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Motoactv GPS Fitness Watch

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My review on the third day, posted to someone else's review of the watch...
+++

I really like this watch. It seemed like everything I want in a watch! My main use for it was going to be the pedometer function to track walking. My goal was to work a lot more 10-15 minute walks into my day, and be able to track their distance and totals. The wifi sync is really great.

When wearing it as a watch and using the watch function, and letting it track steps during the day, the battery lasts for about a day.

But I killed it on the second day by accidentally wearing it into the shower. I didn't have it on for very long, and quickly realized oooops! But it was too late. It's decided its battery is invalid and it wont let me recharge the device. While it was still working after the shower it would act like buttons were being randomly pressed, and maybe also touch screen taps, I'm not sure. I was really disappointed about this, because a good thunderstorm while walking in Malaysia, or getting caught in the rain on my motorcycle with this on my wrist, would have got it the same amount of water as it got from a brief visit in the shower. So it is not nearly as water resistant as they are claiming. This GPS watch may be very easy to water damage..... I killed two nanos in two weeks trying to wear them as a pedometer, it's sad to see this much better device having the same water problems.

I have not been able to find any instructions about how to open the device. I really wanted to open it up to have a better chance of airing it out to see if it would recover. But I have not found any instructions on how to open it.

I really dont understand why they couldn't put a truly waterproof headphone jack and USB port on the side. But, as I said, it appears that the buttons might not be very water resistant either. Those are ridiculous corners to cut on a $250 device.

My first day review

Hello Best Friends, all 389 of you! (syke!)

Just had to brag a bit about my new fitness watch. Motorola has finally pegged it with an extremely cool and useful product. The Motoactv fitness watch.

You can check out all the details about it at http://www.motoactv.com

Here is my review of the watch, written after my first day of playing with it:

I just picked it up at Best Buy last night. I couldn't wait to get out of the store and put it on. It's very stylish largish (but smaller than many) watch, all black, with shiny black face. I bought a black thick rubber wristband with Motorola red accents for it.

The watch has a pedometer function that seems to match pretty closely to the counts I've made of my steps. The watch also has a GPS function, and it has maps, so it can show you a trace of where you have walked. Eventhough it has you enter your height, and a calibration mode so it can learn your stride, because it has GPS, it can know very accurately how far you have walked and your speed. While you are walking, it tracks all kinds of statistics: steps, speed, distance, pace, calories burned, time walking. And it also plays music, so you can listen to tunes with a set of headphones. It has a function where it monitors which songs seem to get you going the most so it can later make a playlist of those songs. It takes a few workouts to train it in this. It also has an FM watch function.

It told me that in 15 minutes, I managed to walk almost 3/4 of a mile, and showed me on screen exactly the route through the parking lots. It told me that I burned the caloric equivalent of one slice of bread, or a 16 oz bottle of Vitamin water. That was excellent encouragement to not stop in the Wendy's or the IHOP that I passed by twice.

So when I got home, I hooked it up to my computer. The syncing software ran. There were some firewall warnings, and I might have clicked the wrong thing, and I spent quite a while arguing with the software that was claiming it couldn't get to the internet. I had to go to two different places, my Avast! firewall settings, and the Windows Firewall settings, to get the Motorola sync tool unblocked.

So then I was able to register an account on motoactv.com. This account will track my workouts, and also help me plan fitness goals, and help me track my progress. I haven't used too much of it. I synced my watch, and sure enough my walk showed up online. The website offered me the chance to schedule some more workouts. It told me if I wanted to lose 50 lbs in 33 weeks, that should be easy to moderately difficult. It suggested I might lose the weight much quicker, but I'm happy to do it slow and steady. Someone remarked that at my current rate of loss it might take me a couple of years to lose the weight, but I'm almost OK with that even, it took me 20 years to put the weight on.

The syncing with the computer wanted to update the software in the watch. So I let that happen.

I synced a bunch of music into the watch. If you are listening to music during your workout, it also can give you verbal updates on your workout progress. I didn't have that feature enabled, but I may try it in the future.

It is about the size of the Apple Nano, but a little bit larger. This watch is actually a cleverly disguised Android tablet, much like an Android smart phone or an Android Samsung Galaxy Tab. In fact, someone has already hacked this fitness watch so that they could play Angry Birds on it! I doubt I'll be doing that to my watch.

During the day, the watch shows you how many calories you have burned. It is apparently making a general estimate based on weight, height, age, and to that it adds the calories you expend in any kind of workout it detects. It seems to be able to track the steps I take during the day, it says so far today I have taken 2237 steps, and burned 1973 calories. It seems pretty good at detecting when I am walking, and when I am just standing still. It doesn't seem to track detailed stats (other than step count) about the random walking that you do during the day, you need to start a workout session for that.

Another thing this watch has is WIFI. I taught it the password for my wifi router, and now it is able to sync directly with motoactv without even being hooked to my computer. I also taught it the to password to my internet hot spot.

So I just started a workout session, and took a 7 minute walk around the perimeter of the place I am at. It wanted to know if I was walking, and it asked for time to make a GPS fix, and it quickly got a GPS fix, quicker than the maximum 3-4 minutes it asks for. When I was finished, it was able to show me the path I took. I counted 560 steps, and it said I took 553! In the middle of my workout, I stopped to go to the bathroom, and then walked back to where I was working. I got back to where my hotspot was, and a few minutes later I logged into motoactv, and sure enough, my 7 minute walk was showing online. I can pull up a graph of the walk, and it shows where I was stopped for about a minute while I was in the bathroom.

Date Activity Type Duration Distance Cal. Burned
Jan 10, 2012 3:45PM Walk 7:14 0.29 mi 37 cal
Jan 09, 2012 11:29PM Walk 15:00 0.73 mi 116 cal

The watch has the ability to hook up to other things like blue tooth headsets. Heart monitors. A combined blue tooth stereo headset and heart rate monitor. Exercise shoes. And various kinds of exercise equipment.

The MOTOACTV.COM website keeps track of all the workout sessions. If you replace your watch, or wipe the data with a factory reset, the next sync with the website will load recent workouts back onto the watch.

The watch is supposed to store the last 25 workouts. But it will actually store more than that.

Problems with the Motoactv watch

Your MOTOACTV device cannot connect to the internet due to a firewall issue

  • Please check the security software you are running and allow "MOTOACTVSyncTool.exe" permission to communicate through any firewall. Once you are ready to retry connecting to the Internet, press the Try Again button.

I got this error several times eventhough:

  • I know I had an internet connect because:
    • I was online on this website entering this problem.
    • I was able to login to the Motorola website for the watch.
  • I had logged in the previous watch to the website with the computer I am using to connect the watch
  • I have checked both the windows firewall and Avast firewalls, and they both are set to allow this app to connect.
  • The previous watch would get the above error about half the time, when first connecting the watch to the computer. Pressing retry would then succeed.

Last night I was able to sync the watch, on this computer with a certain internet connection. But this morning, it will not sync up, it is giving this "Connection Error" over and over. I am browsing the motoactv website in my web browser, and writing this entry, so I know I have a good internet connection.

not very water resistant!

See my warning about mine being ruined after just a couple of absent minded minutes in the shower.

Micro usb connectors are not very rugged.

The other probable weak spot is the micro USB connector. It's nice that this device is using the same microUSB connector as all my other android devices, such as tablets (well, OK samsung decided they needed their own unique connector), my android phones, and my wifi hotspot. So I can use the cables interchangably. But my wifi hot spot, and now possibly my phone, both seem to be having problems with their connectors when charging. They only work if the cable is plugged in just right, and maybe given a little extra pressure in some direction or another to make good contact. Otherwise I wake up in the morning, and find that my phone, or the hotspot, didn't get charged.

This watch will likely need to be recharged every day. That is a lot of stress on the connector. It seems from my other devices that the life time of these connectors is about 300-600 uses before they start getting touchy.

Software issues on the watch

  • It is not possible on the watch to delete a workout!
  • It is not possible to delete the map for a workout and keep the info from the workout.
  • There is no way to lock the watch with a password
  • Eventhough it can record your total number of steps throughout the day, it does not remember your daily step totals. It only remembers steps that are part of an actual workout.
  • It does not have a calculator app
  • it does not have a note app
  • It does not have a voice recorder app.
  • It does not have a way to use your own picture as a watch face
  • Although it it appears to have directories for videos and photos, it does not appear to have a way to display them.

Problems with deleting a certain workout

This is very interesting. Lets say you get ready to go on a workout, but a friend shows up, or a phone call happens, and instead of working out, you just wander a bit talking with your friend. Later you see you have a one hour stroll recorded as a workout in your watch. It is very difficult to remove this workout.

  • The watch itself does not have a function to delete a workout. It also does not have a function to delete just the GPS map from a workout, but keep the workout data without the map. There is no password on the watch to protect your workouts from prying eyes!
    • Do avoid recording maps that you can't delete, select indoor workout when you go walking. You will need to go through a calibration to help the watch give a more accurate estimate of your walks.
  • The manual says that the watch only remembers the last 25 workouts. This is not entirely true. I added 26 empty 2 second indoor walks to my watch, and it still remembered all those walks, plus at least half a dozen previous workouts, including the one I wanted to delete.
  • I did a factory reset on the watch. This erased all my music, and forced me to do a new setup on the watch. I then went to motoactv.com and deleted the workout I didn't want to keep. However, I recovered the data for the workout and added a manual workout on the same day to just record the distance walked. I then synced the watch. Frustratingly, the deleted workout returned, along with its map! I've checked the website several times and only the manual workout seems to exist there.

I have not yet figured out what file on the watch stores the workout information.

I tried making a list of all the files on the watch, adding a 2 second workout to the watch, and then look again at the files, but nothing has changed. I suspect the workouts are stored in the android secure directory, which does not show on a directory listing.

It is the next morning. I have logged out of, and back into, the motoactv site to verify the workout I want erased is not in the website. It is not, only the manually entered workout is there for that day.

I am now doing another factory reset on the watch. just went through setup. It doesn't forget the time and date, but it forgot everything else like time zone, my age, weight, and it shows no recent workouts.

I'm plugging it into my computer, I get "connected". The motocast setup just launched, and I'm getting the blasted "Connectiong Error" dialog. Once, twice..... Hit cancel, click next on the setup app, and it asks for my motoactv login. I enter it, and I'm informed, "The device does not have a network connection. Please try disconnecting the USB cable and then reconnecting again."

I unplugged the device, and plugged it back in. This time I am not getting the internet error. I am getting an option to add this as a new device, or to replace my previous device. This is funny because this is the same device I synced previously.

OK, so I've entered the password for my wifi router, and apparently the watch is happy with it.

I am syncing some Beyonce onto the watch, along with transferring fitness data from motoactv.com. Sync complete.

The watch still says no recent workouts are recorded.

I just entered a 0.01 mile manual walk into the watch, and have asked it to sync. It is attempting to sync it over wifi.

Went back to the website to click the planning tab, (and was going to click back to workout to reload the workouts), but the website crashed with a stack dump.

None of my previous workouts have returned to the recent workouts on the screen.....

The prior time, I did the factory reset, then went straight into syncing the watch. i didn't check to see if the recent list was empty first. Perhaps this left the old database laying around somewhere without getting reinitialized? I know I did the factory reset, because I had to go back through all the setup screens. Interesting.

Motoactv.com Website Issues

  • deleting workout from bar chart did not delete it from the table view. You have to delete the workout, then switch to a different tab like planning, and then come back to workouts.
  • manually adding a workout does not show up on the bar chart after immediately after being added. Again you must switch tabs.

Website crash when trying to click from workouts to planning

Got this nice stack trace:

We're Sorry

An internal error has occurred. Please log out and log in again.

Hide Stack Trace:
java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException
	at sun.reflect.GeneratedMethodAccessor2893.invoke(Unknown Source)
	at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
	at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:597)
	at com.bx.cm.servlets.Router.route(Router.java:197)
	at com.bx.cm.servlets.Router.doGet(Router.java:58)
	at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:617)
	at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:717)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:290)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:206)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationDispatcher.invoke(ApplicationDispatcher.java:646)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationDispatcher.processRequest(ApplicationDispatcher.java:436)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationDispatcher.doForward(ApplicationDispatcher.java:374)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationDispatcher.forward(ApplicationDispatcher.java:302)
	at org.tuckey.web.filters.urlrewrite.NormalRewrittenUrl.doRewrite(NormalRewrittenUrl.java:213)
	at org.tuckey.web.filters.urlrewrite.RuleChain.handleRewrite(RuleChain.java:171)
	at org.tuckey.web.filters.urlrewrite.RuleChain.doRules(RuleChain.java:145)
	at org.tuckey.web.filters.urlrewrite.UrlRewriter.processRequest(UrlRewriter.java:92)
	at org.tuckey.web.filters.urlrewrite.UrlRewriteFilter.doFilter(UrlRewriteFilter.java:381)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:235)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:206)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:233)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:191)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:128)
	at org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke(ErrorReportValve.java:102)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngineValve.invoke(StandardEngineValve.java:109)
	at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:293)
	at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11AprProcessor.process(Http11AprProcessor.java:859)
	at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11AprProtocol$Http11ConnectionHandler.process(Http11AprProtocol.java:574)
	at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.AprEndpoint$Worker.run(AprEndpoint.java:1527)
	at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:619)
Caused by: java.lang.RuntimeException: com.gault.portal.exceptions.GaultDatabaseException: com.motorola.blur.gault.exception.BlurApiException: Error getWorkoutPlans for account thegarnet@gmail.com, startDateEpoch 1326464454936,endDate: 1327069254936
	at com.gault.portal.controllers.AuthenticatedController.getMiniCal(AuthenticatedController.java:265)
	at com.gault.portal.controllers.AuthenticatedController.getContent(AuthenticatedController.java:100)
	at com.gault.portal.controllers.PlanningController.index(PlanningController.java:1159)
	... 30 more
Caused by: com.gault.portal.exceptions.GaultDatabaseException: com.motorola.blur.gault.exception.BlurApiException: Error getWorkoutPlans for account thegarnet@gmail.com, startDateEpoch 1326464454936,endDate: 1327069254936
	at com.gault.portal.daos.impls.WorkoutPlanBlurImpl.getWorkoutPlans(WorkoutPlanBlurImpl.java:90)
	at com.gault.portal.services.WorkoutPlanService.getWorkoutPlans(WorkoutPlanService.java:157)
	at com.gault.portal.controllers.AuthenticatedController.getMiniCal(AuthenticatedController.java:182)
	... 32 more
Caused by: com.motorola.blur.gault.exception.BlurApiException: Error getWorkoutPlans for account thegarnet@gmail.com, startDateEpoch 1326464454936,endDate: 1327069254936
	at com.motorola.blur.gault.impl.WorkoutPlanManagerImpl.getWorkoutPlans(WorkoutPlanManagerImpl.java:509)
	at com.gault.portal.daos.impls.WorkoutPlanBlurImpl.getWorkoutPlans(WorkoutPlanBlurImpl.java:80)
	... 34 more
Caused by: com.motorola.blur.gault.exception.InvalidSessionException: InvalidSessionException getWorkoutPlans for account:thegarnet@gmail.com
	at com.motorola.blur.gault.impl.WorkoutPlanManagerImpl.getWorkoutPlans(WorkoutPlanManagerImpl.java:498)
	... 35 more

Alternative watches

Garmin Forerunner® 910XT - $449

  • https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=142&pID=90671 -
    • This one can be worn while swimming to 50m water resistant.
    • Offers metrics on swimming
  • Comparison of the Forerunner 910XT and the Motoactv watch
    • Forerunner doesn't seem to have a pedometer function - but could be hooked up to a "foot pod"
    • Forerunner doesn't have wifi connectivity (instead a usb stick is used)
    • Forerunner has no music player features
    • Forerunner is not android based. Forerunner can not be hacked to play Angry Birds!
    • Garmin measures their water resistance with international standard IPx7, and can withstand accidental immersion in one meter of standing water for up to 30 minutes. However, the Forerunner 910XT, designed for swimming, has even better water resistance [link|http://support.garmin.com/support/searchSupport/case.faces?caseId=
      Unknown macro: {b60ebc00-4cdb-11dc-4733-000000000000}

      ]

I'm watch - Only $16000!

And it's not even waterproof!

4.
Is i’m Watch waterproof?

No, i’m Watch is not waterproof, it is resistant to some water drops, just like a smartphone.

source

The first time you get rained on, you just turned your $16000 phone into a non-functional brick on your wrist!

The I'm jewel collection - http://www.imwatch.it/us-en/smartwatch/imjewel/ Here is the shopping page: http://www.imshop.it/us-en/3cat/i-m-jewels.html

Here are the choices:

i'm Silver
1499 $
1.172,19 €
i'm Silver Gray
Silver
1499 $
1.172,19 €
i'm Silver Lilac
Silver
1499 $
1.172,19 €
i'm Silver Brown
Silver
1499 $
1.172,19 €
i'm SIlver Auburn
Silver
i'm Gold
15999 $
12.510,95 €
i'm Yellow Gold
with black rubber band
15999 $
12.510,95 €
i'm Pink Gold
with white rubber band
19999 $
15.638,88 €
i'm White Gold and Diamonds
with white rubber band
15999 $
12.510,95 €
i'm Black Gold
with black rubber band

Ooops, correction, your $19,999 Android watch with Gold and Diamonds could become a brick if you wear it poolside and some sot accidentally splashes water on it.

Other reviews of the Motoactv watch

  • http://www.runtheline.com/2839/motorola-motoactv-review
    • Likes
      • 8GB or 16GB MP3 player as well as a GPS watch
      • Syncs with Itunes
      • Finally an easy to use touch screen
      • The MOTOACTV tracks the songs that you run best to and collates them into a playlist
      • Track over 30 stats
      • Wireless ANT+ and Bluetooth Low Energy sensor compatibility
      • Pair with a motorola smart phone to receive call, text and calendar notifications
      • Ability to sync with the Motorola MOTOACTV.com online running portal over WiFi
      • Bike mountable or Wrist Watch
    • Dislikes
      • Battery only lasts 3.5 to 4 hours
      • Not waterproof (only splash proof)
      • MOTOACTV.com doesn't work too well with the Safari browser.
    • My notes on his review:
      • The box he shows is larger than the square box it is being shipped with in the U.S.
      • Very detailed review
      • "The device is the only GPS watch/fitness tracker that allows you to sync your Itunes library and playlists using the MotoCast software and USB cable."
        • I don't care at all about this "feature". I didn't use itunes to load music on my device. (I hate itunes).
        • The motoactv sync software also offers the use of windows media player play lists, but I dont have all my music there either.
        • I had all the music I wanted to put in the watch already loaded in my tablet. So instead I plugged into my computer both the watch and my tablet. I had to look around a bit to find the right directory on the watch to put my music files in. Then I used windows file explorer to just copy the MP3 files to the watch. After a bit of a lag, it discovered all the music, and was letting me play the files! This is one of the big reasons I love Android over iPad. I am just fine to use Windows Explorer to move my files around, I hate iTunes as an alternative to that.
      • the watch has FM radio
        • I really wish they could figure out how to get AM radio working in these Android devices. I listen to AM talk radio a lot more than FM radio.
      • "Water Proof/Water Resistance - This is the other area where the MOTOACTV falls down. Although the watch i rated as IP55, this is only with the rubber GPS plug cover in place. Without this in place the watch is not more than splash proof and even with it in place I would be wary of taking it out in seriously bad weather if it was exposed on a belt clip…especially considering the price tag."
    • Pointer to that review: http://runningtimes.com/forums/archive/index.php?t-13835.html&s=2f93a69fa80d8b9848620a6562b825a8

Other random things heard while writing this review

  • 16 google insiders had to hand over $380 million to the State of California after google went public. The same thing will probably happen over the facebook IPO.
  • twinkies, ho-hos, ding-dongs, and snowballs, have gone bankrupt! Hostess is trying to renegotiate labor contracts yet again.
  • Big brother watching you on the roads and on the internet.....
  • CDC report on binge drinking in the U.S.
  • Marines urinating on the dead taliban story
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