Software

[ukaserex]

I'm curious.

I confess - I'm amazed sometimes how all these zeroes and ones come together and allow the internet to show movies, phones to have apps and all the other fascinating things computer languages have brought us.

It should be no surprise to me that these things malfunction from time to time. I am not a patient man, usually. And, when I'm in the midst of a row, I get easily frustrated and distracted by software not working as intended. I regret to say, I have an Android phone because, well -- the truth is, I'm too damn cheap to pay more than my mortgage for a phone. And yeah, I get it - we get what we pay for.

Today, I thought I'd try MyRowPro - they offer a free trial for a week. For android - at least, my android, it's not stable, nor very good. I got it connected...but the app would hang before the PM 5 would display anything. So, I closed it. Figured I'd go about my business of the day: 4 sets of 10:00 at 20 s/m, 90 seconds rest, at 2k+18.

Rowalong has this workout at the ready within the Ergzone app. So, I set it up.

Within 2 minutes, my phone just went dark. My battery was at 85%, so not sure why that would happen.
I set it up again, and it did it again.

So, this time, I figured I'd just set up the same workout myself. And it did make a difference. BUT!

After the first 10:00, instead of it displaying "re-establishing blue-tooth connection", it simply stopped after the first 10 minutes. I was so intent to row along, I really didn't notice this until I was 2 minutes into it. So, I just ignored it, figured, just maybe, I could hook up ErgData and sometimes, it will connect and pick up where Ergzone leaves off. Alas, it wasn't to be. So, the workout half done, I set up a re-row on ErgData, and ...joy of joys, every few minutes, it would slide to the next screen to see if I wanted to connect to the PM5. I thought I was already connected. So, after the first 10 minutes, I hooked up the cable.

Heck, even my stupid Fitbit Charge4 stopped my workout in the middle of the row for reasons unknown to me! Just not a good day for software. Hope my computer doesn't blow up.

Which brings me to my question - for you android users that like to see your Heart Rate, your average s/m for that interval (not the s/m at that specific stroke like ErgData shows), your split, what software are you using?

And yes, I've reached out to Ergzone. They have a lot of steps to take for various issues, which I've done, to no avail. It's strange. Yesterday, I'd lose bluetooth connection from time to time, but it would re-connect, and other than that, it worked just fine.

Today..yeesh.

[Dangerscouse]

Which brings me to my question - for you android users that like to see your Heart Rate, your average s/m for that interval (not the s/m at that specific stroke like ErgData shows), your split, what software are you using?

I always use Ergzone and Android, and I've only ever had very minor and temporary issues. Is it a new, or newish, Android phone, and what make is it? I've got a Samsung A50, so it's not top of the range, and it's two years old.

[ukaserex]

It's a couple years old, maybe 3 years. A moto G5 plus.

For whatever it's worth, I've always had issues with Ergzone.

Only the rare occasional problem with Krew, but I like Ergzone features better.

[Carl Watts]

Trying to get ErgData working on my phone as well as RowPro with a single PM5 still had problems for me.

Recently I moved to using two PM5's on the one rower so one PM5 connects to an old Samsung A3(2017) and the other PM5 just runs RowPro.

Its a faultless setup now but the "Set-up time" is a bit longer as effectively its two independent setups.

Another plus is I can also run Zwift via the Rowedbiker app and run ErgData via the second PM5, complete a "Ride" on Zwift but continue rowing to finish a preset distance on the second PM5.

Hopefully things will get easier hardware wise in the future so I no longer need a PC, two phones, actually 3 because Zwift companion needs yet another device and two PM5's !!!!

I guess you end up with whatever it is you need to get the job done reliably. There is nothing more frustrating than some equipment failure during a row when your trying to accurately log the results.

[ukaserex]

Given your signature - you may know the answer with regards to ErgData.

My biggest frustration with it is the lack of responsiveness. That pane that pops up for various messages, whenever I mash my finger over the word "Ok", it takes it a good 20-30 seconds to recognize the response. What gives? I've never had an app work so slowly before. It's slow if I'm using Cable or wifi.

I think if Concept2 would just align with Ergzone or one of these better apps, or invest in Ergdata, there'd be a lot of happier rowers.

[JaapvanE]

I use ErgData through the USB cable and I have EXR through BT, as well as a HR strap through Ant+. I don't have had any issues so far. EXR is slow on the BT connection (used on an old Windows tablet), but it is quite reliable for me.

[max_ratcliffe]

I got this for my hard 30' tonight: 839m logged in total.



I've been having problems for a while, at updated to the latest firmware on C2's advice that it might solve the problems.

I thought the problems were due to a bluetooth connection to a speaker originally, and then wondered if the ANT+ to my HRM was causing the glitches. No HRM or speaker today - the only bluetooth was to Ergzone on the phone.

Will have to get back in touch with C2, but have any of you good people seen this before?

[Dangerscouse]

I got this for my hard 30' tonight: 839m logged in total.



I've been having problems for a while, at updated to the latest firmware on C2's advice that it might solve the problems.

I thought the problems were due to a bluetooth connection to a speaker originally, and then wondered if the ANT+ to my HRM was causing the glitches. No HRM or speaker today - the only bluetooth was to Ergzone on the phone.

Will have to get back in touch with C2, but have any of you good people seen this before?

No mate. I've seen erratic HR but never pace issues like that. Could it be any issue with cabling, due to humidity / heat? Is your erg well protected?