Comrades 2022

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  • Hi Debra, That is good to hear, let me know (assuming you have not charged it since) how many more miles you get from that. Did you take your Garmin too as back up - I bet you did. Reassuring for Lowrez on his new super duper bargain priced watch too (I'm looking forward to seeing if he can also take his watch from 98 to 41 in 23 hours completing 100miles!) :D
  • Hi Mark, I will do. I wore the Garmin as a watch on my other wrist to know what the clock-time was (don't know how to see that on the Coros while recording a run). Good practice for 13th June, when I'll need both in action.
  • During an activity spin the wheel you will then see different screens, at least one of those will have clock time on too.
  • Mark: still a lot to learn about using this watch. I took a crib sheet with me (laminated!) for the things I was most likely to need to do during the race. And still couldn't expand the map when I wanted to. Ah well!
  • I hope you get used to it soon.
  • I'll get there. It's just taking rather longer than I expected.
  • Lowrez, did that bargain of a PACE2 arrive today? 
  • 1owrez1owrez ✭✭✭
    Not overly impressed so far, but then I'm not a millennial. I only want a watch with long battery life, gps and altimeter, which of course this has, so why do I have to...
    Give it my dob
    Tell it my height
    Tell it my weight
    Tell it some stuff I've never heard of and don't know about my heart
    Tell it when I go to bed
    Give it access to my contacts
    Give it access to take pictures and videos
    Give it access to my geographic location
    Allow it to switch bluetooth on
    Why is there nothing I can find anywhere about basic operation, even the videos
    Coros make are rubbish
    How come I can't tell when gps is synced
    How do I bloody well unlock this piece of... Coros vid goes "...and rotate the dial to unlock"... I rotate and a symbol of a lock appears and a slider gives me feedback that I have rotated sufficiently and it stays locked, I rotate and I rotate and I rotate and I rotate and I rotate and... ultimately it unlocks... there is no consistency in how that magic happens... I don't know how to unlock this damned thing
    So I stand around having selected run with my Garmin on the same wrist, the Garmin went from red to green in 3 seconds indicating a gps sync I look at the Coros - is that red flare either side of the dial it trying to sync or has it always been there - is that a little picture of a satellite up top, its red too, is that a line through it - 5 minutes later with nothing green I start my run anyway - I don't know if the Coros has a gps lock or not - both watches are running within a second of each other - I believe I set the Coros to ping me every mile
    First mile up and within a second of each other they ping me with identical times
    During the run they diverge - at one point the Coros pings me 6 seconds after the Garmin
    At the end of the run I press one button and the Garmin stops - I try the same with the Coros - it wants me to unlock it - I rotate and rotate and rotate and rotate and rotate and rotate and finally it unlocks - I press to stop and walk about a bit to cool down - I happen to look at the Coros again and its still running I press to stop - its still running - I press to stop and I press to stop and I press to stop - hang on - each time I press to stop some other screen comes up - I press and hold to see what it is - its a count down - 3... 2... 1... it stops - wtf use is that - do I have to do this every run - several minutes before I expect to finish rotate the bloody dial a million times to unlock it and then when I think I might be 3 seconds away from the finish point start holding down the stop button?
    I look at my Garmin it tells me how far I ran and how long it took
    I look at my Coros and it tells me what? I have 92% battery left, some number under what looks like two sausages, a number under a symbol that looks like a hairdoo from Dragon Ball Z, a number under a symbol for an electricity station and a number under a symbol that looks like a stack of wood - none of them look like distance or time to me - oh - it does of course tell me the time of day, wow, useful
    Its forced a logo onto my notification bar on my phone that sits there permanently with nothing in it, if I drop that down it has a status bar I can't swipe away, its taken up permanent residency on my phone
    I've switched bluetooth off as it drains my phone so I don't know what my results are and I can't find anything on syncing it via wifi (like my Garmin does)
    Overall can you guess whether I like it or not?
  • DubairunnerDubairunner ✭✭✭
    Hey Lowrez get of the fence and tell us what you think of it!

    Had the same thing with a Huawei GT pro 2, my sons convinced me to get one and it was a lot cheaper than returning to Suunto. It now sits on the beside table as a spare for my Garmin, but I’d still return to Suunto, it’s just that their warranty cover here is terrible.


  • DubairunnerDubairunner ✭✭✭
    Anyway the way the world is going anyone taking bets on Comrades 2022 happening?
  • 1owrez1owrez ✭✭✭
    Ha ha Mr D l love it 😂
    Managed to root around in some menus and switch off the screen lock, but I now worry that if they think the screen lock is a necessary default what other wonders I am going to trip over with everything now running free?
    If it would give me positive acknowledgement of GPS lock and stopped with one click I might start loving it and even switch Bluetooth on and off to let it update when I get in.
    My charity contact in Community Chest told me that vaccinations commenced last week in SA that's woefully late in the game, but if they can rattle that country wide sharpish, and the India variant doesn't prove vaccine resistive, we might have a chance at 2022.
    I'm forging forwards with weight loss and training, slammed 8 miles yesterday, nothing to trumpet about in terms of Comrades but after 5 months wallowing in a pit of lethargy I'm quite pleased and have a new appetite to get roadworthy again.
    How are you doing on the training front Mr D?
  • DubairunnerDubairunner ✭✭✭
    Lowrez, give a simple Casio any day!

    I've been running everyday since 30 Dec, so now at 137 days in a row. Furthest run 17 ish miles I think. But now summer is here I'll be cutting back and using the treadmill more. Hopefully in a good position to increase mileage once summer ends. 
  • 1owrez1owrez ✭✭✭
    Wow, that is some going Mr D 😀 well done.
    I too am putting one foot in front of the other every day, since beginning of March I think. So if I don't have a running day I walk, but I'm not recording those.
    Would like to do a real event first week of August, possibly travel abroad. Virtual Comrades is helping me get fitter and pitch for whatever August might be.
    Ahh, I used to have a Casio, lovely watch, you would figure where your mile points were and press the button to record a split 😁 I mentioned a bit back that the Amazfit Bip S is only £60 and does everything I want except altitude. I never did look see if free Strava will generate that for you. Mind you the Bip is still a new age watch and will want all the sh*t the Coros does.
  • marty74marty74 ✭✭✭
    I'm planning on using my casio watch in a couple of weeks time to time myself at the feed stops. I can easily use the stopwatch feature so don't mentally have to work out when i arrived!!!
  • DubairunnerDubairunner ✭✭✭
    No events here, just too hot in the summer. And no prospect of a trip home as still on the red list.

    And the people at Hilton have beaten me, I've given up trying to get my money back, I just don't intend to ever stay with them again. 
  • baldstanbaldstan ✭✭✭
    1owrez, after that review I don't feel so bad about my Garmin, even though it's taken to alternately trolling me (every run is 'Unproductive') or telling me I should rest and not run, just as I'm about to go out.
    Dubai, sorry to hear you've not got any money back from Hilton, I shall avoid them when I do feel confident enough about travel to book hotels again.
    Slow Duck, look forward to seeing you at Newlands on the NDW50 this coming Saturday. Nici has swapped me over from Puttenham as I looked to be the only person there.
  • Wow goodness, Lowrez that is some review! Are you happy with the colour? Or is the colour code wrong? Most of the things you’ve listed are nothing major and you’ll find it much easier than you do right now come a few runs. With the screen lock just rotate it either way slowly you see the arrow forming a circle ⭕️ the circle has to complete or it won’t unlock. Not sure of the symbols you refer to think 2 sausages 😆 must be 2 feet ( step counter) the hair do thing will assume that’s calorie counter. As a metric the questions asked will give more accuracy with readings, results and especially productivity. Ps Bluetooth usage is minimal drainage in general I’m pretty sure. It’s the easiest watch of them all to set up so if you think you had it bad think of the higher spec models. The others I’ve hardly used and 2 even remain boxed as I just like the feel, size and simplicity of the Pace 2 
    As a heads up, there is a major upgrade taking place on the software tomorrow evening of which I’ve been using in a Beta version - basically providing even more statutes than already, and have to say more accurate than Garmin. Re the GPS connection they both use similar satélites, pending which ones you configure but Coros track and connect quicker than Garmin, this has been proven since they (Coros) provide majority of Sat Nav software in most cars. 
    Ps have you got the time? 😆 it’s just gone 17:36
  • 1owrez1owrez ✭✭✭
    How does it indicate GPS acquired Mark?
  • so when you press the activity (run) next screen shows (on bottom) HR, Battery life, and on right a little Sat icon with the strength of signal, the HR icon and Sat will flash until they have a reading, couple of seconds normally. 
  • The lady who ran 💯 last week must be very refreshed this evening, her mileage has gone from 123 (!!) to 23 with some barefoot running in there too, sounds like someone is having a holiday OR getting ready for the next outing!! 
  • 1owrez1owrez ✭✭✭
    Hmm sounds like I was looking at that screen then but expecting Garmin behaviour from it, outer circumference of the watch to be an ever increasing red band until it went full circle and green. I was omnivorous, I mean oblivious to any symbols doing anything. Is there a video with any of this basic stuff in it?
    So what is going in with the timer being stopped, do I have a rubbish 3, 2, 1 countdown enabled or is that how it really is?
  • 1owrez1owrez ✭✭✭
    I've watched (snigger) that video already, it tells me nothing practical. They don't even go into an activity and give you an overview of what to expect.
    - how to know GPS has activated
    - how to start the clock for your activity
    - how to make the watch ping you every mile
    - how to register a lap
    - how to stop the activity
    - how to save the activity
    - how to get the activity to Strava

    None of the above is in that vid, and it's all the basic obvious stuff that should be there.

    So 321... When I finished my run I pressed the dial button expecting that to be the obvious way to stop the clock. It didn't, if it did, it didn't seem like it, it kept pushing various values across the bottom of the dial, one of them was the clock and it was still running. I pressed the dial button again but that behaviour continued. I wondered if it was the lower button that ended the run but that registered a lap I didn't want, so I went back to pressing the dial button, frustrated I did that many times until I realised when it was pressed in some other display was coming up. So I held the dial button down and finally on the display that popped up it did a visible countdown 3... 2...1... and ended the activity. At least that is what I thought was happening. As none of the watches behaviours appear to be documented anywhere who knows what I was getting it to do?
  • lowrez: I can answer the 3-2-1: it's your watch saving the run. When you press the digital dial button (once it's unlocked, and I've had problems with that as well), it should bring up two large red vertical parallel lines to indicate it has paused the watch. Then you press-and-hold while it does the 3-2-1 countdown to actually finish-and-save.
    I agree with you totally about COROS's lack of a proper instruction manual. Half the videos are a joke because the person talking is saying things like 'you can navigate easily' and someone in the background is twiddling and pressing buttons but nobody is SAYING exactly what they are doing and it's hard to see exactly what the person is doing and what effect it is having on the watch. And if I can't remember how to do something I don't want to sit through a video waiting for the few seconds of what I wanted - I want to look it up quickly and easily in a proper instruction manual with a contents page and an index.
    Their 'help' team is generally quite good so long as you spell out EXACTLY what you want to know and make it clear that the online stuff has not answered your questions.
    The FB user groups are a mix of helpful people and those who seem to take it as a personal affront that someone doesn't find a Coros watch 'intuitive' to use and say things like 'well if you don't like it go back to Garmin'.
  • - how to know GPS has activated
    has said re last message re Sat stops flashing, ready to go, watch even beeps and lights up giving you that 321 feeling
    - how to start the clock for your activity, start clock (clock is running all the time, do you mean to see the clock (time) scroll the wheel to see other data windows (something not possible with Garmin during an activity), if you mean activity counter well then you just press start, which is the top right / wheel button
    - how to make the watch ping you every mile, if you want it to ping every mile, go into settings but this will drain your battery ten fold compared to bluetooth.
    - how to register a lap, as per Garmin, bottom right
    - how to stop the activity, same button as stop, activates pause intially, then asks resume or finish, scroll wheel to finish
    - how to save the activity, it is saved on "finish", remains there at least 30 days until transfer or until memory used.
    - how to get the activity to Strava
    this is done via set up, from app etc, can only assume as many of the questions you did not like you have skipped a section of set up, or not even seen it?

    None of the above is in that vid, and it's all the basic obvious stuff that should be there.

    All of above is 'so basic' it is very similar to other watch brands and follows same route

    So 321... When I finished my run I pressed the dial button expecting that to be the obvious way to stop the clock. It didn't, if it did, it didn't seem like it, it kept pushing various values across the bottom of the dial, one of them was the clock and it was still running. I pressed the dial button again but that behaviour continued. I wondered if it was the lower button that ended the run but that registered a lap I didn't want, so I went back to pressing the dial button, frustrated I did that many times until I realised when it was pressed in some other display was coming up. So I held the dial button down and finally on the display that popped up it did a visible countdown 3... 2...1... and ended the activity. At least that is what I thought was happening. As none of the watches behaviours appear to be documented anywhere who knows what I was getting it to do?
    So in this paragraph you have answered most of you questions above, and yes, the 321 is the activity being saved, it would then transfer to strava within seconds. If in doubt go into the coros app and 'pull down' the screen this will refresh and you will see at the top activity upload.
  • Cheers Debra, I do agree with you both when you are used to hefty instruction manual (pare form or online) the shock of pretty much nothing with COROS is a shock. I have not used the COROS FB group so have no idea on that so can't comment but I actually find a lot of groups that way, if you are not in a 'beginners group' you are either an expert or are left behind.
  • Peter RPeter R ✭✭✭
    I'm exhausted reading all that .. but I know now why I go for Garmin and just upgrade the model as I know how everything works.  Although I must order another strap ... at the moment the current held together with a piece of string as I have worn it through.
  • Peter R: I decided to go for Coros as the Apex Pro gave me 40 hour (max, theoretical) battery life for 50g on my wrist vs nearly twice that weight and a bit bigger (as well as more expensive) for the Fenix 6X. Now I've got it I'm determined to learn how to use it properly. But I really don't understand why they won't provide a proper online manual. They seem to prefer to lose sales with people giving up and going back to Garmin, rather than putting in a bit of effort and having happy Coros users. Doesn't make sense to me.
  • Slow DuckSlow Duck ✭✭✭
    I’ve been thinking about getting a Corus for their superior battery life. Might see how our two pioneers get on before taking the plunge!

    Stan - look forward to working Newlands Corner check-point with you.  See you Saturday 6am!
  • 1owrez1owrez ✭✭✭
    Hang on a minute! Getting the watch to ping you every mile will seriously deplete the battery? So I don't have 30 hours battery? That hour and a half run pushed the battery down from 100 to 92% - that's 12.5 of those runs in a full battery, so 19 hours tops! I ran 8 miles, it's only good for 100 miles continuous running at best? So 8 updates in one 1h30m run reduced the advertised operational battery time by one third!

    Are you saying you don't have your watch ping you every mile? You're the first runner I've stumbled over that doesn't.

    And you are falling into the same category as the Facebook bigots Debra refers to if you are saying this thing is intuitive, just rotate the dial? That's no help. Rotate the wheel to finish? What kind of positive action is that, I wonder how many rotations it will take for me to get it to do that? 1000 to unlock it and another to 1000 to finish...

    I'm sure if The Ginger Runner likes this then there must be a way to get it to work simply.

    I'm not pleased about the misleading battery claims though!
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