PM5 is here ...

[Hollywood_Kuma]

@FHAREN

PM3s and PM4s do appear from time to time on eBay, but at the moment people are just asking silly prices for them.

Once the PM5 retrofits come out, I think you should be able to pick up a PM3 or a PM4 for ~$50, either from eBay or from the forums here.

I wanted a PM5 erg straight away, so I sold my old erg, and my new erg is arriving tomorrow. Given the high resale value of ergs, the cost of this is probably no more than a ~$200 retrofit would be, and I get my new erg in black (which looks cooler, I think, than the gray model that I had before).

[FHAREN]

@ Hollywood_Kuma,

I will start looking for the PM3 on eBay, and yes prices now are just silly. Hope some forum members have a used one after PM5's start shipping.

I just called C2, and the retrofit kit was in the 160 range.

I have to get a new monitor arm with either option.

My model C with a non working monitor wouldn't sell for enough (maybe 500) for making up the difference in buying a new erg (900+)

[akadaedalus]

@akadaedalus

In case it's of any help, I can tell you that I found the card reader (Omnikey 3121) to be quite helpful, and it set my back less than $17 on Amazon

I appreciate the tip. It certainly would be cheaper than looking into another retrofit, even if a trade-in option is available. I run mostly Linux systems though so I will have to evaluate whether I can use the card reader anyway.

[Hollywood_Kuma]

Erg - Comp.JPG (24.31 KiB) Viewed 10229 times

So, the new erg arrived today, complete with PM5 monitor, and a very cool looking C2 USB stick.

All works fine, with the only annoyance I have being that the back-light only stays on for a couple of seconds if you don't do anything ... like the ridiculously short two minute "time out" before the LCD shuts down, it's just too aggressive. Someone at Concept 2 clearly had a battery deprived childhood.

Suunto chest belt paired fine with the PM5, and the USB stick happily uploaded my first row on the new erg to my online logbook using the 6.73 beta version of the C2 utility.

Erg looks cool in black - much nicer than the gray version.

I think Citroen or Carl might have had some interest in the file format. The data is now stored in nine .bin files. There is also a directory for monitor firmware updates (which will now be delivered to the USB stick via the utility, and in turn to the monitor by the USB stick, which is quite neat). And an intriguing empty directory called "special".

[T_M]

Nice acquisition...congratulations.

Been thinking about getting a C2 for myself...maybe put my old Lifefitness recumbent bike on Craigslist first and see what luck I have with that.

[Hollywood_Kuma]

@T-M,

I would commend you to do that. I myself had a Tunturi bike quite a few years ago. It was OK for basic exercise, using magnetic resistance, but I became bored with it. With Concept 2 you not only have the greatest piece of exercise equipment ever built, but you also have an entire community here, the log books, rankings and so forth. C2 do a great job of motivating their customers to row, and keep rowing, giving away various swag along the way (t-shirts, bags, etc). Not to mention that rowing will do more for you than a stationary bike ever will.

For less than a thousand bucks, you have a machine that will add years to your life.

[Hollywood_Kuma]

Playing around with my new machine, I downloaded version 14, build 7 beta firmware for the PM5 (using the beta utility v6.73, so living on the edge). I'm delighted to see the annoying two minute monitor time out is gone. The time out is now a much more reasonable five minutes. A shout-out to Scott and his colleagues at C2 for addressing this annoyance. Hopefully they will instigate the same on the legacy monitors if there are further releases of PM3 and PM4 firmware.

I played around some more and I see the time-out for the back-light is, in fact, 10 seconds. It still feels annoyingly short, however, so I think this could be increased to 20, or even 30 seconds.

This is my only relatively minor issue with a really nice product.

[Carl Watts]

What does the summary of data look like on the monitor itself ?

I presume you don't need to plug your USB stick into a PC and use the utility everytime you want to see the results from your last row etc ?

If you Plug the PM5 into a PC then I assume the PM5 is smart enough not to turn the backlighting off at all for the whole row.Probably wants some options in the firmware for how long you can have that lighting on, pretty useless if it turns off during the row when you want it to stay on. You would just have to accept that it will shorten the battery life, however with the move to "AA" Ni-MH rechargables in "D" adapters its not really a problem if they only last a few months.

[Hollywood_Kuma]

Hi Carl,

The summary data screen on the PM5 is no different to the PM3 or PM4 monitors. I suspect there is now more memory on board on the monitor board, and there is obviously much more memory on a USB stick than on the old style 32k logcards. So, I think there is a possibility that more is being captured, but I don't see any more granularity on the PM5 display compared to the PM3/PM4.

The functionality with the PM5 is exactly the same as for the PM3/PM4 I think. If you don't have the USB stick inserted, everything is saved to the memory on the monitor board (as is the case with the PM3/PM4 if no log card is inserted). But if a USB stick is inserted, the monitor will use that for memory (in the same way that the PM3/PM4 will use the log card). So, if you have a USB stick inserted, then row, and remove the USB stick afterwards, there won't be a record of your row left on the monitor itself. If you want to see the row you did with a USB stick inserted, you have to insert the USB stick again.

As for the back-light, once you start rowing, it stays on all the time. It only goes dim if you stop rowing and don't hit a button for 10 seconds. This sounds like quite a long time, but in practice it is a little too aggressive and annoying, particularly if you are rowing at night. I'd rather live with changing the batteries a little more often, and have a longer time out on the back-light. Two alkaline D batteries hardly break the bank in terms of cost and, as you say, there are rechargeable batteries one can also use in any case.

I haven't checked out the functionality of the back-light if one powers the monitor via the USB port, but I can investigate this. It should, logically, just keep the back-light on if there is limitless power.

I hope I explained this clearly. If not, please feel free to revert.

[T_M]

@T-M,

I would commend you to do that. I myself had a Tunturi bike quite a few years ago. It was OK for basic exercise, using magnetic resistance, but I became bored with it. With Concept 2 you not only have the greatest piece of exercise equipment ever built, but you also have an entire community here, the log books, rankings and so forth. C2 do a great job of motivating their customers to row, and keep rowing, giving away various swag along the way (t-shirts, bags, etc). Not to mention that rowing will do more for you than a stationary bike ever will.

For less than a thousand bucks, you have a machine that will add years to your life.

Agree 100%. My issue with my stationary bike is that it's just taking up space...plus offsetting the cost of the erg with liquidation of the bike will keep my wife happy

[Hollywood_Kuma]

@Carl,

I tried providing the PM5 with power through the USB port today - it doesn't make any difference to the back-light functionality, which still goes off after 10 seconds. This is a bit daft I think, because there is no reason to dim the monitor if battery life isn't an issue, which it isn't when power is supplied.

[harrinp1]

Does anybody know how the PM5 connects to the iPhone to use ErgData?

The connection kit only lists as compatible with PM4.

Would be nice if it supported bluetooth.

[Citroen]

The PM5 has BTLE (aka Bluetooth Smart).

Else using the Ergdata connection kit should still work with the USB-B socket on the back of the PM5.

[harrinp1]

The PM5 has BTLE (aka Bluetooth Smart).

Else using the Ergdata connection kit should still work with the USB-B socket on the bottom of the PM5.

Accessories page says "Not compatible with the PM5."

[Citroen]

The PM5 has BTLE (aka Bluetooth Smart).

Else using the Ergdata connection kit should still work with the USB-B socket on the bottom of the PM5.

Accessories page says "Not compatible with the PM5."

Then send an email to rowing@concept2.com and ask what the options are. My understanding was that the USB-B interface on the PM5 worked identically to the USB-B on a PM3/PM4.