Help with a college assignment

kieranfitz

Hi guy's, I was hoping if you could help me with a college assignment, mods feel free to remove if inappropriate.

Who here would be interested in a product that combined the functionality of a fitbit with a track my run type app but for swimming? The product would be a wristband which would sync with the app on a phone so you can view your performance, distance covered, lap times, where you were in the case of open swimmers and so on. Is there any features you feel should be included? Any advice or feedback is appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Mellor

What you are describing already already exists.
Fitbit have waterproof models now, most other the competitors also do waterproof models.
And the top ones include GPS - Garmin is definitely one. And i'm pretty sure the new apple watch does everything you describe.

guile4582

Mellor wrote: »

What you are describing already already exists.
Fitbit have waterproof models now, most other the competitors also do waterproof models.
And the top ones include GPS - Garmin is definitely one. And i'm pretty sure the new apple watch does everything you describe.

it's an assignment for college...not Dragons Den

*also the technology and accuracy on the FitBit model (with regard to swimming and cycling too I believe) is questionable going on reviews and feedback, so this young buck might actually develop something of note or improve upon the existing tech

Mellor

guile4582 wrote: »

it's an assignment for college...not Dragons Den

My point was that those companies have already done plenty of market reasearch for you. You save yourself a lot of work, and probably improve results by doing a meta-study of their research rather than your own from scratch.

*also the technology and accuracy on the FitBit model (with regard to swimming and cycling too I believe) is questionable going on reviews and feedback, so this young buck might actually develop something of note or improve upon the existing tech

Questionable how?

I have no reason to fault any of the metrics I've been tracking (heartrate, RHR,steps) But mine's not a swim model, not sure if there's swim specific features I haven't tried.

Zillah

GPS has quite a high margin of error, I would be surprised if it was accurate enough to tell exactly when you've turned in a pool. If you run back and forth over a small distance it just treats you as standing still, for example.

The Davestator

Zillah wrote: »

GPS has quite a high margin of error, I would be surprised if it was accurate enough to tell exactly when you've turned in a pool. If you run back and forth over a small distance it just treats you as standing still, for example.

My Garmin (910) counts lengths in the pool flawlessly, but doesn't use GPS for this function. It has some kind of float switch which senses change in direction. You just need to tell the watch how long the pool is and it will count the turns and work it out.

endacl

The Davestator wrote: »

My Garmin (910) counts lengths in the pool flawlessly, but doesn't use GPS for this function. It has some kind of float switch which senses change in direction. You just need to tell the watch how long the pool is and it will count the turns and work it out.

I have a head that does that too. I don't need to tell it anything.

Zillah

The Davestator wrote: »

My Garmin (910) counts lengths in the pool flawlessly, but doesn't use GPS for this function. It has some kind of float switch which senses change in direction. You just need to tell the watch how long the pool is and it will count the turns and work it out.

That's cool.

endacl wrote: »

I have a head that does that too. I don't need to tell it anything.

Does your head keep track of the exact time it takes to do each length and then correlate that will other stats on a graph?

Mellor

endacl wrote: »

I have a head that does that too. I don't need to tell it anything.

Can it remember how many you did 3 thursdays ago, how long it took and perceived effort, etc

Zillah wrote: »

GPS has quite a high margin of error, I would be surprised if it was accurate enough to tell exactly when you've turned in a pool. If you run back and forth over a small distance it just treats you as standing still, for example.

I think GPS is only really useful outside. But I've heard of guys using it at the velodrome too.
My Fitbit (no gps) gives a rough estimate of distance based on steps/cadence. It's not perfect but it appears close enough when I've been on the treadmill

Alf Veedersane

The Garmin Vivo Active (?) is set up to record swims and you can set it up for the different strokes.

Mellor

Sex trackers is the next niche market to explore

ted1

endacl wrote: »

I have a head that does that too. I don't need to tell it anything.

I lose track. This doesn't
http://www.speedo.com/uk/en/speedo-misfit-shine-2.html

Alf Veedersane

Mellor wrote: »

Sex trackers is the next niche market to explore

KPIs: time, intensity, stroke rate, calories burned. Anything else?

Mellor

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

KPIs: time, intensity, stroke rate, calories burned. Anything else?

Require recovery time :cool: