Saturday 22 October 2016

Long Term Review: O-Synce Footpod

Disclosures: nothing to disclose. No freebies, no hidden payment, no fancy marketing tricks.
Price paid: 10 Pounds Sterling (about 13 US Dollars, about 12 euros) + 3 pounds 50 shipping
Model: O-Synce "maxrun" Footpod (Ant+)
Bought online from Planet X, on sale as a clearance item, about 6 months ago (I think!)
Normal retail price on footpods is 30 to 60 pounds (40 to 80 dollars,  35 to 70 euros), so, although I bought the footpod as a "regular" customer, I haven't seen this sort of offer anywhere since.

Footpod on my running shoes.
If you are not used to them, beware that these are size 11 (US size 12) Men's running shoes
so the footpod would look a bit bigger if you have small feet!


Side view of the sensor.
It comes in two parts, and clips to the laces.

24g on the scales.
You can see the two parts here.
The cover for the battery (the usual 2032 "button" cell) is where the "FC CE" marks are.
(the bottom of the sensor is shown in the photo!)

The "clip" part tucks in under your laces, and the "sensor" clips to the top of it, held at both ends by the four "prongs".
Slide the sensor into the "wide" prongs, near the toe of the shoe, then "clip" the sensor into the "prongs" shown on the left of the picture.
I got it out of the box, and it didn't work.
I tried shaking it, opening it to check the battery didn't have some sort of shipping cover on it, or whatever.
Then I had an idea.
Since I have a selection of batteries at home, perhaps I should try a new battery.

Bingo!

Give it a shake, and a red light on the top of the sensor flashes three times.
(According to the leaflet that came with it, 6 flashes is the warning for "low battery").

The instructions say you have to attach it in-line with your shoes. That is so that the onboard accelerometer will detect your steps. I suppose you could fit it with the "wide" end nearer to the toe of the shoe, and the "narrow" end at the top. But for me, it works as shown in the picture, so I just leave it like that.

Having got it going, I had to delve into the menus of my Garmin 310XT to find how to detect the footpod.
Note: if you are thinking that a footpod would be handy for cycling, it is only detected while in "Running" mode!

Bingo!


My Garmin 310XT picked it up first time.

When putting my shoes on, sometimes just the act of putting them on is enough to trigger the sensor, and my Garmin 310XT bleeps and displays the message that a footpod has been detected.
Sometimes I have to "bounce" my feet a bit. Either way, it would start up when you start jogging, or a few yards in, at any rate.

Data displayed by Strava.
Pace is blue, heart rate is red, cadence is purple.
HR data is from my Garmin HR Belt, cadence data is from my O-Synce foot pod.
Not sure if pace is from the footpod, or from the GPS.
Data captured by my Garmin 310XT,
but most running and triathlon watches that are Ant+ would do the same.
Note: Polar like Bluetooth! So my footpod wouldn't work with a Polar watch!

Update 22nd October 2016:
The footpod is an Ant+ footpod, and doesn't transmit on Bluetooth or anything else.
It works with Garmin watches and with some other brands, but is unlikely to work with Polar watches (they like Bluetooth and/or proprietary formats).
If you want to know what Ant+ devices are officially approved to be compatible, then have a look at the official Ant+ Directory. The directory show that the O-Synce maxrun footpod is compatible with both my 310XT watch and my wife's Vivoactive HR fitness band, as well as 70 other devices,


More, to follow, in due course.

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