Timer : hour in tiny size after in case of activity of more than an hour

Ɛpsilon said:

I have the Connect IQ build stuff installed cause I was playing around with watchfaces. However it was a bit complex, but I have managed to hack together a timer data field that simply shows

Time HMS

xx:yy:zz

Not to steal your thunder, but I already have a customizable data field that can do the same thing: AppBuilder 5.

It's a normal data field (not full page/screen) that displays almost any value you want.

apps.garmin.com/.../fd690281-9c22-4fee-a81e-3b7f39aa67c5

Use the following settings:

Label: Time

Formula: timer

Display Format: Time

If you want to display hours and minutes only, use timer div 60 for your formula.

silentvoyager said:

5 fields displays Timer field with hours in the same font. Overall the field has smaller height, but it is actually easier to read because hours are displayed in the same font as minutes and seconds.

Good spot! A solution that doesn't need a ConnectIQ field looks good to me. (I appreciate the responses with fields that will do this, but when you only have two CIQ fields available sometimes there are more pressing needs)

Oooo I'll nose at this. Good spot!

FlowState said:

Not to steal your thunder, but I already have a customizable data field that can do the same thing: AppBuilder 5.

No worries bud. I'm no CIQ genius so I'll happily defer :) 

Thanks - just tried it and it works a treat. I did find that the Timer field can't be one of the half width fields, so I put it in the bottom field.

I have an ultra coming up and this will hopefully save me peering at the watch wondering if I have been going 8 or 9 hours

Ɛpsilon said:

Oh I agree,but it is at least a workaround. Thats the beauty of having CIQ fields.

However, most watches only allow 2 ciq data fields at a time for an activity. If you are already using 2 DF, there is no way to use an additional DF just to display the hours in a larger font size.

IMO, native dynamic formatting of the activity time display with the same font size is required, i.e. something like
- activity time < 1min ---> ss.s
- 1min <= activity time < 1h ---> mm:ss
- 1h < activity time ---> (h)h:mm

subra said:

IMO, native dynamic formatting of the activity time display with the same font size is required, i.e. something like
- activity time < 1min ---> ss.s
- 1min <= activity time < 1h ---> mm:ss
- 1h < activity time ---> (h)h:mm

Personally, I wouldn't want this when running a half marathon or marathon, because I would still want to see seconds.

Probably the best solution would be for this behavior to be configurable somehow.

FlowState said:

Probably the best solution would be for this behavior to be configurable somehow.

Yes, somehow 

I assume that the current time formatting with the tiny hours is due to lack of space. There are two ways to solve this problem:
1) By using a smaller font so that the entire time fits in the field. However, the font may be so small that users with glasses have difficulty reading it.
2) By omitting parts that are not absolutely necessary. In this way, a large font can be used and the time still fits in a small field.

FlowState said:

Personally, I wouldn't want this when running a half marathon or marathon, because I would still want to see seconds.

Yes, this is a matter of opinion. In my running experiences with HM and M, I never worried about the seconds, except when finishing a race. And after stopping the activity, the full time is also displayed.

The dynamic formatting is just a suggestion of mine, which is at least better than a non-readable display of the full time.

EDIT: 3) By rotating the time in the field, with the same advantages as 2), but this may hard to read.

It’s dynamic already - it shows hundredths of a second for the first few seconds - so there’s precedent!

Think I’d like to see seconds still up to 2 hours, though that didn’t stop me running 1:45:02 last time out ️