Contact   Imprint   Advertising   Guidelines

The Best Smart Watch for Kitesurfing - Our Kite Life

Forum for kitesurfers
Leon van Bergen
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 1112
Joined: Mon Jun 11, 2018 8:25 am
Kiting since: 2016
Local Beach: Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands
Gear: Duotone Rebel 7,9,11 SLS ‘23 | 14m Juice Dlab | Lieuwe Shotgun
Has thanked: 1131 times
Been thanked: 298 times

The Best Smart Watch for Kitesurfing - Our Kite Life

Postby Leon van Bergen » Thu Oct 14, 2021 11:57 am



Including Aleks aka the legend on screen!
These users thanked the author Leon van Bergen for the post:
aleks (Fri Oct 15, 2021 3:03 am)
Rating: 3.03%

User avatar
aleks
Frequent Poster
Posts: 380
Joined: Fri May 25, 2012 8:07 pm
Kiting since: 2007
Local Beach: Ontario
Gear: RDB, Elf
Brand Affiliation: WOO, RDB, Elf
Has thanked: 54 times
Been thanked: 148 times

Re: The Best Smart Watch for Kitesurfing - Our Kite Life

Postby aleks » Thu Oct 14, 2021 2:09 pm

Leon van Bergen wrote:
Thu Oct 14, 2021 11:57 am


Including Aleks aka the legend on screen!
:D :D :D . Yep, that's me on the cover picture, doing inverted twist with a foil board :D .

But seriously, if you have any Watch apps ideas, let me know :thumb:
These users thanked the author aleks for the post:
Leon van Bergen (Thu Oct 14, 2021 2:41 pm)
Rating: 3.03%

nothing2seehere
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 1658
Joined: Fri Jun 27, 2014 3:25 pm
Kiting since: 2012
Weight: 72
Local Beach: Calshot, Hayling, Meon - Southcoast UK
Gear: Duotone Rebel, Evo SLS, Flysurfer Soul/Peak, Ocean rodeo jester, Airush Ultra, shinn boards
Brand Affiliation: None
Has thanked: 200 times
Been thanked: 291 times

Re: The Best Smart Watch for Kitesurfing - Our Kite Life

Postby nothing2seehere » Thu Oct 14, 2021 2:36 pm

I think you need some sales commision from Garmin :D

Looking to upgrade my Wear Os watch and tempted to go to Garmin now.

rnelias
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 1133
Joined: Mon Sep 16, 2019 11:07 pm
Local Beach: RJ, Brazil
Favorite Beaches: Arubinha, RJ
Cumbuco, CE
Barra da Tijuca, RJ
Praia da Bica, RJ
Style: freeride
Gear: Boxer 9m for foiling
Rebel SLS 8m or Crave HL 9m for boosting on twintip
Brand Affiliation: None
Has thanked: 290 times
Been thanked: 269 times

Re: The Best Smart Watch for Kitesurfing - Our Kite Life

Postby rnelias » Thu Oct 14, 2021 5:57 pm

Laurie with great content as usual!

I've been using a Fenix 6S that replaced a previous 5S. I'm pretty addicted to Garmin watches. I only miss the LTE feature. For kitesurfers it would be a safe feature but only a few Garmin models have...

@Aleks is it hard to include VMG metrics on the Woo app? I suppose we should set up wind direction before the session right?!
These users thanked the author rnelias for the post:
aleks (Fri Oct 15, 2021 3:03 am)
Rating: 3.03%

User avatar
aleks
Frequent Poster
Posts: 380
Joined: Fri May 25, 2012 8:07 pm
Kiting since: 2007
Local Beach: Ontario
Gear: RDB, Elf
Brand Affiliation: WOO, RDB, Elf
Has thanked: 54 times
Been thanked: 148 times

Re: The Best Smart Watch for Kitesurfing - Our Kite Life

Postby aleks » Fri Oct 15, 2021 3:02 am

rnelias wrote:
Thu Oct 14, 2021 5:57 pm
Laurie with great content as usual!

I've been using a Fenix 6S that replaced a previous 5S. I'm pretty addicted to Garmin watches. I only miss the LTE feature. For kitesurfers it would be a safe feature but only a few Garmin models have...

@Aleks is it hard to include VMG metrics on the Woo app? I suppose we should set up wind direction before the session right?!
I actually spent a lot of time trying to tackle VMG.

I worked on an automatic wind direction calculation on the watch (based on your riding direction pattern). I wasn't happy with the results - they were too inaccurate to be usefull.

Regardless of the calculated or entered accuracy of the wind direction - I found that shown upwind angles and VMG were rarely usefull during a session. It might be because wind constantly veers left or right, but I often saw that I have much higher VMG riding to one side than the other. Then it can go back to normal, or not :( . Anyway, it was enough to distrust the measurments overall and set the project aside for now.

However, I would love to finish the automatic VMG project. I'm not very interested in entering wind direction manually - there are already a few apps that do it. It would be easy to replicate the functionality, but I find it cumbersome and potentially very innacurate. I'd rather keep improving wind detection algorithm. If anyone has any ideas on how to do it, please share them - I'll see if I can implement them on a watch :thumb:

Kitemenn
Frequent Poster
Posts: 424
Joined: Mon Jun 18, 2018 9:21 am
Local Beach: Maasvlakte / Slufter
Gear: North Evo 11-7m / Lieuwe Shotgun
Has thanked: 110 times
Been thanked: 118 times

Re: The Best Smart Watch for Kitesurfing - Our Kite Life

Postby Kitemenn » Fri Oct 15, 2021 8:11 am

aleks wrote:
Fri Oct 15, 2021 3:02 am
I actually spent a lot of time trying to tackle VMG.

I worked on an automatic wind direction calculation on the watch (based on your riding direction pattern). I wasn't happy with the results - they were too inaccurate to be usefull.

Regardless of the calculated or entered accuracy of the wind direction - I found that shown upwind angles and VMG were rarely usefull during a session. It might be because wind constantly veers left or right, but I often saw that I have much higher VMG riding to one side than the other. Then it can go back to normal, or not :( . Anyway, it was enough to distrust the measurments overall and set the project aside for now.

However, I would love to finish the automatic VMG project. I'm not very interested in entering wind direction manually - there are already a few apps that do it. It would be easy to replicate the functionality, but I find it cumbersome and potentially very innacurate. I'd rather keep improving wind detection algorithm. If anyone has any ideas on how to do it, please share them - I'll see if I can implement them on a watch :thumb:
Based on the total tracks from GPS you should be able to come to quite an accurate wind direction I would say. VMG maybe interesting for foilers but not personally...having the wind direction as additional feature in the app would be great though.
These users thanked the author Kitemenn for the post:
aleks (Fri Oct 15, 2021 3:03 pm)
Rating: 3.03%

User avatar
aleks
Frequent Poster
Posts: 380
Joined: Fri May 25, 2012 8:07 pm
Kiting since: 2007
Local Beach: Ontario
Gear: RDB, Elf
Brand Affiliation: WOO, RDB, Elf
Has thanked: 54 times
Been thanked: 148 times

Re: The Best Smart Watch for Kitesurfing - Our Kite Life

Postby aleks » Fri Oct 15, 2021 3:23 pm

Kitemenn wrote:
Fri Oct 15, 2021 8:11 am
aleks wrote:
Fri Oct 15, 2021 3:02 am
I actually spent a lot of time trying to tackle VMG.

I worked on an automatic wind direction calculation on the watch (based on your riding direction pattern). I wasn't happy with the results - they were too inaccurate to be usefull.

Regardless of the calculated or entered accuracy of the wind direction - I found that shown upwind angles and VMG were rarely usefull during a session. It might be because wind constantly veers left or right, but I often saw that I have much higher VMG riding to one side than the other. Then it can go back to normal, or not :( . Anyway, it was enough to distrust the measurments overall and set the project aside for now.

However, I would love to finish the automatic VMG project. I'm not very interested in entering wind direction manually - there are already a few apps that do it. It would be easy to replicate the functionality, but I find it cumbersome and potentially very innacurate. I'd rather keep improving wind detection algorithm. If anyone has any ideas on how to do it, please share them - I'll see if I can implement them on a watch :thumb:
Based on the total tracks from GPS you should be able to come to quite an accurate wind direction I would say. VMG maybe interesting for foilers but not personally...having the wind direction as additional feature in the app would be great though.
Normally you can come up with wind direction after 10-15 minutes of a typical track (if you are not going one way for the whole time :) ). The problem is to make the algorithm accurate - 5 degree error in wind direction will result in 10 degree difference in your upwind angles (side to side).

BTW, WOO app already has Polar chart for Pro users.

rnelias
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 1133
Joined: Mon Sep 16, 2019 11:07 pm
Local Beach: RJ, Brazil
Favorite Beaches: Arubinha, RJ
Cumbuco, CE
Barra da Tijuca, RJ
Praia da Bica, RJ
Style: freeride
Gear: Boxer 9m for foiling
Rebel SLS 8m or Crave HL 9m for boosting on twintip
Brand Affiliation: None
Has thanked: 290 times
Been thanked: 269 times

Re: The Best Smart Watch for Kitesurfing - Our Kite Life

Postby rnelias » Fri Oct 15, 2021 4:46 pm

The polar chart is amazing!

I like to compare my tt and hf rides here on our local spot using the polar chart ;)

Aleks, something easy that I was thinking.... maybe the app (woo+GPS, the app that doesn't need the sensor) could vibrate when maximum speed is beaten like what happens when we're in a big air session (Woo app). It would help us fine "tune" the fastest direction to take...

cor
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 543
Joined: Thu Apr 10, 2014 1:20 pm
Gear: -
Brand Affiliation: None
Has thanked: 213 times
Been thanked: 161 times

Re: The Best Smart Watch for Kitesurfing - Our Kite Life

Postby cor » Fri Oct 15, 2021 4:58 pm

My watch for kiting costs 12$, is waterproof and has this amazing functionality that let you measure time. It doesn´t track anything, has no GPS, requires no data sync, almost doesn´t need any charging and if it falls off I will just shrug and buy another one for 12$. I think that´s a "smarter" watch than any actual smartwatch you can buy out there.

User avatar
aleks
Frequent Poster
Posts: 380
Joined: Fri May 25, 2012 8:07 pm
Kiting since: 2007
Local Beach: Ontario
Gear: RDB, Elf
Brand Affiliation: WOO, RDB, Elf
Has thanked: 54 times
Been thanked: 148 times

Re: The Best Smart Watch for Kitesurfing - Our Kite Life

Postby aleks » Fri Oct 15, 2021 9:17 pm

cor wrote:
Fri Oct 15, 2021 4:58 pm
My watch for kiting costs 12$, is waterproof and has this amazing functionality that let you measure time. It doesn´t track anything, has no GPS, requires no data sync, almost doesn´t need any charging and if it falls off I will just shrug and buy another one for 12$. I think that´s a "smarter" watch than any actual smartwatch you can buy out there.
$12?! That's an overkill. The smart thing would be to tell time by the sun or train yourself to have an internall timer!

Sorry, couldn't resist :D . Sometimes it is nice to not have any distractions, but mostly I do enjoy having extra functionality provided by the watch :thumb:
These users thanked the author aleks for the post:
Kitemenn (Mon Oct 18, 2021 8:03 am)
Rating: 3.03%


Return to “Kitesurfing”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: AKBL, andrzej351, Baidu [Spider], Bartolo, Bing [Bot], Breze, diogoveb, Exal, Gonzavala, Google [Bot], i_love_storm, jannik, jyka, magnusod, mati, Mikkelza, Pera, Trent hink, Ventum, Yahoo [Bot], zlatko23 and 165 guests