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Give us back training center because many people refuse to use the cloud

Former Member over 10 years ago

I am frankly insulted by the creation of the cloud because I see it as an attempt by software manufacturers to severely restrict the use of the software. For my part I do not have an internet connection at home for several very good reasons and I have a laptop which I use at public WIFI hotspots to access the internet. I ride my bicycle daily for fitness and pleasure, generally between 10 and 20 miles though I have been known to ride 50 or more. I come home to download the date from my EDGE 800 to my home computer and review the ride. I use Training Center to plan rides, create new rides from existing rides...you know how this works.

SO NOW YOU'RE MAKING ME DRIVE TO A WIFI HOTSPOT BEFORE I CAN TAKE MY BIKE OUT? What gives, Garmin? Get off the cloud and get a better perspective of your customers convenience. I paid more than $500 for my Edge 800, have the decency to make it at least SOMEWHAT convenient to use.

If Garmin requires a cloud connection to use any of their products they are going to lose my business. I can't speak for anyone else. The Cloud is not only a big joke but it is a violation of privacy as well.

I can promise you that if I can find another GPS device that uses software instead of the cloud I'll be selling my Edge 800 to the highest bidder and leaving Garmin behind forever.

0 schinder over 10 years ago

Did Training Center suddenly stop working for you? Mine still works (OS X).

When Training Center finally fails, get yourself a copy of Golden Cheetah.

0 JSRUNNER_ over 10 years ago

Agreed I still use TC as a back up for my training runs - there are also some workouts that I do which can only be created in TC not in connect

0 Dugiflopper over 10 years ago

GTC still works for me and I occasionally use it. However, I don't think GTC will work with some of the newer Garmin devices.

0 Former Member over 10 years ago

I agree with every word in Penelope's complain.
Garmin, please don't assume that every customer will be always at the reach of an internet connection! Constant connection to internet happens only inside the urban centers. How can you be so childish on this matter?!
I live in the countryside of Brazil, 100 km away from a big city where there's 3G all over. But in my town I must go home to have access to my radio station and connect.
THIS HAS BEEN MY MAIN DISAPPOINTMENT WITH YOUR PRODUCT!
Guys, this INTERNET DEMANDING way of accessing data is VERY RESTRICTIVE!
Haven't you ever realized that we may go for a collective training towards the countryside followed by a support car and that we would like to evaluate partial results on every stop? Or do you think that all Garmin users want to train at the center of big cities, fighting for space between cars in the traffic?
Which customers do you intend to reach? Are the countryside people eligible for receiving your attention?
GARMIN, PLEASE ANSWER!

0 SUSSAMB over 10 years ago

Ranting here really won't help. Try posting your suggestions here http://www8.garmin.com/contactUs/ideas/

0 Dr Phil over 10 years ago

Wow! One angry person without any reason whatsoever. The only way things may change to your so-called disadvantage is if you decide to change to a newer product. However, as long as you can get the .fit file from the device, you will still be able to use GTC. AFAIK, that is still possible with all the newer devices.

You, my angry friend (using that term somewhat disingenuously) are very much in a minority. While I agree that not all new technology is necessarily good technology, in your case the term 'Luddite' seems somewhat apposite.

Good trolling post though. ;)

0 JSRUNNER_ over 10 years ago

I think the luddite term is unfair. There are a number of very good reasons for not wanting to put more and more information about yourself and your habits on the internet. This is of particular concern when Garmin have not addressed the security flaws that are present within connect and allow visibility of other users accounts occasionally at random - that hardly inspires confidence. Also TC gives a backup/fallback situation should you not have an internet connection or should the site be down. That gives control of your data to you rather than Garmin - and whilst I'm sure Garmin will make good efforts to try and keep your data safe and secure they are under no contractual obligation to keep it for you or to recover it for you if they have a data loss.

0 schinder over 10 years ago

But why insist that Garmin be the one to write something that deals with your data locally. If Garmin Connect is insecure, then don't use it. There are lots of other sites that do more or less the same thing. (True, GC is a little easier to use with Express, and a lot easier if you have one of the ANT+ syncing devices.) Training Center is clearly not being developed any more, for whatever reason, and hasn't been updated in a while. So, find something else. I've mentioned Golden Cheetah because it's Open Source and cross platform. On OS X, in addition to TC, I use Ascent (also no longer being developed) and RubiTrack, which is still actively being developed. And I also have copies of all of the .fit or .gpx files from my 800 and my Fenix, and most of the .tcx from my 705 sitting on my disk. If you want to preserve your data, it's easy enough to do without Training Center. If you want to display your data (which TC never did very well anyway), there are alternatives to Training Center.

0 JSRUNNER_ over 10 years ago

I'm not insisting and I'm quite happy to ensure that I have my data backed up. I just find it surprising and disappointing that a major company such as Garmin seems unconcerned about security flaws in its offering that almost certainly put it in contravention of data protection legislation in a number of countries and certainly show a lack of care for their customer's data. I do already use Strava as well. I assume that the only reason Garmin provide connect is to try and add value, improve brand Image and attempt to tie in customers long term to using their products - I just feel that they are not necessarily developing their online offering sufficiently well to achieve that

0 timgrose over 10 years ago

GTC still works with the newly released Forerunner 920XT and it also works with my Edge 810 and Forerunner 620 so it certainly ought to work with an Edge 800.

I do recall one occasion, sometime ago, when could I see somebody else's activities for a very brief period but given have not seen any reports of that for some time, logical to assume that the "security flaws" have been addressed.

Like it or not all vendors in this space are moving toward "connected services" where you can upload, share and review your completed activities in the middle of a field etc etc so Connect is rather needed to underpin all these services if you have a Garmin device. Do you have to use them? Of course not but I sure like doing so myself...