Tag: fitness gps

How To Use Endomondo

How To Use Endomondo

In this article we are going to cover the basic functionality of Endomondo. To this end we have divided the basics into 4 different sections that take a user from downloading the app all the way through their first run. As you will find out, using Endomondo is a breeze and really fun too. They have made it as simple and as straight forward as they can so that as many people who want to use it can. All walkthroughs below show how to download and use Endomondo on an Android OS (in this case a Galaxy Nexus running ICS (Ice Cream Sandwich) 4.0.2).

Downloading App | Configuring App | Using App | Editing Run Data

Downloading the Endmondo App

Downloading the app can either be done through the Android Market app on your phone or through the Market website (https://market.android.com/).

  1. Open Market on your phone
  2. Search for “Endomondo”
  3. Find Endomondo (Free) or Endomondo Pro ($0.99)
  4. Click on the “Download” button
  5. Click on the “Accept & download” button
  6. Once the app has downloaded you can click on the “Open” button
  7. Endomondo will ask you to sign in. We chose the Facebook option because its easy.
  8. You will be prompted to accept connecting Facebook with Endomondo.
  9. Once the authorization has occurred, you can add friends to Endomondo directly from Facebook. We skipped this step.
  10. After you’re done you will be taken to the next screen where you can begin tracking your very first run.

Configuring Endmondo

Endmonodo Comprehensive Settings

Endomondo is fairly simple and only has a few settings you want to make sure that you are going to be using. The first that I recommend using is the Online Tracking option which will automatically upload your workouts to the Endomondo website. This makes things simple for you and lets you keep all your runs in a single place, even if you use different phones throughout the course of your use of Endomondo.

I also recommend enabling both of the audio settings. Audio Coach will give you audio cues when you have run each mile and the pace at which you ran that mile (or km based upon user preferences). If you are running a goal run you will also get some info on how much longer you can expect to be running given the pace of your last mile (or km). Pep Talk is a cool feature that allows your friends to send you verbal message to you on your runs as they happen. While the pep talked is delivered in a robotic voice and spoken quickly, each message is personalized with who it is from. This is a really cool and especially helpful if you are using the app while doing a race. Friends and loved ones can give you an encouraging word at just the right moment to give you that mental edge.

Finally, at the bottom of the Settings screen they have a link to your phone’s location settings. I recommend selecting them all so that your phone has the best chance of getting a good location fix so that your GPS tracks look the most true to life.

Using the Endomondo on a Run

Endomondo is dead simple to use while on a run. To get started, simply click on the big green Start button at the bottom left of the app screen. Or, as I prefer to do, I click on the 10 second countdown button on the bottom right. The 10 second countdown button ends with an audible countdown and then the electronic encouragement to, “Free your endorphins.” Its a little corny, but I like it.

If you need to pause the run, just click the pause button that replaces the green pause button on the bottom left. To stop the run click the red stop button on the bottom right.

Easy as pie.

Editing And Sharing Runs

Editing

Endomondo Edit Workouts

Endomondo, like all other GPS tracking apps, is not perfect. But what it lacks in perfect tracking technology it makes up for with editing. Once a run is uploaded to the Endomondo website, which is normally done automatically, you simply go to the website and log in. All your workouts are available for you to see by clicking on the “Workout” button at the top of the page. This is going to bring you to calendar that displays all your workouts for the current month.

To begin editing, click on the workout that you need to fix and it will pull up that workout in the map below the calendar. On the right hand side of the screen next to the map of your workout you will see the image to the left for your particular workout. Not all of the field can be edited, but most can.

You can edit:

  • Workout Title
  • Start Time
  • Distance
  • Duration
  • Elevation
  • Heart Rate
  • Note Field

All editing is saved once you press the save button and there is no back button to revert changes you made back to the original info.

Sharing

Endomondo also lets you share runs on other platforms. Users can post a run to Facebook (or a host of other online communities), send a link to a friend in an email, chat message, or forum link, or post their workout in an iframe on their own website or blog. There are over 320 different ways to share your run on Endomondo – a number that is nothing to sniff at. If Endomondo gets anything right it is the sharing and social aspect of working out.

Endomondo also give you access to the raw data from the app. You can download workouts in .tcx or as a .gpx file. This will allow you to export the data into other fitness or GPS tracking software.

This is part of our in-depth look at Endomondo. You can check out the summary of the running tests we performed or read each of results in more detail (Track Tests | Suburban Tests | Nature Tests | Indoor Tests).

Endomondo {Sport Tracking App Review}

Looking for a free and social sports tracking app with real-time GPS tracking capabilities? Yes? Endomondo is for you. This app combines powerful and accurate GPS tracking technology with easy-to-use social features. The app works on a huge assortment of cell phones (Android, iPhone, Windows Phone, Nokia) and integrates with other fitness equipment like heart rate monitors and cycling cadence computers. A full featured website and thriving community plugs users in immediately to friends already using the app and makes it a breeze to find more. If you are looking to get off your derriere and onto the road then Endomondo is certainly worth a shot.

Recommendation: Get Endomondo and free your endorphins.

Summary of Results
For those short on time here is a brief summary of our results. Endomondo was generally very accurate for normal use. Errors in measurement ranged from small (0-5%) on track and suburban running to very large (90%) in indoor tests. Generally speaking, the more exposed to open sky the run, the more accurate the results. Endomondo also did better on there-and-back style runs than on loops where it tended to record workouts as longer or shorter depending on your position on the loop. Using the app to record changes in elevation was essentially a joke, but this surely had more to do with the hardware and software on the phone than with Endomondo itself.

For more detail on our tests and the results, check out the links below or use the navigation bar at the bottom of the content on each page of this review.

Endomondo Logo

Table of Contents

A Word On Our Review Method
We got our base line distances by using published distances from the courses we ran or from measuring the run using Google Maps. In instances where there we neither published course distances or Google Maps to rely on we simply used our best judgment to determine if the route looked like a good approximation of the one we actually took, comparing it to trail maps when available. We understand that neither of these is terribly scientific, but most people are not concerned with getting the accuracy of a sport tracking GPS down to the exact meter. Close enough is often good enough.

In the tests we used a Galaxy Nexus or a Droid X on the Verizon cell phone network and the phone was inside a Scosche armband, on top of a stroller, or in my hand on the runs.

Navigation

Different Types of Portable GPS Devices

Being able to find a portable GPS solution for your GPS tracking needs is going to be very easy. There are literally hundreds of units available to the person who is willing to keep their options open. You can find old GPS units that are not as powerful but are much, much cheaper or you can go with the top of the line in the GPS category of your choice and get the latest in functionality, but you are going to have to pay a premium for it.

Your search for a portable GPS might leave you a little bewildered when it comes to all the different choices available to you. Which unit should you buy? Will it meet your needs? Is there a better or a cheaper or a more useful GPS out there? Hopefully this article will provide information to help the person searching for the right GPS for them find it. Below is a list of a variety of different GPS devices that can be very portable and easy to use:

Navigation GPS

Garmin Nuvi 760 Portable GPS

Most people know about GPS because of the navigation models that have flooded the market. The earliest models were once hundreds of dollars, but now you can buy a navigation GPS for under $50. This type of device is going to be used mainly inside of a car, truck, or van and is going to be used to help a person get from point A to point B. Modern portable navigation GPS have a variety of different features including Bluetooth compatibility, real time traffic updates, weather announcements, text-to-speech turn-by-turn directions, and a few others. These add a little bit to the experience of users, but when it comes down to it these GPS devices are really just beautiful portable maps.

Marine GPS

Marine GPS, as you might have guessed, are meant to be used on the water. They provide fisherman, boaters, and other aquatic aficionados access to important location information that we once turned to the stars to establish. With a good chart plotter you can find your way back to your favorite ocean fishing spot, a really nice beach, or a hidden island somewhere off the coast. These devices are surprisingly affordable and if you already own a boat you are probably going to be rich enough to buy one of these portable GPS units.

The maps on these units is much like a navigation GPS except they might not have the same types of features as these navigational cousins have. What traffic is there on the open seas? What good is Bluetooth going to do you out on the ocean? That is why these devices generally ignore these features. But what you will get is a great GPS that is going to help you move about the water with confidence that you are heading toward your destination.

Geocaching GPS

Garmin eTrex Geocaching Portable GPSGeocaching is a sport, or a hobby depending on who you talk to, that is very similar to a treasure hunt. How it works is that a person hides an object somewhere in the world. They then post the GPS coordinates of where they hid the item on a website like http://www.geocaching.com. Any person can then go on this website and jot down the coordinates of the treasure, or cache as it is called in the geocaching world. The person then goes to that cache using portable, hand-held GPS device like the Garmin eTrex H. Once they find it they take whatever treasure was hidden inside and then replace it with a treasure of their own.

Geocaching is great for kids, hikers, and people who need a little motivation to get outside and get moving. Most caches are going to require that you use your brains and muscles together, making this a great sport for people who like to be active but also enjoy a mental challenge as well.

Golf GPS

A golf GPS is a portable GPS device that is going to help golfers get a better understanding of where they are on a golf course at any given point in time.  They act as expert caddies that know the distance from any spot on the course to the hole, and with GPS helping out they are even more accurate than the best golfer around.  These devices can be pretty expensive, but a golf GPS is a must have for a golfer who has trouble choosing the right club for the shot or who is constantly traveling to new courses.  The Garmin Approach G5 is probably the best golf tracking GPS out there, but there are a few free applications available for the iPhone and Blackberry mobile phones.  All of these are extremely portable and extremely useful for the golfer.

Fitness GPS

Garmin Forerunner 310 xt Portable Fitness GPSFitness GPS are meant to be portable by their very nature.  What good is a fitness GPS going to be if you can’t take it out with you and a run or on a bike ride?  Not very much.  As a result manufacturers make these devices small and highly mobile.  Some of the best fitness GPS equipment comes in the form of a wrist watch, the Garmin Forerunner series.  There are also GPS devices for cyclists, kayakers, and swimmers – giving them all a very technical look at their workouts.

These devices are really great because they help athletes improve their performance by being able to gather accurate and robust data on their workouts.  They can then use this data to improve their routines and concentrate on parts of them where they need the most work.

While not everyone is going to need to buy a fitness GPS watch, everyone would benefit from these powerful training aids.

Covert GPS Tracking

Another form of portable GPS devices are covert GPS tracking devices.  These units are designed to provide tracking information on a person or asset.  They are often installed covertly so that the person or assets doesn’t know about their presence.  These are often installed on cars to track them, but they can also be installed in boxes, bags, backpacks, or even clothes.  They can even be small enough to be comparable to a a USB memory stick!

The thing about covert GPS tracking device is that they are not going to be cheap, especially if you get one that has real time tracking capabilities.  If you just want a plain old vanilla data logger then you can find one for under $200.  If you want a real time tracker that has any type of battery life then you are going to have to drop a pretty hefty sum on it.  In addition to that you are going to need to pay for the tracking service and access to the GPS tracking software, which is probably going to run your anywhere from $15-$50 a month.

Car Tracking GPS

Car GPS tracking is a lot like covert tracking except that you don’t care if the person driving the car knows you are tracking them.  This is great for helping a teen driver drive safely or for recovering a stolen vehicle.  If you are going to be using the portable car tracking device to help your teen drive better than it is highly recommended that you discuss this with them and give them all the help and information they need to know to be a good driver.  No amount of GPS tracking is going to be able to make them a good driver unless they know some of the basic skills that make up a good driver.  For that they need a parent.

Theft recover GPS tracking is another use of car tracking GPS.  While these devices can easily be blocked using a GPS tracking blocker, these devices are still relatively useful in because they do have a very high recovery rate.  If your car gets stolen all you need to do is log on to your GPS tracking software service and you will be shown the exact location of your car in real time.  This makes it very easy for the police to use to find your vehicle and make an arrest.

Fleet Tracking GPS

Finally, the last category of portable GPS devices is the fleet tracking GPS.  These units are made specifically for businesses that need a better way to manage, dispatch, and protect their vehicle fleets.  Most consumers are not going to need this level of tracking so you probably won’t need to know too much about this type of tracking service.  What you do need to know is that these devices are extremely expensive but often have wonderful results for businesses that employ them.

I mean, just think about how useful it would be to be able to route, give directions, and monitor your vehicles with the assistance of portable GPS devices.  The ease of it would be ridiculous.  Generally speaking, small businesses have more success with the use of fleet tracking GPS than larger fleets – but almost universally there is an improvement when this technology is employed.

Which Portable GPS Do You Need?

As you can clearly see from the above analysis, there are three different types of portable GPS units. There is the unit that works like a mobile map. This GPS device is going to use the data it gathers from the Global Positioning System in conjunction with some mapping data already installed on the device. The coordinates that the GPS calculates via trilateration are placed somewhere on the mapping application and then displayed for the user to see. The navigation, marine, golf, and geocaching GPS all fall into this category.

They generally have rich displays that provide a lot of information to their users. Usability and intuitive interfaces are among the top priority for these devices, and that means they need to have a reliable connection to a GPS signal, bright, readable screens, and an easy way to navigate about the menus. Major names in these niches include Garmin, TomTom, Magellan, Lowrance, and Navigon.

The second category of portable GPS devices that we see in the list above is passive GPS tracking devices. This is the type of unit that does not have a digital map display but instead keeps a log of the GPS coordinates of where the device has been. This log is taken passively and is to be downloaded later for interaction with a secondary GPS software package. This software will interpret the information gathered by the tracking device and then spit it all back out in a way that is useful and makes sense to the user.

This type of device can be found in the fitness GPS and covert GPS tracking categories. Items like the Garmin Forerunner 405, Garmin Edge 705, and the TrackStick all fall inside this grouping. While both the Forerunner 405 and Edge 705 have a graphic display, this serves more of a fitness function than a GPS function. Things like speed and distance traveled are displayed rather than their position in the grander scheme of things. In order to get that type of information you have to download your workout history and run it through a GPS software to see where your workout took you.

The TrackStick has no graphic display whatsoever and is purely a passive tracking device. All you do with this GPS tracker is turn it on, place it where you want it to be, and let it do the tracking for you. When the battery runs out or when you no longer want to track that particular person or object you just remove the device and download the data. Your GPS tracking software will then interpret the data and put it on a map for you – but this map is going to be on your personal computer rather than on the portable GPS tracking device itself.

And finally, the last category of portable GPS devices are real time GPS tracking units. This set of devices differs from passive GPS trackers in that the information gathered by the device is communicated in real time to the GPS tracking software. You don’t have to wait to download the tracking log from the device as it sends out the data actively at set intervals.

These real time GPS tracking devices use a system know as GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) that is part of modern cell phone networks. It is the means by which this information is communicated to the GPS tracking software. If the GPS is unable to connect to a network where it can transmit the data you cannot get real time tracking with these devices.

As you can clearly see, the number of portable GPS units is astounding. Depending upon what GPS niche you are looking to get a device in will impact your level of choice significantly. There are some brand names that span many different categories, which the GPS giant Garmin being the dominate force in many categories, but there is no one clear leader in all fields of GPS devices. Be sure to read up and get informed about any particular device you are thinking about buying. While all of them are going to be using GPS to do what they do, not all portable GPS devices are equal.

Geomate Jr: A Kids GPS For An Active Child

Geocaching is a great way for kids to ditch their video games and TV for an active outdoor adventure.  Kids need some type of excuse to get outside and play in the great outdoors. A life of video games and TV has led to high levels of obesity in America when combined with a steady diet of processed food. Our children need to exercise if they are to break the cycle, so finding interesting and compelling reasons to get them out the door is something that parents are going to be looking for at every opportunity.

Geocaching combines our children’s love for technology with their need to get outside and DO something.  It is like a real life video game, kids must use an electronic device to find a hidden treasure located somewhere around them.  The device guides them to their location and helps them navigate the world around them.  The can run, or bike, or even walk on their search – all of theses activities are recommended by government orginizations as great ways to improve your child’s health.

But there is one catch with geocaching, the GPS devices traditionally used for it are anything but cheap.  Devices like the Garmin GPS 60CSx Handheld GPS Navigator and the Garmin eTrex Vista HCx Color High-Sensitivity Mapping Handheld GPS run somewhere above $200 a piece. Sure, they are great devices that can be used for way more than just geocaching, but do you really want to bed dropping that much money on a device that will help your kids play?

Savy to this issue, a company and product was create to solve this issue: Geomate.jr.  The product is significantly cheaper than the more traditional geocaching alternatives provide by Garmin and other GPS manufacturers.  Right now, you can get it for about $70 at REI. The only thing that even really comes close to this in terms of price is the Garmin eTrex H Handheld GPS Navigator, which is being sold four about $85.

The Garmin eTrex has received some pretty high praise from its users as a geocaching GPS.  Here is one that I though was particularly telling:

This is my primary Geocaching GPS. The high sensitivity chip has the same strong processing power, and thus signal sensitivity and position resolution, as any of the more expensive units. It gives me excellent accuracy in areas where my older GPS units just give up, even dense forest cover.

If you’re only interested in point to point navigation (geocaching, trail tracks or just finding your way back to the car or the ski chalet), then this unit will do a great job for a no-regrets price.

In my opinion, this is going to be the product that you are going to want to compare the Geomate.jr up against if you begin to seriously consider it as a geocaching tool for your child since the price difference is only about $15.

So, what are the Geomate.jr’s features?

  • Comes preloaded with about 250,000 geocache locations covering all 50 U.S. states
  • Turn the unit on and it will load up the closest geocaching location stored in memory; to find another location simply press the next button and the GPS device will automatically load the next closest cahce
  • Not only does the location of the nearest cache appear, but other important details also are displayed, such as the Geocaching.com ID code, the terrain, difficulty rating, and the size of the cache
  • Has a “Home” waypoint that will assist you in returning to your point of origin
  • Displays compass heading, latitude and longitude
  • You can keep a log of all the caches that you have visted so far so that you don’t do the same cache twice if you don’t want to
  • The ability to add more caches at a point in the future (at an additional cost)
  • Powered for 12 hours on AAA batteries

The features that seem the nicest about the Geomate.jr is that the loading of the geocaches is automatic.  You don’t need to input the coordinates into your device yourself since they already exist within the memory.  This seems idealy suited to kids who might not be familiar with how to input some information into a handhelf GPS navigation device like the Garmin eTrex H Handheld GPS Navigator.

But I also think that this feature is also the biggest drawback to this device.  Without the ability to add your own caches to the device you run the risk of the Geomate.jr running out of caches for your child to go and find.  Do you really want to fork out money for cache updates that you could do for free on the more traditional handheld GPS?  I don’t think I would as long as my child was wise enough to be able to input coordinates into the GPS device themselves.

It is also pretty important to note that none of these devices are going to let you be able to track your kids with GPS.  Instead, they are just there for enterainment purposes.

What do you think, is the Geomate.jr worth buying or would you rather go with the Garmin eTrex H Handheld GPS Navigator?