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New HR Recovery interface is bad

Levon
over 4 years ago

TL;DR: Information that was automatically and readily available now requires a series of button pushes and is cumbersome. Nothing is gained by this change. I've been using Garmin watches since 2006 - this is a step backwards.

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I know this has been addressed as part of a different thread, but I think it deserves it's own thread.

I just came back from a run. Previously this would have happened:

  • Stop my watch and start walking as part of my cool-down
  • After 2 minutes exactly, my recovery HR would pop up consistently and automatically (giving me a meaningful basis for comparison with previous runs), and I would stop my cool-down walk and start stretching.
  • I could dismiss it with one button push.

Total number of button pushes: 1  - couldn't have been easier.

Now:

  • Stop my watch and start walking as part of my cool-down
  • 5 button-down pushes to check for recovery HR - it doesn't pop up automatically and consistently after 2 minutes.
    It's there, but how quickly? It seemed to be available immediately. Usually recovery HR is taken after a minute, Garmin has done it after two minutes for years (which is cool) .. now when does it get measured? I didn't wait two minutes to look for it. And is it measured continuously? 
  • And I have to then navigate back to where I was before with several additional button pushes.

Total number of button pushes: 6 or more, and no automatic display, not intuitive or easy.

And, sadly, this information is STILL not made available in the Connect app or on the web, if so, I wouldn't mind the poorer interface now.

I understand this was done because some people were pausing their activity, and then disliked having to have to dismiss the automatic recovery HR screen. If you are pausing for more than two minutes (this is rare for me, and probably most), then I think you can muster an additional button push. Let's say this affect 3% (or 10%) of all activities. 

Everyone (100%) who was getting the recover HR automatically at the end of their activity now has to push the buttons at least 6 times to get this info - doesn't seem like a good trade-off (or UI design).  I love the Garmin interfaces usually, esp on the watches in the last few years. They have been incredibly intuitive. I just helped a friend who switched from an Apple watch to a 235 and she picked it right up. But this is a step backward.

Please make the recover HR available in the connect app/web and consider going back to the previous way (or at least making this an option).

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Yes, I know this is a first-world problem, but it's a small device and UI considerations matter. I've been using Garmins for a long time and have enjoyed the progress they have made. I'd like them to continue in that direction.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to DPSK

    DPSK - Alerts are where they always have been iirc (same as 235), go into that Activities Settings (press up once you select the Activity Type), scroll down a couple to ALERTS, select ADD NEW... select/configure/etc.

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    I can't believe this still is an issue, why doesn't Garmin just save it with all the other stats automatically without bothering the user? It could be just an other entry under "all statistics". 

    The (useless) temperature also doesn't have a manual separate menu option but is automatically saved.

    What's the use of having this as a separate manual option outside of the actual workout and not saving it at all.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to Stefan

    Yes, it's especially strange because the data is actually saved in the file (or at least used to be), but for some reason Garmin has decided not to make it easily available to users by displaying it in the app or the web. As a computer scientist and someone interested in UI/UX design, I find this decision very puzzling.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to NickMN

    In FR945, you can only set alerts on the watch.

    In FR45, you can set alerts on the watch and connect.

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    So I've had a bit more time working with this and it's not as bad as I first thought.  After my run today, I hit "stop" and then just 2 buttons "up" to see "Recovery HR" and then the button to select it.  

    At this point the watch displayed a countdown timer and my HR at each stage of the countdown.  At the end of the countdown of course it displayed the Recovery HR.  Then an "exit" button, 2 buttons "down" to get back to "save" and I was done.

    I agree this is much more "button pushing" than before but so far I think it might be worth it to have the dedicated screen to view the countdown as opposed to walking around waiting for the 2min to expire.

    Where it is DEFINITELY still "bad" is that this information isn't stored anywhere?  WTH?

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to badbri

    Super agreed on being both annoyed and puzzled by Garmin choosing not to track and display this info on the app/web, would be much more useful to see trends etc.

    Also, after today's run I almost discarded my whole activity as the "Recovery HR" menu item is placed right next to "Discard" - ugh, not what I want to do after running hard.

    I'm still habitually waiting for the thing to pop up after two minutes, took me a while today to realize that wasn't happening - my cognitive abilities were still recovering from pushing hard during my run :)

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to Levon

    Well get this, I had v 5.0 hit my 945 the night before my first race in a long time, and my "A" race for the season.  Race morning, I was apprehensive to say the least but after confirming I could connect to satellites as well having to turn all my ANT+ sensors back "on" I did the race without issue.  It was in the recovery tent that things got weird as I sat there and sat there waiting the "2 minutes" for recovery HR to pop up which would signal me to go ahead and leave...I had no idea that entire process had changed.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to badbri

    ha ha .. yes, I'm really used to that little reminder too.

    Oh well .. hopefully at some point Garmin will make this an option (I belive that's unlikely though) or at least show us the data (no reason why that shouldn't happen, just takes Garmin to decide to do it).

    Hope you had a good race . .haven't raced all year :-/

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to Levon
    Levon said:
    at least show us the data (no reason why that shouldn't happen, just takes Garmin to decide to do it).

    How do you feel about Garmin showing us the data in case I missed it the 6 times you mentioned it in this thread or the other times in different threads?  :)  Have you tried Garmin's product suggestion website? 

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to Levon

    To discard an activity you have to select 'discard' after which a confirmation screen pops up which defaults to 'no'. You then have to select 'yes' and confirm that. You think you would do all this by accident?

    The 'old' way of showing recovery HR was fundamentally flawed. After stopping an activity pressing the top right hand button had two possible outcomes, depending on whether you pressed it inside or outside the 2 minutes. This is poor user interface design. You might not like the way Garmin has fixed this fundamental flaw, but there can be no discussion about the fact it needed fixing.