PM5 is here ...

[JonT]

Received my D model with PM5 on Wednesday.

Just a haeds up that the supplied thumb drive does not work. The PM5 does not see it and I have tried it in several other computers. (XP, 7 and 8) and they do not see it.

Using a spare thumb drive I had laying around and it works fine. Just not as cool since it's not black and doesn't say Concept 2.

I had a very similar problem. The thumb drive worked just fine in the PM5. I could see data being recorded and I could view it on the rower. But when I inserted the drive into a PC it crashed the PC. This happened on two different PCs. Concept offered to send me a replacement drive, but I just used a spare thumb for £5 on Amazon instead.

Concept told me they had not come across this before, sounds like it may be a wider problem.

Jon

[RBFC]

I received a new email from C2 customer service and they state that the PM5 will be available as a retrofit for Model D rowers in December. Price is $180. Guess I can wait til then. Too bad I'll have to manually enter my rows in my logbook until then.

Lee

[Citroen]

Just a heads up that the supplied thumb drive does not work. The PM5 does not see it and I have tried it in several other computers. (XP, 7 and 8) and they do not see it.

You are not the first person to report this. You need to call Concept2. It looks like they may have a problem with the quality of the USB sticks that are being shipped with the PM5s.

[Emm]

I fully agree that the back-light feature is great - this is one of the reasons for myself to upgrade the rower - but it is somehow not so well designed - or has been designed by someone who was sitting in constant full light.

Back-light is useful when you do not have much light where the rower is (either all the time, the room may be dark - or during some seasons where you have early morning/late afternoon darkness more than at other times). So I do not see the point of switching the light off 20 secs after you finished rowing, just defeats the purpose. I'd rather have a general switch for back-light (ie do I want it on or off) and if I do want it on, then I want to be able to set the time before it switches off - or have it lit for a decent amount of time.

thanks

[c2jonw]

Emm- The backlight can be turned back on at the end of a workout by pushing any button- you'll get another 20 seconds. We turn the backlight off to conserve battery power when the monitor is not being powered by the flywheel generator. C2JonW

[Emm]

Let me ask back differently: what do you expect a user to be able to do in 20 secs in a place where there is not enough light to read the display. ...

... .... my present answer is to grab a light and hold it, then take a piece of paper and a pen at the same time, then read the display a bit longer and write down a few things - because having to press a button so often on the monitor just distracts me from reading the display and take a few notes. But I am still running out of hands, one for the light, one for the paper and then a further one for the pen... So, it's great to have the light during the rowing, but I think there is still some room for perfecting the feature.

thanks

[jackarabit]

Ofttimes, not everyone gets it. Too bad C2 let PM5 buyers believe they got it. If you get it, then you retrofit it. The only illumination for photo is from the MightyBrite Hammerhead music stand light available from Amazon around 17$. I would suggest you also buy the wallwart or power inverter for this critter available Amazon around 12$ as replacing triple As is not economical. Has spring clamp for attachment but I velcroed the batt. housing cum clamp to the back of the monitor. You can see the strain relief and flex going to the light head exiting at top left. Another cord to route down the monitor arm doesn't bother me a bit as I also have an ErgData cable and a Polar HR sender umbilicus which comes up from the rower beam and then up the arm to the monitor. Yeh, it's another expense to add what you thought you were getting on the PM5 but Xmas is coming and a chance to buy your erg a present. Jack

[c2jonw]

No misleading intended on our part. The Pm5 has a backlight that is primarily powered by the generator when you're rowing. A number of decisions were made to help maximize battery life, including turning the backlight off after a predetermined amount of inactivity. That said, PM5 is new and we welcome suggestions for improvement. We could simply extend the time to shutoff, or give the user some options for length of time to shutoff, or something else. Note that all PM5 firmware updates are available for free online. C2JonW

[jamesg]

One of the main characteristics of the C2 erg is that it has moving parts, computers, display and hkwe, but needs no power line. This should be maintained at all cost, even of rowing in daylight or listening to Lili Marlen.

[jackarabit]

Chop the wood, carry the water, crank up the Victrola, row by the faint illumination of memory and loss? Yeh, all good. Jack

[jackarabit]

Incidentally, Emm, you should know that a lot of folks bootleg their monitor power (overrides the four minute or two minute screen shutdown on earlier PMs and supplies power to same) from USB ports of PCs and iSlabs. Concept 2's ErgData is based on full acceptance of dependence on someone else's wallwart. I have the unilluminated PM3 (a wonderful source of personal rectitude for me!) and don't know if adding ErgData or RowPro and their attendant equipage powers the backlighting on the PM5. Worth checking. Jack

[Citroen]

If the USB-B is connected to a live socket USB at 5V then that overrides any battery drain or power generation feature.

[Bob S.]

For RowPro, at least, a computer connection is required, so the 4 minute shutdown is overridden and there is no problem about the powers cells running low. ErgData? I would think that it would put to much of a drain on small device batteries.

Bob S.

[jackarabit]

Bit tangential but on the issue of Ipad batts, I rowed both of my incredible all in the same day HMs tuned to ED on the Apple to avoid monitor shutdown during the numerous self-indulgent breaks where I guzzle water, eat bran muffins, and attempt to restore circulation to my backside. Handled two hours of powering the PM board and screen fine; dropped to maybe 65-70% charge. I don't know if it could handle even LEDs unplugged. Jack

[Hollywood_Kuma]

@c2jonw,

Thanks for your comments, and for looking into this issue.

If I may add my input I, together with the crew I train with, find the time-out on the monitors to be too aggressive (both the overall time-out/power-down for the monitors ... PM3/PM4/PM5 ... and the time out for the back-light on the PM5). Please consider either lengthening these or provide us with the option to set them ourselves. For long rows it's a particular pain if you take a break and find the monitor times out.

With the PM3 and PM4 monitors, as several people have pointed out, there was always the workaround of externally powering the monitor, in which case it would not time out. But on the PM5 (at least on the firmware version I'm using) it powers down even when connected to external power, which is totally nonsensical.

I really like the new PM5 ... the back-light is something I've wanted for years ... but the unnecessarily aggressive time-outs, with no option for the user to adjust them, are extremely annoying.

I very much hope that you'll be kind enough to look into this and consider these requests for a future firmware update.