Thoughts after first run (pt 1 & 2)

Suggs68

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with the 3rd party apps, you do get credit in the exercise ring because it's counting the activity as exercise, but not in the workout app. Endomondo has a glance where it tracks your weekly progress as well as the iPhone app, and Runkeeper has an iPhone app that tracks it. I think the issue is that Apple hasn't opened up the activity/workout apps to real integration with 3rd parties. Hoping that will change soon.

Display is fine in direct sunlight. not great, but definitely readable.
 

PatrickNSF

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Thanks. With regard to the display, I'm having an issue reading the some of the text on the Workout app, specifically the blue font. When you do a distance run, it displays the targeted distance in a thin blue font that is difficult to read in direct sunlight. It's fine in the shade, and if you use use your hand to cover the screen, but it's hard to get a quick read. I think I'd be fine with the app if the hints were a little thicker and the colors were adjustable...or just white. The white text in that screen is fine.

I think I'm coming to the conclusion that the Watch is going to be fine for casual, every day runs, but I think when I'm training for the next marathon I'd probably need to go back to the Garmin. That being said, I love the way the Watch incorporates my running activity to give me a total picture of my activity for the day. The calorie calculations seem close to what'd I'd expect, so I think the HRM is working fine for me. Im looking forward to seeing how all the third party apps shake out once Apple opens up the API a bit more.
 

impaler

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The distance was off by almost 1/10th of a mile. Not a huge deal, but a lot if you're a serious runner or training for something, and even the best GPS watches can be of at times, so I'll see how it is with a couple more runs. Also, the pace the watch showed throughout the run, which I checked pretty frequently, was way off, by about 30 seconds a mile. When I finished, the average pace it showed was perfect, so I'm not sure why it was showing so slow during the run.

Apple Health has read/write access to Runkeeper too, but it doesn't seem to push the run to it.

Good feedback. Did you bring your phone with you while you ran? If not, you may need to do a few outdoor workouts with a good GPS connection to get there. I found after my first 20-minute+ plus runs, and another walk, outdoors under my belt, the runs are very accurate now.

Health won't feed into RunKeeper. Health is a respository. The only thing you can do is have RunKeeper write to or read from the Health app. It just doesn't have an export type feature. And knowing Apple, don't hold your breath for one.
 

PatrickNSF

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Thanks. With regard to the display, I'm having an issue reading the some of the text on the Workout app, specifically the blue font. When you do a distance run, it displays the targeted distance in a thin blue font that is difficult to read in direct sunlight. It's fine in the shade, and if you use use your hand to cover the screen, but it's hard to get a quick read. I think I'd be fine with the app if the hints were a little thicker and the colors were adjustable...or just white. The white text in that screen is fine.
Follow-up: Discovered that you can change the font to "Bold" in the accessibility settings, and tried this for today's run. Worked pretty well and made the screen more readable for quick glances when running. The font colors are sometimes still questionable, but workable for now.

It's easy to switch the Bold setting on and off, but it requires a restart of the Watch.
 

Suggs68

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Good feedback. Did you bring your phone with you while you ran? If not, you may need to do a few outdoor workouts with a good GPS connection to get there. I found after my first 20-minute+ plus runs, and another walk, outdoors under my belt, the runs are very accurate now.

Health won't feed into RunKeeper. Health is a respository. The only thing you can do is have RunKeeper write to or read from the Health app. It just doesn't have an export type feature. And knowing Apple, don't hold your breath for one.

I ran with my phone each time. Did 2 runs with the stock app and while the second run was much more accurate when I finished, it seemed very off during the run, with distance off by 1/10th or so a few times, and the pace was also much slower than I was actually running.
Then went back to Endomondo again today and it was very accurate throughout the the run and after, plus the stats and tracking are much better. Even though I'd prefer having the heart rate monitoring and taptic feedback from the stock app, it's worth the trade offs.
 

impaler

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Suggs68,
Can you use a Bluetooth chest strap to capture real time heart rate, and still use Endomondo to get the most accurate data?

I wore the watch playing an hour of racquetball today - set it to other - and I think it was pretty accurate on the heart rate and calorie burn. I'm really motivated to finish my circles every day. I look forward to Monday, to see what the Activity app will suggest as my goal.
 

PatrickNSF

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Even though I'd prefer having the heart rate monitoring and taptic feedback from the stock app, it's worth the trade offs.
Do you find the taptic feedback using the Workout app to be weak? I think it's supposed to give feedback each mile, but sometimes I can't feel it even if I'm watching the mile tick off to the next. I used the Prominent Haptic option for yesterday's run but it didn't seem to work in the Workout app, though it worked for other notifications.
 

impaler

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Do you find the taptic feedback using the Workout app to be weak?

Very weak. I came from an original Pebble, which was very strong - so maybe I'm a bit biased. If I'm running, there's little chance I'll feel the mile taps. I do feel them usually if I'm walking, though. Barely. I definitely enabled prominent haptic, early on. It's better, but not stronger. It just taps me in a longer sequence.
 

PatrickNSF

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Very weak. I came from an original Pebble, which was very strong - so maybe I'm a bit biased. If I'm running, there's little chance I'll feel the mile taps. I do feel them usually if I'm walking, though. Barely. I definitely enabled prominent haptic, early on. It's better, but not stronger. It just taps me in a longer sequence.
Good to hear. Well, "good" as in "there's nothing wrong with my watch." I feel the haptic fine for other notifications, and I have the prominent setting off. I'd be fine turning the prominent setting on just for runs, like I'm doing now with the bold font setting, but it doesn't seem to impact the Workout app.

I'm finding a lot of little annoyances, but it wouldn't take much for them to turn the Workout app into a decent Garmin substitute for me.
 
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CrucialTK

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The half marathon went splendid, as did the usage of the workout app. My ET, Pace, and distance from the watch all match exactly against the chip timing for the race. Now if only apple had stats which would be announced through the headphones similar to other apps (as well as perhaps mapping) I'd be all set to switch right away to the workout app only.
 

Suggs68

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The half marathon went splendid, as did the usage of the workout app. My ET, Pace, and distance from the watch all match exactly against the chip timing for the race. Now if only apple had stats which would be announced through the headphones similar to other apps (as well as perhaps mapping) I'd be all set to switch right away to the workout app only.

That's where the 3rd party apps, like Runkeeper or Endomondo, have the advantage now. Hopefully Apple will add those, and other features, to their app, but it will be a while.
 

dianahk

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Do you find the taptic feedback using the Workout app to be weak? I think it's supposed to give feedback each mile, but sometimes I can't feel it even if I'm watching the mile tick off to the next. I used the Prominent Haptic option for yesterday's run but it didn't seem to work in the Workout app, though it worked for other notifications.

I have used the workout app twice on my runs and I don't always feel it. I am going to try both sound and the strong taptic and see if that helps. I am use to a noisy Garmin beep.
 

PatrickNSF

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The "Prominent Haptic" feature didn't affect the mile notifications during my last couple of runs. The regular notifications (messages, email) were affected. Hopefully, Apple will add support for this feature to the Workout app.

Ideally, it should be a countdown notification – 3 or 5 beeps before the mile marker – similar to Garmin's. But at this point I'd settle for stronger haptic feedback.
 

kjparfekt

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Seems like everyone is having similar experiences - I just did my first two runs using the stock app and a blue tooth chest heart rate strap. I couldn't figure out if the app actually pulled my heart rate from the strap I paired with my watch or if it was still using the sensor in the Watch. The first time I swiped the app screens it said checking my heart rate monitor and the screen kept going black so I gave up as this was the first block of my run.

I also have prominent haptic feedback set but didn't feel anything during my mile mark or even more likely it didn't register that it was acknowledging a mile and instead I thought I was ignoring an email notification. I'm also coming from a Pebble and it paired with Endomondo and a heart rate strap was better for me because of the always on screen and being able to customize what was displayed on the watch face. I also find physical buttons easier to use during runs, the side buttons to pause and resume is much easier than remembering to force touch the screen.

I'm not a huge runner so this was basically just messing around with the app for me but I could see why if I was training for a race or trying to improve my speed or pacing the stock apple app would be seriously lacking.

I feel like once I find an app (like mentioned above possibly mapmyfitness because of their myfitnesspal integration) I will just stick with it.

I'm definitely going to subscribe to this thread and see how your more serious runners end up recording your runs.
 

PatrickNSF

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I also find physical buttons easier to use during runs, the side buttons to pause and resume is much easier than remembering to force touch the screen.
I'd prefer a physical button for pause/resume, but I've gotten better this week with the force touch method. What I used to do with my Garmin was pause/resume while slowing down or speeding up (i.e., I could just do it by feel and audible confirmation). With the Watch, I need to take the second to physically stop and look at the screen. It's an annoyance, but not a deal breaker for me.

I've logged 44 running miles in the week I've had the Watch and am getting more comfortable using it for my daily runs. I still wish the displayed pace was more accurate (or I understood exactly what it meant).
 

impaler

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I've been using "Other" to continue to track my P90X workouts. The heart sensor isn't always on the money. I did Cardio X today, which for those who haven't done the program, gets your heart rate up. My max is 180, min is 126 to be "in the zone". Well, at times it showed me at 65 bpm, when I was clearly well into the 140s or beyond. Then all of a sudden it would jump back up. I do have arm hair - do you think that's effecting it? Not thick hair, but normal dude hair.
 

Suggs68

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I'd prefer a physical button for pause/resume, but I've gotten better this week with the force touch method. What I used to do with my Garmin was pause/resume while slowing down or speeding up (i.e., I could just do it by feel and audible confirmation). With the Watch, I need to take the second to physically stop and look at the screen. It's an annoyance, but not a deal breaker for me.

I've logged 44 running miles in the week I've had the Watch and am getting more comfortable using it for my daily runs. I still wish the displayed pace was more accurate (or I understood exactly what it meant).

I've found that between the stock app, runkeeper and Endomondo, the displayed pace(average and current) is most accurate with Endo. Takes a second for the display to refresh, but it's been spot on for me.
 

PatrickNSF

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I've found that between the stock app, runkeeper and Endomondo, the displayed pace(average and current) is most accurate with Endo. Takes a second for the display to refresh, but it's been spot on for me.
I may stick with the Workout app until third party apps have HRM access. I like getting (what I hope is) a more accurate calorie burn number that using the HR provides.
 

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