Piq, Xensr or Woo?

[downunder]

OK,

well, if you guys really think that, who am I to judge?

Somehow I do not see my mates jumping higher and higher and higher. Soon, we will see only results above 10m, and will froth all about it. Lets' see, did this really happen in a first few jumps:

One would say yes. I say no. I do have strong opinions tho till proved wrong.


Think of it, at 3.31 8.7m jump, 26 seconds latter 9m jump, 19 seconds latter 9.9m jump! It did not happen coz I was there.

Pure 'cooking the books'.

No one on Earth can jump 19seconds later a 9.9m jump. Because the last jump lasted 5.9secs that is not 19seconds but 13!

No one on Earth can jump 2times around 10m in 13 seconds (well, not on my local). I do not like to be cheated, that is all.

And this is cheating big times. Not by the kiter tho. There is a law for 'cheating' customers, you know....

[nothing2seehere]

^
Did Woo improved you? Really? How? Since you don't own one

That's like saying measuring a jump for a ski jumpers improved the jumping abilities ( still Olympic games?)

This is nothing personal, I'm just interested....

All the sensors 'gamify' kitesurfing. Its the same reason that people enjoy playing video games. There is a brief hit of endorphins when you get a new top score. I was becoming unfocused in what I was doing on the water - chasing the next fashion - I bought a skim board and then a hydrofoil and just flit from one thing to another, not really achieving anything until I got one of these things. Since then I have been a lot more focused on what I do when I'm on the water. Every session now I'm actively working on something rather than just riding.

That's probably not for everyone and some may prefer to just turn up and do whatever feels fun on the day and thats fine too. But the sensors provide measurable outcomes, and that's a good way to put structure into your sessions. I'd say that for me its my general riding skills that have improved more than the height because in order to get more height I have been forced to sharpen up all the rest of my skills

[Eckhardt]

I Am sure there is some discrepency betweter real live and THE device. But I dontthink iT is that bad. À higher jump is 99/100 displays higher. My ten meter jumps mean I can look over THE dunes at the parking lot behind it. That means it is high

[downunder]

^
Did Woo improved you? Really? How? Since you don't own one

That's like saying measuring a jump for a ski jumpers improved the jumping abilities ( still Olympic games?)

This is nothing personal, I'm just interested....

All the sensors 'gamify' kitesurfing. Its the same reason that people enjoy playing video games. There is a brief hit of endorphins when you get a new top score. I was becoming unfocused in what I was doing on the water - chasing the next fashion - I bought a skim board and then a hydrofoil and just flit from one thing to another, not really achieving anything until I got one of these things. Since then I have been a lot more focused on what I do when I'm on the water. Every session now I'm actively working on something rather than just riding.

That's probably not for everyone and some may prefer to just turn up and do whatever feels fun on the day and thats fine too. But the sensors provide measurable outcomes, and that's a good way to put structure into your sessions. I'd say that for me its my general riding skills that have improved more than the height because in order to get more height I have been forced to sharpen up all the rest of my skills

But you can be focused without the gadgets. The best riders lived way before the gadgets. There are fine riders now as well.

People confuse progress in jumping with taking more risks. Looping the kite is enormous risk, so is going out when nuking wind. Taking a big kite as well (depends what is big for someone


Look at the above pic, everything more than 4-5G is a crash or near crashing. Having >5G on a knees will have a huge consequences latter on. That is a risk we are taking because we think powered landings are cool. If you crash with 5G flat on your ear, that is a immediate membrane perforation.

Hence, back to OP, if you have less than 200 seshs, improve your crashing and style, than buy a gadget.

[mopman365]

Hello!

I've been thinking about buying an equipment that can measure my jumps. Specifically height and air-time. Should work on both snow and water. Would also be nice if it has GPS-tracking.

So, do I get myself Piq, Xensr or Woo; or do I have other options? Which one gives the most accurate result compared to price? And which one is easiest to use?

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

This is your 4th post?

And you're thinking to 'measure' your jumps? I'm not being a 'downer' but for ~$300 invest in more time on kiting, and not 'gadgeting'.

The reason being is that I rarely check my height any more, it's like 'yeah whatever it says' after the sesh. The added value is actually low, once you pass the initial purchase excitement. Yes, I see my mates scores, but whatever, it means nothing because it does not say anything about:

STYLE

I do not think it will improve your jumping abilities either. Others might disagree..

I fail to see the relevance of his post count on this forum? Looks like he has a year or two of kiting under the belt and enough kite gear.

Sure, it doesn't measure "STYLE" (even a contest judge can't do that properly), but jumping high is more about getting the rush and less about looking stylish while you're up there.

I've been kiting a while and still ride strapped so I can boost whenever the waves are flat or it's too strong to stay in the pocket. I recently got a Woo and quite enjoy it for a few reasons:
Even though it's probably not 100% accurate (in terms of actual height), it seems very consistent. The top guys are within few centimeters of each other, and my own jumps in a particular session are all within 1m of each other
I fine tune technique and compare height and hangtime results afterwards, for example to compare working-the-kite vs simply sheeting in/out. Woo does not have immediate display (and I don't want to kite with a phone), but you can can still change technique halfway through a session and then compare results after.
The leader boards on the app is interesting, so you can see who's getting the highest at a particular spot in the same conditions.
The feed is really interesting as I see who kited where and the best spots for certain conditions. You could even find spots you don't know about through the app.
In terms of being a gadget, it's small and has great battery life, so it doesn't add hassle to rigging or riding time - I just leave it on the board and forget about it.
It has freestyle mode that is supposed to measure how extreme your moves are - you can supposedly register new moves too. I haven't tried it and probably won't but it could be interesting for the freestyle kids.
Overall it's a fun toy to have.

I think GPS is only really worth having if you're doing downwinders or long distances, else you just end up with a spagetti mess of red lines on a map. Not sure how accurate the GPS is on the Xensr either. I think if you are serious about recording GPS routes, including Barometer assisted altitude, then I would probably check out the Suunto Ambit3 Vertical watch. It uses both (US) GPS and (Russian) Glonas and combines it with Barometer for accurate position and (relatively accurate) altitude. Has a cool video making tool too.

[dejavu]

I have had a Trace (Traceup) for some time now and it is very good. Shows GPS tacking, distance height and no of jumps...and more. Check it out.

[mopman365]

People confuse progress in jumping with taking more risks. Looping the kite is enormous risk, so is going out when nuking wind. Taking a big kite as well (depends what is big for someone

That's a generalisation of note. Yes, some people do progress simply by taking too big risks. And they will probably keep doing it whether they have a Woo on their boards or not. Others progress through practice and smaller risks. And you don't have to do kiteloops or downloops when boosting.

Look at the above pic, everything more than 4-5G is a crash or near crashing. Having >5G on a knees will have a huge consequences latter on. That is a risk we are taking because we think powered landings are cool. If you crash with 5G flat on your ear, that is a immediate membrane perforation.

I agree. That's why I never loop my kite. And very few others at my local spot do it either. The ones that do are either lightweight freestyle kids with their eye on the sponsorship prize or they fall into your "people" category.

Hence, back to OP, if you have less than 200 seshs, improve your crashing and style, than buy a gadget.

To me, being able to do a proper jump is fundamental to kiteboarding because it requires proper kite flying. Apart from being a massive rush, it's the foundation to all other moves. It's like the groms in surfing trying to do 360's before they know how to do a proper bottom turn.
Over the years i've seen so many guys going from little 3m oversheeted-parked-kite hops straight into trying free"STYLE" moves. And then they never progress past the backroll-with-a-grab. And then they get bored and quit.
If the gadget motivates you to improve jumping ability and get a rush, i'm all for it.

[kiterocky]

If u like toys ..stay at home play with xbox..improve your style over the ego...

[mopman365]

IMG_0599.PNG

These look odd, yes. Is this from a Woo 2 and latest firmware? Mine shows smaller hops over waves inbetween jumps:

[swimmer]

And you're thinking to 'measure' your jumps? I'm not being a 'downer' but for ~$300 invest in more time on kiting, and not 'gadgeting'.

The reason being is that I rarely check my height any more, it's like 'yeah whatever it says' after the sesh. The added value is actually low, once you pass the initial purchase excitement. Yes, I see my mates scores, but whatever, it means nothing because it does not say anything about:

STYLE

I do not think it will improve your jumping abilities either. Others might disagree..

Totally agree.

It was fun for see jump hight the first several sessions but the excitement quickly wore off. I can see it being useful for some people but in my experience i became solely focused jumping high and chasing a big number rather than learning new tricks, improving my technique, style and having fun.

In addition these accelerometer based devices will produce many misreadings so i take any results with skepticism. Using only accelerometers to determine jump height will offer ball park values. There is probably a reason why Woo doesn't state any accuracy specs on their devices