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Activity tracker site review series
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I've started a series of reviews on my blog of the various activity tracker web sites out there, starting off with Training Peaks. I'll try to go through one a week, and let me know if there are any I have missed or that you'd like looked at for comparison. I'm going to be comparing only the free features of each using a common template to try and normalize the evaluation a bit. They're still somewhat subjective reviews by their nature, but I'll do my best to be fair.

On the docket, in no particular order:
  • TrainingPeaks
  • EnduranceTracker
  • Final Surge
  • EndoMondo
  • Garmin Connect
  • Suunto Movescount
  • Beginner Triathlete
  • Addaero
  • SportTracks
  • SportLyzer
  • SelfLoops
  • MapMyFitness (now Under Armour)

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Re: Activity tracker site review series [fisherman76] [ In reply to ]
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Week 2, EnduranceTracker review posted here. Again, let me know if there's any you'd like to see reviewed that aren't on the list. The intent is to have this be a comprehensive collection.
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Re: Activity tracker site review series [fisherman76] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks for the review! It is always nice to see what others think. The good and the bad. The only comment that I would say is that at the bottom you wrote that there are no email reminders.. When in fact there are. If you go to the account settings and go to Email Settings you can check on Receive Daily Email. This will send you an email every night with your upcoming workouts as well as details on your past 2 workouts.

Thanks again!

Jeff Dell
Endurance Tracker - For the data driven athlete.
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Re: Activity tracker site review series [entrack] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks Jeff! I'll update the review accordingly. As I mentioned, there is a LOT of functionality built into the Account Settings screen, and as its tucked off in its own corner, it's not immediately obvious that's where some of the key features are.

Question for you, as we're in a public forum and I think others might be interested; A good deal (as in almost all) of the sites being looked at have 'Premium' content, and a limited subset of functionality available for free. Endurance Tracker is offered completely for free, but goes a step beyond by saying "No Ads", which begs the question of whether or not you have plans to monetize the content at some point in the future? What are your views on free content? I think there's an interesting conversation to have here.
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Re: Activity tracker site review series [fisherman76] [ In reply to ]
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As for your comments about flow and settings. This is something we are definitely working on. We have a major site update coming this quarter. This will help with some of the flow, and improve on our framework to help us become more agile and move forward quicker with features and enhancements. We even have some of the features you were looking for plus a ton more.

As for monetization, this is something that will happen in the future. We feel it will happen through premium content and features. Most of the features that are currently offered through Endurance Tracker are almost a commodity at this point and will stay free. If we are going to be a successful website/company, we need to offer something that the big companies like Strava, Run Keeper,Training Peaks, etc.. don't. Otherwise, why would someone want to switch to Endurance Tracker.

Jeff Dell
Endurance Tracker - For the data driven athlete.
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Re: Activity tracker site review series [fisherman76] [ In reply to ]
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Thank you for the review, I didn't even know about EnduranceTracker.
I'm currently using the SportsTracker trial and I'm quite happy with it so far for planning and reviewing workouts, but I'll give ET a go this weekend before my ST trial end.
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Re: Activity tracker site review series [entrack] [ In reply to ]
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Sounds great, let me know when it's out there so I can come back with a follow up review! Let me know if you ever want to talk ideas as well, I've played around quite a bit in the space at this point and work as a developer professionally.
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Re: Activity tracker site review series [fisherman76] [ In reply to ]
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Another entry in the series, this week Final Surge is put through the gauntlet. As always, please let me know if there's something I've missed, or if there's a site that's not on my radar that you'd like reviewed. Thanks!


http://quantitativetriathlon.blogspot.com/2015/01/review-final-surge.html
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Re: Activity tracker site review series [fisherman76] [ In reply to ]
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Could you add strava to your list?
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Re: Activity tracker site review series [mvenneta] [ In reply to ]
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will do. thanks!
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Re: Activity tracker site review series [fisherman76] [ In reply to ]
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You could also review pseudo trackers like Golden Cheetah. You can manually enter rides etc. But it also has the capability to train with and then upload your workouts to many of the trackers you listed. And in version 3.11 you can record running workouts there too.


Dtyrrell
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Re: Activity tracker site review series [Dtyrrell] [ In reply to ]
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I'd like to cover all the tools, including both the premium ones and standalone ones (which GC would fall under) in a second pass, but in the first pass I'm only looking at web-based applications, and even then only at the free feature set. The trend is towards all of these tools being increasingly commoditized, where the premium features are really going to have to push the envelope in terms of what they offer (which is a good thing!). If you are paying, the thing you're really paying for is uptime/stability and support,well worth something but not how the value proposition is currently set up.
If anyone has any suggestions for how the reviews are covering things in terms of scope, grading, etc...or if you've any suggestions in general, please drop me a line. I'd really like to get this right and help the community of users drive the direction all these tools go in, and not have the tools drive the athletes (nor fleece their wallets!).
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Re: Activity tracker site review series [fisherman76] [ In reply to ]
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thanks for review- I just signed on to check it out
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Re: Activity tracker site review series [fisherman76] [ In reply to ]
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This week we take a look at EndoMondo. As always, let me know if there's anything I missed or a site you want me to check out! Thanks!

http://quantitativetriathlon.blogspot.com/...eview-endomondo.html
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Re: Activity tracker site review series [fisherman76] [ In reply to ]
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Hi,
Thank you for this information. I noticed in your blog that you crossed out Addaero. There is a 7 day free trial. I am curious to hear your feedback since I am prepared to switch from TP to Addaero.
Kristina Cagno
USAT level 1 coach
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Re: Activity tracker site review series [kmcagno] [ In reply to ]
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Hi Kristina
There is a trial, but the series is aimed at the free tools out there, so my question would really be why are you looking to switch, and why not use (at least for now) Endurance Tracker? The savings you don't have to put into platform costs can be passed on to your very happy athletes. From what I've found, there is a big holdup taking place with these platforms, and the subscription based ones aren't delivering value that equal the cost. Everyone is entitled to make a buck, but it's hard enough for coaches without having to hand over hundreds or thousands a year for a glorified shared calendar and chat window.
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Re: Activity tracker site review series [fisherman76] [ In reply to ]
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This is awesome, I have some reading to catch up on!

What I'd be interested in knowing is what tech feature you'd really like to see that hasn't been done or hasn't been done well yet.

For my own interest this year I'm developing some training software, not for commercial purposes but partly to use myself (the base components) and partly to showcase what can be done with the data if you really try hard and to keep my coding skills sharp (a selection of more 'wow' tools but perhaps less useful ones for my training!) I'm currently planning a virtual power meter, done by Strava and perhaps others, but I think the concept has potential to be a viable alternative to real PM's. And perhaps a course pacing strategy tool based of looking at another thread on this forum.

If you have after scanning through that mighty list in the OP, you have a hankering for a tech feature that doesn't exist I'd love to have a go at creating it and sharing the results!

Iain

Training Full Time in 2015: http://www.triopensource.com
http://www.facebook.com/iaingillamracing http://www.twitter.com/iaingillam
https://www.youtube.com/...9JYCrOLP34Qtgp5w1WsA

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Re: Activity tracker site review series [Iain Gillam] [ In reply to ]
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Quote:

What I'd be interested in knowing is what tech feature you'd really like to see that hasn't been done or hasn't been done well yet.

That's a really good question. From my experience, developers mostly come up with lots of weird ideas and occasionally have some really good ones, but they'll only do so in large numbers if there's a common platform that's *worth* developing on. At this point, the different tools are still widely disparate in their offerings, so innovation isn't the differentiating factor yet - it's still a question of whether all the features they have in common *work*! Once everything settles and becomes commoditized to a degree - meaning each site offers a bare minimum of x, y, and z, imports and exports, allows this and that, etc - I don't think we'll see the innovation start to creep in.

I will say I'm surprised that to there's not more offered out there in the way of measuring load vs. recovery. Training Peaks had the first mover advantage with their Performance Manager, but the math behind it all isn't fact; TSS is a scientific opinion, but it's no more or less valid than other methods of measuring stress and recovery. That said, I suspect most triathletes don't care - they just want *some* proxy for stress and recovery, and whether their stress is measure as 90 or 86 for a day doesn't make a difference... and they know their bodies well enough to figure out recovery differences after a 'hard' day or a 'medium' day. Ultimately, what the entire community needs is more and more data being available anonymously, for purposes of being analyzed by whomever has the desire to take a look at it and find new trends, new ideas, and new advancements. As long as the data is locked up, this doesn't happen.
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Re: Activity tracker site review series [fisherman76] [ In reply to ]
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Another review, this time for Garmin Connect. How does it hold up? Have a read!
http://quantitativetriathlon.blogspot.com/
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Re: Activity tracker site review series [fisherman76] [ In reply to ]
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fisherman76 wrote:
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What I'd be interested in knowing is what tech feature you'd really like to see that hasn't been done or hasn't been done well yet.

That's a really good question. From my experience, developers mostly come up with lots of weird ideas and occasionally have some really good ones, but they'll only do so in large numbers if there's a common platform that's *worth* developing on. At this point, the different tools are still widely disparate in their offerings, so innovation isn't the differentiating factor yet - it's still a question of whether all the features they have in common *work*! Once everything settles and becomes commoditized to a degree - meaning each site offers a bare minimum of x, y, and z, imports and exports, allows this and that, etc - I don't think we'll see the innovation start to creep in.

I will say I'm surprised that to there's not more offered out there in the way of measuring load vs. recovery. Training Peaks had the first mover advantage with their Performance Manager, but the math behind it all isn't fact; TSS is a scientific opinion, but it's no more or less valid than other methods of measuring stress and recovery. That said, I suspect most triathletes don't care - they just want *some* proxy for stress and recovery, and whether their stress is measure as 90 or 86 for a day doesn't make a difference... and they know their bodies well enough to figure out recovery differences after a 'hard' day or a 'medium' day. Ultimately, what the entire community needs is more and more data being available anonymously, for purposes of being analyzed by whomever has the desire to take a look at it and find new trends, new ideas, and new advancements. As long as the data is locked up, this doesn't happen.

Not to take your thread off on too much of a tangent but...

We are very much on the same page here. With regards to the load vs recovery aspect my preference (for myself) is for an algorithm that outputs an under-rested Y/N (or rather what should your training load be today given fatigue calculated from previous data) result from various data input sources. I believe this is actually fairly easy to achieve at the minimum for an n=1 case but most likely a system that learns the athletes response to training stimulus and responds accordingly is also likely to be achievable. All the methodology I think should be use is in the public domain but I've yet to see anyone tie in the elements I'm interested in, this is actually what I'm working on at the minute.

As with the last bit that I've put in bold, I think you're spot on there and this is shown in the popularity of Strava (essentially cycling social media rather than a training tool in my opinion - not that that's a bad thing.) I think for 90% of the target audience a slick website with a nod to training metrics and the ability to connect with other people are key selling features. I also think that in depth analysis attracts people interested in data who are perhaps more interested in viewing than the output from it.

Iain

Training Full Time in 2015: http://www.triopensource.com
http://www.facebook.com/iaingillamracing http://www.twitter.com/iaingillam
https://www.youtube.com/...9JYCrOLP34Qtgp5w1WsA

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Re: Activity tracker site review series [Iain Gillam] [ In reply to ]
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It's a tough problem to tackle, but not one without precedence; it's basically what EPOC tries to capture. This is a decent white paper, albeit with a pitifully small sample set: http://jap.physiology.org/content/83/1/153
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Re: Activity tracker site review series [fisherman76] [ In reply to ]
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Yes, good points. I am leaving tp because I am adding many more athletes this spring with group trainings. This will increase my monthly cost on that site from 19 to 49. I am looking into endurance tracker now. After doing this for friends for years, I just made it a business. Thanks much! - Kristina

Kristina Cagno, M.S.
WavEndurance Coaching, LLC
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Re: Activity tracker site review series [fisherman76] [ In reply to ]
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Good morning. Kristina, thank you for mentioning Addaero Solo, it is appreciated.

Prior to today I was not aware of the Quantitative Triathlon blog. I am one of the founders of Addaero and I had the opportunity to read the reviews posted on the Quantitative Triathlon blog. First, thank you for taking the time to analyze these training options and write an unbiased review. The noise and activity in the training market has grown over the past 12 months but market education has lagged. Your service is needed and appreciated.

Now, my short marketing pitch for Addaero Solo. We in fact do offer a free version - all accounts (Coach and Athlete) start with a free 14-day trial. Once the trial ends the account moves to a Lite version which limits the features available, but the account remains active. For example, a coach may have an active account that costs $19.95 a month with 20 athletes connected to their coaching account. 10 athletes decide NOT to pay the annual athlete fee of $19.95 and at the conclusion of the 14-day trial their account becomes a Lite version. The coach can still add workouts to the athlete's account and the athlete can login and view the workouts. So, the coach to athlete relationship is active. Lite restricts two important features - posting workout results and receiving the nightly workout email. The Lite version is widely used for group training in race and club settings - many of the athletes simply want the daily workout and do not care about recording their results. Lite allows the group manager to create and deploy a common training plan without a cost to the end user.

I would also push back on your Free position - the notion of free is compelling but many times you get what you pay for. Our clients use and pay for Addaero Solo because they are running a business and have paid clients that expect a certain level of service from the coach and the software. Addaero Solo is the only software a coach needs to manage their clients. We work extremely hard to provide excellent customer service and respond to each request within 8 hours, there is a cost associated with this service. Our goal, create an affordable health and fitness software platform while charging a price so we can grow the software and pay our development, customer service, UX/UI.... employees. Using the example of a coaching group with 20 athletes and 1 coach, the aggregate cost to use Addaero solo for 1 year $877.80 or $73.15/month or $3.65/user/month. We feel this is an affordable price for software to run a business.

As you know, based on the sponsors and advertisements you have on both the Quantitative Triathlon and Triple Threat Triathlon site there is always a cost associated with providing a quality service or product. In order to continue to provide the product or service there must be revenue to equal or exceed expenses.

Thank you
- Joshua Ross
Addaero Founder
jross@addaero.com
@addaero
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Re: Activity tracker site review series [addaero] [ In reply to ]
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Hi Josh,

Thanks for taking the time to respond. I'd be happy to see the ST community in this discussion, which I'll begin by countering your position by suggesting that in the internet application/service marketplace, consumers largely get what they *don't* pay for. I'm not trying to be cryptic, but the most successful web models of the last 10 years or so have been built on providing excellent applications to users for free (see Google, Facebook, Instagram, Yahoo, Amazon, etc), and collecting revenue through marketing, inventory volume discounts, and other methods. These methods are the same I use on my blog (which by the way makes very little money indeed!), however the full experience of both are unlimited to users. Charging corporations for exposure and charging users for usage are just different ways of collecting revenue, but both depend on having large numbers of users to be successful. For many business, expenses will outweigh revenues for years as the model grows. In many internet start-ups, these projects begin as side projects, have no costs outside of hosting fees, and collect little or no revenue. Begin compensated for time invested in the process isn't necessarily part of the model. Many an entrepreneur has taken little or no money up front in exchange for vast amounts of sweat equity, with the hope of being compensated in the future.

Anyone on the internet has every right to expect excellence for no cost, for no other reason than that's what they're used to. This view of the world has changed since the brick and mortar economy in most dusty textbooks. It's not the only model, but it's become a viable one. The open source software development model and the concept of freeware has cracked this open even further - development cycles are managed by developers with a vested interest in the product, usually made up of users themselves. There's still a governing body, which is to say fixes and enhancements need to be properly vetted by a singular voice to maintain consistency, styling, etc, but the development life cycle is every bit as robust in the open source model as it is in the closed institutional one. The incentives for creating and maintaining excellent platforms for users aren't limited to economic gains - for most developers, these pursuits are intellectual side-projects, paling in scope and compensation in comparison to their day jobs. There's no capital model at play, there's just curiosity, interest, a sense of community, pride, and other more esoteric social functions. It's a difficult thing to fight if it catches fire.

Another curious thing happens in the free model - the end users develop an allegiance to the product, and are far more forgiving and less demanding than they are for a pay model. Can a coach get by with their athletes for a couple of days if an issue take a while to resolve? Of course, and they do anyway when Garmin goes down, or someone's internet connection is down, or emergencies crop up. But when they PAY for a convenience, different story - it becomes a value equation, continually rebalancing the cost vs the product. All it takes is one free product to offer even 75% of what Addaero offers and the equation is way out of whack. If that product offers 90% of what Addaero offers, even more so, and on and on. This is of course how markets work, and there's no holding them back. If I can deliver the same product for less (or no!) money and still find a way to turn a profit, provided I have an opportunity to bring my product to market, I will take market share from my competitors.

The reason I began the review series solely looking at free offerings is because *all* of the features offered on the paid platforms are available through at least one of the free ones. There's not yet one that does everything, but the delta between that platform and the best paid one is not huge - it's de minimis. So much so that it's at most a release cycle or two away from cresting it. The hard work in the training market is aggregating and normalizing data from different sources (ie Garmin, Polar, etc) so it can be presented in a clear way. That's not rocket science. In fact, not only is it not rocket science, it's open source - tapiriik has been publishing these python scripts for quite some time on github, and developers have adapted them to nearly every language since. If the presentation layer is considered the hard work, I strongly disagree - look only to the myriad web development platforms such as Django, Ruby, AngularJs, etc (all free!) as well as specialty libraries for charting, mapping, etc - and it's VERY hard to make an argument that you can add any value there either. It *should* be a very difficult market to make any money in as a service provider...unless you're a coach, in which case in my view you deserve to retain as much of your paycheck as possible. </soapbox>
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Re: Activity tracker site review series [fisherman76] [ In reply to ]
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Thank you for the post, extremely insightful and very well written. At the moment I do not have the bandwidth to respond to each point but I would appreciate the opportunity to discuss offline - my email is jross@addaero.com - if you are interested please send me an email and we can setup a time to connect.


I agree with a number of your points and feel there is a solid foundation for your reasoning. Not sure I agree with the (Google, Instagram, Amazon, Facebook...), yes they give services away for free but each example has had an enormous amount of VC funding and monetizes users in other ways. Your statement (below) succinctly describes Addaero's path to the present time -


"In many internet start-ups, these projects begin as side projects, have no costs outside of hosting fees, and collect little or no revenue. Begin compensated for time invested in the process isn't necessarily part of the model. Many an entrepreneur has taken little or no money up front in exchange for vast amounts of sweat equity, with the hope of being compensated in the future."


When we started Addaero in 2005, our original product, Addaero Classic was a side project that solved a need for a single coach. All three partners were engaged in endurance sports, saw the need for a coached based training tool, and wanted to use the software, so we built Classic. Classic grew organically and had a loyal following. In 2012 we decided to commit financial and full-time resources, and create Addaero Solo, with one goal, Improve the fitness experience. Engaging individuals in physical activity is difficult. There is a lack of motivation, accountability, time and exercise education. These barriers keep people from taking the required steps to make positive behavioral and lifestyle changes. This remains our main priority.

We are a for profit company but most important we are extremely passionate about health and fitness. Success is not defined by revenue, but rather the people actively using Addaero and improving their health and fitness.


Cheers,
Joshua


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