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It seems such a simple thing to do: allow you to define a section of your ride (rather than the whole thing) and see how your times vary over that section. Even without the whole social/competitive bit, it seems like it should be a standard part of any GPS based ride logging tool. Yet, as far as I can see, only Strava has this feature.
Er, nope.
RidewithGPS & Garmin Connect both allow segments / league tables amongst users. They're obviously a waste of time, though, since only a handful of people use them.
That's funny. I looked at Garmin Connect before posting and couldn't see anything. Actually, just looked again and still can't see anything. I'll have to look harder (and check out RidewithGPS). Thanks.
I'd assumed they'd patented the idea or something.
I only know this because I get those annoying emails from RidewithGPS and Garmin saying someone has beaten me on a segment I never knew existed.
It looks as though you only get the option to "Create and Track Personal Segments" with the $10/month Premium option of RidewithGPS.
Segments are fairly new on Garmin Connect, I think you need to be using the new version to see them.
OK, that makes sense. I did see something a while back about a new version and people being invited "one at a time", but they don't seem to have got round to me yet!
Which is why Strava is so successful, god knows why any of the mapping apps haven't picked up on this.
What is really needed is someone to create one that ignores roads ie roadies and works just for mtb.
I've used Sports Tracks and I think this has a plugin which does the same.
where is the segment bit on garmin connect? ive had a look but cant find it
You aren't special enough to have them yet. Nor am I. But from what I've read Garmin is trying to offer something better than Strava - as they have to. I imagine there's quite a threat felt by them for people using smart phones instead of gps units.
Run the Map, which has options for walking, cycling, driving etc, has "Splits", which I guess are much the same.
I find the best segments come from a 'Terrys Chocolate Orange'.
I used to have the RideWithGPS kom up the Tourmalet, which demonstrates quite well how hot the competition was đŸ˜†
You aren't special enough to have them yet. Nor am I. But from what I've read Garmin is trying to offer something better than Strava - as they have to. I imagine there's quite a threat felt by them for people using smart phones instead of gps units.
Ironically I like my Garmin but the irritating foible is how much of a PITA it is to get the rides to upload to Strava. The ride goes from the GPS via Bluetooth to my iPhone uploaded via 3G to Garmin Connect online. But getting it uploaded onto a different website (ie Strava) is painful and requires several more steps. Sometimes I think I'd be better off just using the phone app as well (which is a ridiculous duplication of technology).
Is it really that hard? I just copy the file locally onto my computer and then upload the file to Strava as I like to have a copy on the computer for loading into different software. Strava has a direct load option I think but I have never used it. I guess it means you need a computer though.
Is it really that hard? I just copy the file locally onto my computer and then....
It's the "post-PC era" - didn't you get the memo? đŸ˜€
That, for me, is the big advantage of phone apps.
At the end of the ride I just press "Stop". The rest happens automatically, without me needing to start up a PC and find a USB cable.
From the looks of it the new Garmins are getting more and more smartphone-like - I suspect they are quite worried.
Garmin segments are just awful compared to Strava.
It’s really hard to define the trail because the gps data is all over the place.
And that's the key point. We understand what a segment is - it's a bit of trail with a start and finish but try and match that to a GPS trace that has different levels of accuracy between devices and different rides and it's more complex than it sounds to define them.
Strava does a decent job of it and it has a critical mass of people which is why it's the primary site for segment tracking. Just like facebook doesn't really do anything other sites do but it has critical mass of people on it.
There is a third-party website which is supposed to automate the GC->Strava (or whatever) transfer. Can't say I've ever got it to work particularly well though so I just do it manually.Ironically I like my Garmin but the irritating foible is how much of a PITA it is to get the rides to upload to Strava. The ride goes from the GPS via Bluetooth to my iPhone uploaded via 3G to Garmin Connect online. But getting it uploaded onto a different website (ie Strava) is painful and requires several more steps. Sometimes I think I'd be better off just using the phone app as well (which is a ridiculous duplication of technology).
It's a shame either Strava or Garmin can't buy out the other one; that way they could combine the best hardware with the best software. I can see why (from a business point of view) Garmin make it difficult to use other software but agree it's very annoying.