The Useless Chase of Technology

Brad_Olwin

@Maarten-Thys Suunto has another statement out. They certainly have heard from their customers about pre-Ambit 3 support. I suspect in the near future they will provide us with more information.

Maarten Thys

@Brad_Olwin Where can I find that statement?

@Maarten-Thys https://forum.suunto.com/topic/2382/april-transition-update/61

Maarten Thys

@Yannis-Belouris Thanks, I got that email in my inbox. Anxiously awaiting the May updates, because the website (https://www.suunto.com/Content-pages/digital-service-transition/) still mentions:
Ambit, Ambit2, M-series, T-series and Quest Collection watches
These Suunto products will not be compatible with Suunto app due to no mobile connectivity (Bluetooth).

We are excited to offer you the ability to transfer your Move history from Movescount to Suunto app and continue your experience with Suunto. We will inform you once the transfer is available.

I can interpret this in a number of ways.

Worst Case:

Yes all old moves are transferred from Movescount to Suunto app, but after the transition my Ambit 2 is unusable to do uploads/downloads of data/routes - forcing me to buy a new watch (Suunto… or competitor even… without really loosing data, because all my data is now currently also in Strava, linked to Elevate/Stravistics, and I can download my history from Movescount, upload it to Runalyze…) - To be clear, this is not what I want to do because I am still a Suunto fan.
I still think the Ambit is better tailored to my needs than let’s say a Garmin or Polar (That have either too many fancy bling features or not enough).

A bit less worse, but maybe still not the best case

Loose history of Movescount - transferred to Suunto App (again there are backups as mentioned above)
Connectivity with cable that still syncs activity to Strava, maybe even Runalyze (if a phone can do it, why not a pc…or pc with bluetooth to suunto app, but that is a lot of steps…)
A way to upload gpx to the watch via cable
I do not need to be able to create routes on Movescount as there are a lot of other ways I can make a gpx file, some with better full topographical maps then available at Movescount, but I need a way to put it on my watch.
(Currently I just always use a 3rd party routebuilder or Strava (to see segment), export gpx and then the only thing on movescount I do is Import + check the “use in watch” marker)

Let us wait what May will bring us.

Dimitrios Kanellopoulos

@Maarten-Thys you should ask as well a way to configure your watch + a way to reset it etc.

Maarten Thys

@Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos Yes, you are correct - Creating/ Editing sport modes - this is what I could come up with in the first 5 minutes, I am probably forgetting stuff.
Working on software myself, I know how things go - you get the first brainstorm by a few people, something gets developed, its giving to some testers (who weren’t there when the spec was written), they suggest some additional usability improvements, … Eventually you have a release and still users will come up with new and inventive ways to improve things.

Another remark was “what if Strava sync fails?” - a post on Strava shows many people didn’t get a Strava sync for half a week or more.
I have only had this on a very few occasions with movescount were it took longer than a few hours before it uploaded.
With Movescount I could then still export as GPX or other Strava compatible file and do the upload manually - Suunto App cannot provide this.
Other reasons to export GPX - share route with friends, who may or may not be using Suunto watch, some may even be using a standard GPS device. Again not possible with Suunto App.
So, or you need a web application were you can access data, or have an offline application were data is stored ( where user can choose to delete, take back-up for himself, access watch parameters such as the sport modes, … - basically anything Movescount can do at the moment)

pgrey

@Maarten-Thys Or simply just being able to “install new Sport Modes”, or change/set your physical characteristics (height, weight, age, HR zones, etc).

None of this is in SA, and none of seems to be planned for the Ambit3. As of now, as far as I can tell, when the service goes down, you “have whatever was set, on your watch, from that point forward, period”.

Think about that “resale proposition”, eh? There will be ads like “Ambit 3S, with user 5’8”, 158lb, 50’s, with HR zone 5 172-184, and the sports installed: cycling, alpine skiing, hiking…".
It’s a bit like selling a piece of clothing, it all has to fit the buyer, just-so, or it’s not much use to them…

Egika

@Maarten-Thys the current iOS beta of the Suunto App can export GPX files - no problem here with this function

@Egika I thank you if you could tell me where this function is in Suunto App (1.9.0 (7062))
Greetings.

Bulkan

Well movescount is not for analysis, it gives you data but no data for analysis. In that case use WKO4 or ColdenCheetah.

I find very useful change the sports mode in the fly with my phone, create routes with my phone if I am in a new place…

But I agree with you in the “only phone solution” is not as good as phone+computer. We need a web page. Sports-tracker have it I don’t get why Suunto won’t.

Bulkan

@Nutet in the last beta there isn’t GPX export, at least in the public beta.

Egika

@Nutet depends on where you are in the app:

a) in route planning: open the route and in the map section there will be a “share” button. You then share a link that will download the gpx file.
b) recorded activitites: open the activity, the tap the three dots in the top right corner. Tap “save route”. Then proceed with a)

sartoric

@Egika
iOS only atm

@Egika Thanks for your answer. This action had already been done, but the saved route data is different, the distance is never the same, and the file shared-route.gpx is totally useless to work because there is a lack of data, for example, the total time of the exercise. It is a pathetic file!
I hope they solve it someday, but I am really disappointed.

Brad_Olwin

@Nutet said in The Useless Chase of Technology:

@Egika Thanks for your answer. This action had already been done, but the saved route data is different, the distance is never the same, and the file shared-route.gpx is totally useless to work because there is a lack of data, for example, the total time of the exercise. It is a pathetic file!
I hope they solve it someday, but I am really disappointed.

The export is not intended to provide any data, it is intended only to provide a route so there is nothing wrong with it. If you want to download the entire workout this tool will allow you to do that. https://forum.suunto.com/topic/2499/download-a-fit-file-from-suunto-app

@Brad_Olwin I have already tried the solution proposed by dimitrios-kanellopoulos and it works perfectly. This is how I communicated it.
Thank you.

Brad_Olwin

@Nutet said in The Useless Chase of Technology:

@Brad_Olwin I have already tried the solution proposed by dimitrios-kanellopoulos and it works perfectly. This is how I communicated it.
Thank you.

So you understand the route export serves a different purpose. You can share routes with others.

@Brad_Olwin Yes, but I still do not understand how to save an activity as a route, the total time of the activity is never correct.
It is always superior in the saved route.

Examples:
Trekking activity in Suunto app = time 1: 51’14
Saved route: time 2: 06 ’
Trekking activity in Suunto app = time 1: 19’27
Saved route: time 1:32 ’

And it is always like this in all the routes that I keep.
Why this difference?..

Egika

@Nutet If you save an activity as a route, by default it should not have any time at all. Because it is just the GPS track information - nothing more.
Now if you see a time being displayed here - maybe it takes some default speed to estimate a time - which I understand can be misleading…

Brad_Olwin

@Nutet To save a route in iOS you touch the three buttons on the top of the page when you have the exercise open. Once you click “Save Route” you have options to modify the speed and the type of activity. See screenshots. I am not sure you completely understand how route to gpx works and this will help.