Indoor Rowing - best way to sync with Concept2?

Its complicated!
I started on the C2 when I was injured earlier in the year, and try to jump on for the odd session for cross training. Do you know what model PM you have? My gym has the PM4, so no ERGIQ support (needs PM5). I use an android phone wired into the console and sitting in the little cradle that you can buy from C2 online. I log the data using ERGData (also installed BoatCoach, but you need to pay for detailed data logging - not sure if that would fix the issues with laps etc below).
I could be wrong, but syncing to GC after the event will not give you any training load data. You only get that for activities logged directly on a garmin device, even if you then delete it.
My setup is that I log it as an indoor row on my 935 to get the training load, but also on ERGData with my wahoo tickr fit attached to the PM4 to give HR. ERGData is setup to sync to my C2 online logbook, and that then punts it over to strava! I therefore end up with 2 activities in strava as GC also syncs there, so delete one of them.
However.... the data that goes from C2 to strava (originally captured from ERGData) has issues - interval timestamps are messed up for example. Therefore, dont expect to get clean data for these types of workouts. Standard rows of 5/10k etc are fine. I have raised this with C2, but not got much back from them.
I use sporttracks for my main analysis, so end up deleting the workout in there that has synced from GC and manually upload the tcx that I get from the C2 online logbook.

Here's my row from yesterday - a simple 5k after I raced cross country on sunday. GC data from the watch, showing stroke rate etc. but no distance and therefore no /500m splilt times.
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/3140339339
Activity in sporttracks, captured on ERGData and then exported as a tcx to add to sporttracks. This gives more details such as distance, but the lap data would be messed up if it were an interval workout.
https://sporttracks.mobi/activity/19175378

Have fun!

That is an insanely helpful post, thank you!

There are 4 rowing machines in my gym, 1x PM3, 2x PM4 and 1x PM5 (though it's not functioning properly).

I'm not too fussed about how accurate the data is in Strava, I just want the best data I can have in GC.

???????With regards to the heart rate strap, can it be connected to both my watch and the PM4 at the same time? I tried a row activity without a strap and the heart rate data was hugely off.

There's no "right" answer - each approach makes compromises.

See my post here:

https://forums.garmin.com/forum/into...76#post1410776

TL;DR: if you use the "ErgData" smartphone app to sync your C2 rower's PM5 data with your Concept2 online log, and auto-sync that with Garmin Connect, you capture all the data, *however*, "Training Load" and "Training Effect" won't be updated as none of the data "passed-through" a Garmin device.

Logging via the native "Row Indoors" activity (with an HRM) will give you Training Effect but you'll have to manually edit your distance into the activity once it syncs to Garmin Connect.

Using ErgIQ could work but a lot of the data is shunted to "ConnectIQ" datafields instead of native ones. You'll get Training Effect, and Training Load, but still have to manually enter distance.

Thanks! From the sounds of things it seems like the best bet for me will be to run both the Row Indoor activity and the ERGData app at the same time.

This will create duplicate records within GC but will mean I have all the data properly available and that Training Load is properly calculated.

On the HR strap - if its ANT+, then yes. I use a tickr FIT, and this is connected to both the watch and the PM4. It therefore appears in both the watch activity and ERGdata

That's great! It's the newer HRM-Run from Garmin so should be fine.

Try Painsled (IOS App) : works with BLE with PM5 and you can export to C2 Log; Strava, Garmin or Tcx , Csv file.
also you can connect to Painsled to Zwift and have then access to all as a bike (race, workout, ride) ... but not as a boat on the water:rolleyes:

Apart Painsled my preferred indoor Rowing App is Erg IQ. you get all data and statistics from PM5 and your Garmin device (ok not as native but you can manage rowing data with Fit file tool repair)

Unfortunately, anything that relies on the PM5 is no good for me, there's only 1 PM5 equipped rower at my gym and the monitor itself does not work properly. Useful advice for anyone else who may be looking to get this to work though.

Finally got my hands on the proper USB B to USB C cable so I tried out a 30 minute workout yesterday,using one of the PM4 equipped machines.

Sadly, the activity recorded in ergData didn't sync over to GC - I've got a feeling this is because the date in the PM4 was set wrong, in the C2 Logbook it says the activity was recorded on January 27th 2017 and there doesn't appear to be a way for me to change that date manually. I'll change the date/time next time I use the unit and see if that fixes it.

On the bright side the data is in the logbook so something is working.

Hey folks,
I've been with Garmin Connect for years and am just getting into a Concept 2. I'm trying to make sense of all of this stuff. Am I correct in understanding that I can't upload my logbook from the Concept 2 to Garmin Connect without having a smart phone?

I've got all of my rowing workouts on a flashdrive, but they're not in a format that Garmin Connect seems able to recognize.

Concept 2 Logbook can now sync to Garmin Connect automatically. But workouts stored on the flash drive are summary only. If you want per stroke data you'll need to have a smartphone connected to the PM5.