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[canadien]

... just saw that on the box it said included screwdriver which is'nt; rather a watch band removal tool... so little mistake compare to the gorgeous packaging.

[zingo]

Some first thoughts:

Package: Nice, not easy to put stuff back in the box it but it's not a problem.

Watch: Big, since it has a large battery I think it's OK and for me expected, I hope others see it that way.

SW: Nice new fonts, menus seem little bit slower when scrolling in the menu system, I really like that it uses the same menu system that gh625 and not that of gh505, I think the compact layout is better. It seems like the multi sport stuff from gh505 is in the software. Some number as still a little bit clipped on the sides, like the "5".
One glitch I think is stupid as that "ESC" is always used for "back" on all places but one, when looking at a activity and selecting "VIEW" to lock at the map-view of the activity. Another strange thing is that default zooming is 5m in map mod, it would be much better if it was something a little bit higher as 5m is always unusable, Id like it to start on something bigger like 200m, I always have to press the zoom buttons when starting map mode.

Battery: Number on the box and on the web don't match.

Charging: I also like the charging cable solution used (same as gh625) compared to gh505. It's atleast for me easier to operate and always worked well, the gh505 I sometime didn't put on aligned and had to "fiddle" with it awhile to get it correctly fitted.

Linux support: Driver not needed in Linux/Ubuntu it worked out of the box, Gerhard importer SportTracks plugin worked almost out of the box, the only thing I needed to do in it was to change baud rate to 115200 for Linux also.

[Richard]

...  the gorgeous packaging.

I  think also, product and target ....very good job 

[snow_freak]

Hello,
here is my first impression:

- The new one looks better than gh625, even it seems to be the same housing.
- New SirFStarIV seems to be really better, less deviations in postion readings.
- The "Lap Info Screen" is shown to short, should be longer
- German translation needs to be improved badly. There are some really wrong words. @Geoffrey: Let me know, if i can help somehow.

[Rookie]

I wondering what means at startup when watch serching satelites numbers 0/4, 3/4 and some others?
I have not ever seen 1/4 or 2/4.

Can someone explain what they actually means?

Rookie

[zingo]

Another small fix I come to think about, I think the default save time of 1s is to short I don't think you need that many samples in any sport (please speak up anyone if you do) and the GPS resolution is not good enough anyway. I propose that default is 4s and if you need 1s you set it by using "CUSTOM".

That will mean you can brag about "Memory: You can save about 66h training" in your marketing material (or whatever that number will be).

[Hubert]

Hi Zingo (and others),

basicly I agree to your comments - however I would like to add my view:

SW: One glitch I think is stupid as that "ESC" is always used for "back" on all places but one, when looking at a activity and selecting "VIEW" to lock at the map-view of the activity.

Yes - totally agreed. However - as far as I remember, this was the same for GH-625 and also GH-505.
But anyway it was one of the items which I didn't like in all models. Should be modified !

Another strange thing is that default zooming is 5m in map mod, it would be much better if it was something a little bit higher as 5m is always unusable, Id like it to start on something bigger like 200m.

Yes - Agreed !

Charging: I also like the charging cable solution used (same as gh625) compared to gh505. It's atleast for me easier to operate and always worked well, the gh505 I sometime didn't put on aligned and had to "fiddle" with it awhile to get it correctly fitted.

Interesting ! My point of view is exactly opposite. I like the clip version of GH-505 more and I had never problems with it.
On the other hand I didn't want to perform any firmware upgrade anymore for my GH-625 because I always had to
"fiddle" around to get a connection, which might get lost during communication.

Another small fix I come to think about, I think the default save time of 1s is to short I don't think you need that many samples in any sport (please speak up anyone if you do) and the GPS resolution is not good enough anyway. I propose that default is 4s and if you need 1s you set it by using "CUSTOM".

Hmm... I'm not sure about this. For you as an ultra runner your suggestion is okay and the default capacity of 33h might
be not enough. But is this kind of usage really the "default" usage ?  I don't think so.
Of course for me as a short distance runner (half marathon) a value of 4 or 5 sec. for saving data would also be okay.
On the other hand: I have no reason to not using the faster rate of 1 sec. So - I have always used 1 sec. and so I do
not see any reason to change it.  And - btw.: A biker with a speed of 36km/h makes about 10m/sec. This is GPS resolution.

Best regards, Hubert

[Hubert]

Hi Rookie,

I wondering what means at startup when watch serching satelites numbers 0/4, 3/4 and some others?
I have not ever seen 1/4 or 2/4.

Can someone explain what they actually means?

Rookie

Did you ever try to switch to the second page during startup (page up or down) ?
This will show an overview of satellites and an indication of fix-status for each of them.
A solid black rectangle on the left side of the screen tells you that the satellite is "fixed".
For a complete 3D Fix there have to be at least 4 fixed satellites.

And this is what the first page tells you:  3/4 means, that 3 of 4 satellites are fixed.
When it changes to 4/4 the fix is done and the display disappears automatically.

Hope this was understandable...

Regards, Hubert

[Rookie]

Hi Rookie,

I wondering what means at startup when watch serching satelites numbers 0/4, 3/4 and some others?
I have not ever seen 1/4 or 2/4.

Can someone explain what they actually means?

Rookie

Did you ever try to switch to the second page during startup (page up or down) ?

Yes, I have checked this second page, it is more clear to check status when watch is serching satelites. Actually I like propose that second page would be default.

This will show an overview of satellites and an indication of fix-status for each of them.
A solid black rectangle on the left side of the screen tells you that the satellite is "fixed".
For a complete 3D Fix there have to be at least 4 fixed satellites.

And this is what the first page tells you:  3/4 means, that 3 of 4 satellites are fixed.
When it changes to 4/4 the fix is done and the display disappears automatically.

Hope this was understandable...

Regards, Hubert

3/4 and 4/4 make sense, but I wonder why I have not newer saw 1/4 or 2/4 after couple year GS watch usage (gh-615, gh-505, gh-625xt and gp-580)? How about others, have you ever saw?

And as additional, I'm pretty sure that yesterday there was 5/6 on screen ones 

[canadien]

4. Most amazing thing was the GPS fix ! I wasn't really interested in it, but after about 1 minute
    I saw, that the GPS fix was there !  After one minute only. After a trip around half the globe.
    And: INDOOR !!  Yes, you are right: Indoor ! And my indoor conditions a really bad. It's even
    hard to use a cell phone. GPS Fix Indoor. Unbelievable !
 

That makes me reminder the first times I turned on my 625xt: astonishly fast. But no more today: it has became slower with time (I am having it for a little more than 3 months) and sometime even slower than my gh-625. I wonder what made it behave like this. I am now on firmware f-ggh-2p-1109231.
Please keep one eye on that everyone, just to find out what make it change that way.
 

PS
I am not an expert here, but I wonder if it is not related to local ephemerides prediction making the watch trying to get them when turned on:

Local ephemeris prediction, capturing ephemerides, and predicting them three days to one week in advance boosts sensitivity and performance.

http://www.csr.com/products/35/sirfstariv-gsd4e

[TWG_TECH8]

4. Most amazing thing was the GPS fix ! I wasn't really interested in it, but after about 1 minute
    I saw, that the GPS fix was there !  After one minute only. After a trip around half the globe.
    And: INDOOR !!  Yes, you are right: Indoor ! And my indoor conditions a really bad. It's even
    hard to use a cell phone. GPS Fix Indoor. Unbelievable !
 

That makes me reminder the first times I turned on my 625xt: astonishly fast. But no more today: it has became slower with time (I am having it for a little more than 3 months) and sometime even slower than my gh-625. I wonder what made it behave like this. I am now on firmware f-ggh-2p-1109231.
Please keep one eye on that everyone, just to find out what make it change that way.
 

PS
I am not an expert here, but I wonder if it is not related to local ephemerides prediction making the watch trying to get them when turned on:

Local ephemeris prediction, capturing ephemerides, and predicting them three days to one week in advance boosts sensitivity and performance.

http://www.csr.com/products/35/sirfstariv-gsd4e

Hi Canadian,

Due to GPS has ephemeris prediction  function, so it try to search the previous ephemeris. If it didn't find, it will restart to acquisition of satellites.
It will take more time.
Try to cold start will be faster.


Sincerely,

Geoffrey

[canadien]

Thanks Geoffrey! That is exactly what I was thinking. I am not that bad after all 

[vajdaz]

Hello everyone,
here are my first impressions:
- the watch looks better that 625M, especially its light
- the menu could be quicker on XT, it is annoying a little, but I think it's the matter of habit, and after some time I won't notice that
- the concept of menu is better on XT
- the screen could be brighter on XT
- when I turned it on first time it didn't find any satellites inside building so I don't know how for someone it could find satellites
- when I turned it on outside the building it fixed satellites after 1,5 minutes, at the same time as 625M (which was on the other hand)
- I had a little competition today, and I took both my watches. I had to run ~2,5km in the town, near the buildings and there was quite big difference between my watches. 625M shows me 2.479km and XT shows 2.697km of total distance, so it's more then 200m difference , when I mounted my track on the map, I see that XT is more accurate, so that's good news
- it's interesting why interval training is under the GYM ? I'm using it outside always... and I never would think that I can find it under GYM
- 625M recorded 154 bpm average heart rate and XT - 161bpm, so I don't know where is the truth... it is quite big difference too
- XT calculates pace very strange, when I start to run it shows nonsense, and after maybe 5 minutes of running it starts to show something near truth.



Zingo, I think 1s is good by default, cause it gives more accurate results, for me it is very important cause when I run in the forests (orienteering) I can make turning every second and 4s wouldn't be good for me...

That's all what I remember now, at the weekend I'll have 2days competition, so I think I'll bring some more notices from there..

Good night.
Vaidas

[TWG_TECH8]

Hi Vaidaz,

Thanks for review.
I have some comments regarding your review.

- the screen could be brighter on XT

It could be adjust manually.

- when I turned it on first time it didn't find any satellites inside building so I don't know how for someone it could find satellites
- when I turned it on outside the building it fixed satellites after 1,5 minutes, at the same time as 625M (which was on the other hand)

The first GPS fixed is called as cold start as similar as GH-625.  Since it has peripheries prediction features and good sensitivity, the re-acquisition will be faster.

- 625M recorded 154 bpm average heart rate and XT - 161bpm, so I don't know where is the truth... it is quite big difference too

We may have the log file to investigate.

- it's interesting why interval training is under the GYM ? I'm using it outside always... and I never would think that I can find it under GYM

We try to group the planning training into GYM, any suggestions?

- I had a little competition today, and I took both my watches. I had to run ~2,5km in the town, near the buildings and there was quite big difference between my watches. 625M shows me 2.479km and XT shows 2.697km of total distance, so it's more then 200m difference , when I mounted my track on the map, I see that XT is more accurate, so that's good news

It seems interesting, do they are under the same sampling rate? We also interest to have the log file to investigate.

Have a nice weekend,

Geoffrey

 

[Alain51170]

eHello team,
Good to send a first feedback on this very nice watch.. I have a lot to write.. sorry (so I have attached an excel file to keep everything clear.
but as a sum-up
YESS!! +++    
- Huge battery capacity. I am impressed (and will have to not charge to know when battery will be low.. :-) )
- High GPS  sensibility.. (First vs GH625M and Edge 305)
- Quick Start-up => I like warm start.. Almost immediat
- very pleasant design (I like the Grey color, we can wear everywhere, and i like the shape (no risk of injury).
- nice package and French manual

To be enhanced         
- Characters size (the watch is yet usable, but i would like to get optimized the display capability and size
- Track-back => we know that a new algorithm is under development.. but would like to make sure we will have a smart and complete track-back function (see dedicated topic - a lot of ideas here.)
- Track recording - can we have a smart point recording?.. to reduce nb of track points?

Questions..
- I have some issue with the hearth rate. Could be specific to me.



Regarding the first feedback in real (Yesterday night - +3/4° only .. brrrrrrr)
Comparison between : GH625M / GH625XT and Edge 305.. see below cockpit.


- GH625XT was the first get satellite fixed
- GH625XT had a wonderful track recording (always, same or better than the 2 other devices - but the 3 was good)

Table for result
                Dist.(km)    Av.(km/h)    Speed Max    + (m)      + After correction    Nb Points
Edge305    27,93        16,1            37,8             378         503                        515
GH625M    28,048       16,1            37,25           420         513                        6174
GH625XT   27,951       16,1            36,9            379         514                         6195

Note regarding altitude : + After correction has been done using CartoExplorer (This to get the reel altitude of each point referring a map)

All my feedbacks with details attached here : http://alain.picquot.free.fr/GX625XT/GH625XT_Feedback_Listing_v1.02.xlsx