Concept2 Forum

Hi,
It's probably right in front of me, but I cant seem to figure out how to display meters per stroke in the PM3..

Is it possible to do so? I'm told that 10 meters/stroke is a good target to shoot for.

thanks
-chadgoss

chgoss wrote:Hi,
It's probably right in front of me, but I cant seem to figure out how to display meters per stroke in the PM3..

Is it possible to do so? I'm told that 10 meters/stroke is a good target to shoot for.

thanks
-chadgoss

The PM3 doesn't display that figure, not at this time anyway (no telling what they may plan for the future). Though not as easy to follow as a PM2, simply taking your catch where the same number would show up on the meter count would fall will put you on 10m/stroke. The Pm3 updates each 0.5 sec, so you won't necessarily see a smooth count going on, but it's possible to make a relatively close guess, an as long as you are covering 100m every 10 strokes you will be quite close to the target of 10.

You can visit the site below and check out ErgMonitor if you want more precise viewing of the meter countdown.

Cheers.

PaulS wrote: You can visit the site below and check out ErgMonitor if you want more precise viewing of the meter countdown.

Or RowPro, at www.digitalrowing.com .

ehagberg wrote:

PaulS wrote: You can visit the site below and check out ErgMonitor if you want more precise viewing of the meter countdown.

Or RowPro, at www.digitalrowing.com .

Of course, having not used RowPro (yet) I didn't realize that it displayed meters/stroke.
Though I have seen the program when at WIRC and it looks like fun, and the avatar produces a pretty good representation of proper rowing technique.

Rowpro doesn't have any screenshots or even lists of features on their site, so it is hard to tell what it does have and does not.

John Rupp wrote:Rowpro doesn't have any screenshots or even lists of features on their site, so it is hard to tell what it does have and does not.

RowPro offers a free 20 days trial!

Paul correct me if I'm wrong: Ergmonitor offers a free trial as well.

So just try and make up your mind!! (or end up getting both!!)

RowPro will give a better countdown of the meters than the PM3, and also allows one (or both) of the real-time graphs to show instantaneous DPS (or HR, or time/500m or watts...).

You can't have it display, numerically, the meters per stroke instantaneously though. Or at least I haven't found a way.

From the lack of screen shots on their site, Rowpro doesn't look worth downloading to try it.

I'd give Ergmonitor a go, but the numbers are tiny, hard to see, and it has that huge picture of Paul Smith on it.

The numbers in ErgMonitor are as large as your Monitor will allow, I set it up on a monitor that is beyond the flywheel of the Erg and can see everything clearly. This will depend on eyesight however. I have had it on a laptop in either a closer location or the same as a regular monitor is now, and all the usual data is displayed large enough to see.

There is no "huge picture" of me within the ErgMonitor Interface, though perhaps I should consider adding it as a selling point. Value added indeed!

John Rupp wrote:From the lack of screen shots on their site, Rowpro doesn't look worth downloading to try it.

RowPro screenshot page shows what you see while rowing. I doubt anyone makes the decision to buy the product or not based on the logbook functionality, which might not be shown.

I'd give Ergmonitor a go, but the numbers are tiny, hard to see, and it has that huge picture of Paul Smith on it.

On my 17" display, the major numbers are as large or larger than they are on my PM3, and even the smaller numbers are about 1/3" in height, and thus quite easy to read. And I only see the picture of Paul when I go to his website...

Bill

alternatively it is simple arithmetic to figure out paces corresponding to 10 meters per stroke - then just hold the pace at the stroke rate

500 / (# of meters per stroke X # of strokes per minute) = pace / 500 meters

for me, tracking the meters and trying to hit the catch at '10' drives me bozo, as the slightest error puts it to 1 or 9 and the next under / over pull throws it off further and so on . . . hitting the proscribed pace means I am always giving it my best shot with each stroke

the only limitation is that the PM3 only shows whole numbers for stroke rate, so for the truly devoted, go to RowPro or ErgMonitor for this reason if no other

By the way, IMO the force curve in ErgMonitor is truly beautiful.

~ Sean

Alternatively, you might consider trying RowIt (the winning entry in C2's software design contest last fall). It's free and displays meters/stroke. It's available at:

http://homepages.isunet.net/smichael/rowit/