2.0, but the reports coming in to this forum suggest that anything over 2gb will require too much power and fail to work in a PM5. My one and only encounter with the PM5 was a futile attempt to use my own Sandisk 8gb in the brand new machines in the practice room at the hotel for the 2015 Crash-B.