App: Hiking

https://apps.garmin.com/en-US/apps/39d3b5e8-67db-4517-93a8-5ec485269635

For the vivoactive, FR230, FR235, and FR630 (I don't plan support for other devices)

Please use this thread for questions, etc!

"Hike" records an activity as a hike or walk in Garmin Connect. It also allows you to mark "waypoints" (they show up as lap marks in Garmin connect, so you can see them on that map).

When hike starts, it waits for GPS, and looks for an available HRM and Tempe. At this point, with the up/down key or a screen swipe, you can switch between "hike" and "walk". Then, press "start" to start recording.

The current time, HR and temp (if the sensors are available) is displayed on all screens. While recording, pressing "back" marks a waypoint. To pause or end, press "start again", and you are given the options of "resume", "save", and "discard".

When you hit the start button and get the resume/save/discard menu, you can hit the back button. The menu goes away, and the recording remains paused (it's indicated next to the clock time on all pages). But you can scroll trough the data pages at the time. That way, if you're taking a break, you can sit and look at the current data.

When "paused" is displayed with the time, pressing start again resumes the recording.

There are 5 data screens that you can see when recording (up/down button, or swipe right/left on touch devices) (some not shown here due to forum limits)

The first screen is basic recording info: The time for the activity, the time that recording was active (when paused, this doesn't increase), the distance, and the number of waypoints marked

The second screen shows pace, avg pace, speed, and avg speed.

The third page shows the waypoints you marked. They are shown 5 at a time, and rotate every 7 seconds. They closest waypoint is shown in green.

The fourth page shows elevation data. This is GPS based, and sometime may be off. Elevation, total Ascent, and total Descent is shown.

The fifth page is location information. Your current lat/lon and heading, as well as your starting location lat/lon and the direction and distance back to start. GPS quality is also show, both in text and colors (green is usable or better)

Changes in version 0.12: see https://forums.garmin.com/showthread.php?335082-App-Hiking&p=765691#post765691

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saregister over 8 years ago

Altimeter vs. GPS

Great app. Love it so far.

I read in your first post, which seems to apply more to the original app than Hike2, that you use GPS for the elevation data. I cruised through this forum post and didn't see a mention of any change to that. Have you looked into using the built in altimeter (at least on the VAHR) instead of GPS? Or is it what is currently being used? I've got no complaints about the performance so far, as my elevation profiles look almost exactly as I expect them to. Just curious to the thought process on this.

I do notice that my HR overlays on the Elevetion/Pace profiles don't cover then entire chart, but instead only about the first 1/3. I'm sure that's a Garmin thing in the App. Have you seen this same thing? Know of any way to fix it?

jim_m_58 over 8 years ago

Great app. Love it so far.

I read in your first post, which seems to apply more to the original app than Hike2, that you use GPS for the elevation data. I cruised through this forum post and didn't see a mention of any change to that. Have you looked into using the built in altimeter (at least on the VAHR) instead of GPS? Or is it what is currently being used? I've got no complaints about the performance so far, as my elevation profiles look almost exactly as I expect them to. Just curious to the thought process on this.

I do notice that my HR overlays on the Elevetion/Pace profiles don't cover then entire chart, but instead only about the first 1/3. I'm sure that's a Garmin thing in the App. Have you seen this same thing? Know of any way to fix it?

Hike2 actually has a separate thread here. The va-hr has a baro altimeter and it's used by hike2. (actually, no code was needed - but you can see the data is much better!). The va-hr is also the only devices supported by Hike or Hike2 that has a HW compass, and you'll see that on the same page as the elevation data :)

None of the devices supported by the original Hike have a baro, so that's why it's not mentioned here.

jim_m_58 over 8 years ago

Version 0.14k

The only change here is to reduced the size of the app a bit to avoid potential crashes on the 235 with the latest firmware.

bobbie424242 over 8 years ago

Thank you very much for this app.

I've been using it for a few hikes in the French Pyrénées.

I have a question on how the distance displayed in Gamin Connect is calculated.
Does it takes into account elevation (provided by each GPS point) ?

jim_m_58 over 8 years ago

Thank you very much for this app.

I've been using it for a few hikes in the French Pyrénées.

I have a question on how the distance displayed in Gamin Connect is calculated.
Does it takes into account elevation (provided by each GPS point) ?

I'm just reporting what I get from the firmware. Devices that Hike runs on use GPS for elevation, and I'd be surprised if the FW used that to calculate distance, as it can be a bit off (that's why "elevation correction" is enabled for activities uploaded to Garmin Connect for these watches)

JRDOUCE over 8 years ago

Bigger Font? Customizable screen?

Sorry if this is already mentioned, but I didn't read every post.

I have a hard time reading the many lines on my VA HR. I think it would be great to have a customizable screen where the user could pick three data points to be displayed in larger font. For example, I really like to see Distance, Pace and Elevation while I'm hiking.

Thanks

ssombra over 8 years ago

Great app!

Thanks for the hard work Jim, it's an excellent app. I just have used it a couple of times for short walks and it works good.

jim_m_58 over 8 years ago

Sorry if this is already mentioned, but I didn't read every post.

I have a hard time reading the many lines on my VA HR. I think it would be great to have a customizable screen where the user could pick three data points to be displayed in larger font. For example, I really like to see Distance, Pace and Elevation while I'm hiking.

Thanks

You can pick which screens, but not the content of each screen. I wanted to keep the content of the screens the same between different watches, and I know some people find some things too small on the va-hr, and am looking at more screens with fewer items per screen.

Dodraug1 over 8 years ago

Anyone had a chance to test heartrate tracking with the new 2.80 firmware?

jim_m_58 over 8 years ago

You're talking about a va-hr (and really Hike2), but the answer is YES!! And it works GREAT!

I'll be publishing a new version of both Hike and Hike2 in a few days, and in Hike2, there will be (among many other changes!) a HR screen, that will also display the 4-hr HR graph like you see in the HR widget. And on the VA-hr, also FW data graphs for elevation,temperature, and air pressure! (sorry Hike folks.. This will only be for Hike2 on the va-hr and fr735)