[Sportsandrec] Sport-IIII Update

[Lisamaria Martinez]

Kelly,

One, is this device only for spinning? I'm not certain I caught the
beginning of the email thread. So, I'm not sure what the sports-III
is.

And two, will you be in Dallas?

Thanks,
Lisamaria

On 2/8/12, Kelly Thornbury <kthornbury at bresnan.net> wrote:
> Well, all, the Sport-IIII (pronounced "Sport-Eyes") have begun to ship, and
> I've been able to play with mine about 40 hours now. Here are my quick
> thoughts.
>
> In the box: In the e box was the Sport-IIII unit (about the size of my
> little finger minus the last knuckle, with an LED boom about the full length
> of my middle finger), the USB charging cord (no AC plug, but the techs
> confirmed that any USB wall plug will work for those with Garmin units), and
> two sunglass mounts with about 10 zip ties (the installation is much cleaner
> than it sounds with zip ties). The software and instruction manuals must be
> downloaded from the 4IIII ("Four Eyes") website.
> The Downloads: I had no problem downloading the Mac version of the software,
> but for some reason I had to play around with the JAWS cursor to get the PC
> version to download. The virtual cursor recognized the links easy enough,
> but wouldn't open them. I found the instruction manuals to be equally user
> unfriendly, despite being PDF files. 4IIII tech support emailed me the files
> which were much more usable than the downloads were.
> The software, both in Mac and PC versions, were pretty much inaccessible.
> VoiceOver (Mac) only recognized the application as "Unknown" on the toolbar.
> When using JAWS, I could read some of the application using the OCR cursor,
> but I'm not very good at navigating the OCR and managed to type in my last
> name in the "First Name" field, and my weight under the email one.
> Fortunately, if you have some sight, or any sighted assistant who can poke a
> keyboard, the software is simple to navigate. 4IIII tech support has said
> they are working on more accessible software.
>
> Installing the unit: Installation is pretty straight forward. Loosely attach
> the zip ties to the mounting bracket; attach the unit; position the unit
> where you like it (with the LED boom located inside or outside your lenses);
> tighten the zip ties and trim. The unit is quite small, and in 4 spin
> classes no one has even noticed the unit on my glasses (maybe its me???).
>
> Using the unit: The first thing to do is charge the unit, which takes about
> 75 minutes if the unit is completely dead. The unit reads all of my ANT+
> sensors, and pairing the sensors couldn't be easier (and is faster than any
> unit I've ever used, taking only a couple seconds to pair my HR strap, bike
> speed and cadence, and PowerTap). I haven't tried a FootPod for running yet
> (mine recently died). Once you turn on hr unit, it informes you which
> sensors it has found and starts giving you your exercise metrics in real
> time. You can modify the frequency and type of information you receive; if
> you have some sight you can program the LEDs to give exercise zones, the
> brightness of the LEDs, and the blink rates; and the programmability of the
> unit is constantly being expanded. Simply tapping the side of the unit
> (known as the "TipTap") allows you to choose between sensors (with audible
> cues as to which sensor you are on), and to get current data from the
> "selected" sensor. At regular intervals (as you have programed), all metrics
> are given.
>
> Overall: I find the unit a bit quirky at times (occasionally I lose a
> sensor, usually the PowerTap, and you don't want to try to repair it in the
> middle of a spin class with 10 other PowerTaps in use). The TipTap "button"
> takes a little playing with to get use to (as in the rate at which you
> double tap...try slowing it down). Still, despite what I consider to be
> quirks, I love the unit. This is the first device I have found that gives me
> on-the-fly exercise metrics instead of waiting to download my Garmin and
> thinking "should have gone harder."
>
> Kelly
>
>
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