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Reelin' in the years
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Interesting to hear what people are liking and not liking about the carv. I won't get a chance to try mine until June but I have fairly high hopes for it, because I have some clear ideas about what needs improving in my skiing e.g. better outside ski weighting - and I struggle to know if I'm doing certain things or not without someone watching me or at least seeing a video of myself. I think the monitor modes could be useful for that.

Basically I plan to use it as a lesson supplement, something to help give me feedback when I'm practicing between lessons.

Planning to use them with the outdoor tech chips, my helmet has the earpad pockets for them so hopefully they work well

My daughter in on a local ski team and trains with coaches. I still got her a CARV recently as an way for her to get some quantifiable metrics. She does not use any headphones and the audio is turned off. CARV is just on in the background and collecting data. She can see the data on the phone while riding the chair back up and tell her coach about it or send him some screenshots at the end of the day. So far she just has a couple of days using them and her current best Ski-IQ is 137. I am curious to see if the occasional CARV feedback helps the coaches give her more informed guidance.
 

Noodler

Sir Turn-a-lot
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There isn’t anything in my helmet. Just the headphones themselves under my ear pads. The thin band that connects them is lower on my neck under my gaiter/buff. Maybe they fit everyone all a little differently though. For me they are great.

Hmmm, even if the neck band is below the helmet on your neck, there's a lot of plastic going around your ears that has to fit under the ear flaps. I guess I'll have to try it myself and see what it's like.
 

textrovert

Reelin' in the years
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Anyone know what "descent" is in the stats? I initially thought it was vertical, but it's way too high to be vertical. Then I noticed when you click into a single run, it gives max and min elevation and also descent, which is much larger that max - min elevation.

I sent an email to support about this. They replied that descent is supposed to be vertical. It shows 2x-3x of what a days skiing usually gives me as vertical in other apps like SkiTracks. Also, within a single run, where it reports max and min elevation, it is always much higher than max-min (which is what it should be). I send them some screen shots.

Is it descent matching max-min elevation for a run for others here?
 

Steve

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Mine was very close to SkiTracks and my watch. Maybe there's a setting? Maybe you're looking at meters instead of feet?
 

textrovert

Reelin' in the years
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Mine was very close to SkiTracks and my watch. Maybe there's a setting? Maybe you're looking at meters instead of feet?

Example-1
Screenshot_20201229-111030~2.png


Example-2
Screenshot_20201229-111016~2.png


It's like this for every single one of my runs. Max and min elevation look fine.

I'm using an Android phone (Pixel 2XL)
 

Steve

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I was on an iPhone. Maybe change it to meters and change it back again?
 

Steve

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Of course the conversion works in the opposite direction, so that last one would be 437 meters instead of 1435 feet. Oops.
 

textrovert

Reelin' in the years
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Of course the conversion works in the opposite direction, so that last one would be 437 meters instead of 1435 feet. Oops.
Right. With meters, it should go down not up.

I just checked on my wife's descent data. She has the same phone as me. For her descent is pretty close to max-min. Haha.
 

TheWombat

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I've received Carv from Santa and have used it without any issues during the last 3 days. I am getting the hang of the app/audio prompts and seeing some improvements in my scores. However this morning I updated the iPhone app from 4.0.0 to 4.0.1 and neither my iPhone or my wife's will now connect to the Carv server or properly record a Ski-IQ free ski session. Has anyone else experienced this? I've removed and reinstalled the application. Unfortunately I don't have a proper backup to go back to version 4.0.0

Apologies if hijacking the thread for my first post, feeling a little frustrated today with my Carv issues.

TheWombat
 

Steve

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I just updated and can’t sync either.
 

TheWombat

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Is this a new new update or the one that came out before christmas? Is this an Apple issue or Android too?

version 4.0.1 which I believe came out today. iPhone iOS 14.4 on a iPhone 12 Pro Max and a iPhone 12 Mini. The change history mentioned it had a few bug fixes. The version that came out just before Christmas was 4.0.0 which worked fine for me. I have raised a bug report to Carv (swipe left with two fingers in the app).

4.01 Dec 29, 2020
Minor bug fixes, fixing insert mapping for some Size E units
 

TheWombat

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Just as an update on the 4.0.1 App connecting to server issue. Carv have temporarily removed the Carv app from the (US) Apple Appstore - presumably to prevent anyone else updating to the 4.0.1 version. According to their Twitter feed they will have the issue resolved within 24 hrs.
 

mikes781

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Yep 4.01 didn’t work for me today. Sounds like they are working on it though.
 

TheArchitect

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I feel better now. I've been trying to sync for almost an hour and nothing.

I used it for the first time today and have a few questions about how the app works. The issues I had may be related to the app update.

1. Using Free Ski mode I would start a session and the red circle would replace the blue + sign at the bottom of the screen. After a couple runs I opened up the app and the red circle was gone and it was back to being the blue + sign. Is this normal behavior? I thought you could start a Free Ski session at the beginning of the day and it would record all runs until you hit stop.
2. I tried using the monitor mode for Parallel Index and Fore:aft Ratio. The coach would give me my numbers for each turn but only for about a minute of the run and then the voice went silent. This happened for 3 different monitor sessions and all three the voice cut out at about the same time. Is this normal or should the voice continue the whole run?
3. Each time I opened the app (it was always running in the background) it said the trackers weren't connected for about 3-4 seconds and then they connected. Is that normal behavior?

@Alex @ Carv , perhaps you have some feedback too?
 

SwedishFish

~~~ <°)))>< ~~~~
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I feel better now. I've been trying to sync for almost an hour and nothing.

I used it for the first time today and have a few questions about how the app works. The issues I had may be related to the app update.

1. Using Free Ski mode I would start a session and the red circle would replace the blue + sign at the bottom of the screen. After a couple runs I opened up the app and the red circle was gone and it was back to being the blue + sign. Is this normal behavior? I thought you could start a Free Ski session at the beginning of the day and it would record all runs until you hit stop.
2. I tried using the monitor mode for Parallel Index and Fore:aft Ratio. The coach would give me my numbers for each turn but only for about a minute of the run and then the voice went silent. This happened for 3 different monitor sessions and all three the voice cut out at about the same time. Is this normal or should the voice continue the whole run?
3. Each time I opened the app (it was always running in the background) it said the trackers weren't connected for about 3-4 seconds and then they connected. Is that normal behavior?

@Alex @ Carv , perhaps you have some feedback too?
I’m pretty sure those are all related to the issues with 4.0.1. I went today and had all those same problems. My app auto updated last night from 4.0.0.

I’m really bummed. I knew from the earlier posts that 4.0.1 had issue, so I turned off auto updates on my phone last night (at least I thought I had). Got to the resort this morning and when nothing was working right saw it had auto updated. Frustrating.
 

mikes781

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@TheArchitect that is what I was experiencing today and isn’t normal. Free Ski mode normally runs until you stop it and will give you audio feedback after each run. Monitor mode also didn’t work for me today. Your trackers shouldn’t need to reconnect regularly, I’ve found that they might drop and reconnect on occasion but this is rare. Sounds like a nice bug came with the latest update. I’m sure they will get it sorted out ASAP.
 

TheArchitect

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Thanks @SwedishFish and @mikes781 I'm really happy to hear that this is not normal and that it wasn't just my set.

Do you guys feel like you are losing the joy of skiing while you are spending so much time and energy messing with this misfiring technology?

It's hard for me to say because this was my first day and I don't know what normal use is like yet. I can tell you if what I experienced today WAS normal then it'd be going right back. I spent more time focusing on whether there was something wrong with the app than I would ever allow on a regular basis. That said, when the monitor mode was working I really appreciated the feedback for both Parallel and fore/aft. The real-time audio feedback as I tried moving fore/aft was very helpful and now I have a better idea where I need to be over my skis. I wasn't off too much in my regular "pre-Carv" stance but the feedback numbers suggest I need to move a bit more forward to be consistently in the 45-60 range they indicate is great fore/aft balance. I was getting in the mid-to-high 40's before the audio shut down. The app says that if you get below 45 you should try putting more weight forward.

For the Parallel Index the scale is 1-100 and I was getting in the upper 60's and a couple low 70's. Clearly I need to work on that but before today I had no idea. I have very little video of me skiing.

So, I think that the answer is no I don't think I'll lose the joy of skiing with this. I've spent so much time trying to rebuild my skiing with proper techniques prior to getting Carv and had no idea whether I was working on the right things. With Carv I'm getting useful feedback so it's worth it.....as long as they fix the bugs the update introduced!

One last thought. I don't think this is a substitute for a real instructor. It's just another tool to use so I can try and improve.
 

SwedishFish

~~~ <°)))>< ~~~~
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Do you guys feel like you are losing the joy of skiing while you are spending so much time and energy messing with this misfiring technology?
I have used it four times now.

First trip I was by myself and lapped the same run 8 times going through the carving training. I passed 15 of the 20 levels before I stopped. I REALLY enjoyed it. I always tell myself I’m going to spend more time skiing with purpose and working on specific skills but rarely do. It was nice having something to motivate me to do this.

Second trip I was by myself and I skied more of the mountain in “free ski” mode. It was interesting to hear the Ski:IQ it gave me for each run (definitely varied by the terrain I was on) and the tips it gave riding the chair after each run.

Third trip was with one of my sons. I put it in “free ski” and just went wherever he wanted. The last two runs I put it in “balance training”. I passed a bunch of levels pretty quickly just skiing where he wanted to go. Again, I really enjoyed this. There is something about hearing the “chime” on each good turn that is oddly satisfying. You also get another sound for turns that don’t meet the requirements and then sometimes get told why (“you need a higher edge angle” or “you’re in the backseat”). I’ve found the feedback helpful so far. It’s a little annoying to get told you need higher edge angles while on a cat track, but that’s only because I had it in training mode. On the flip side I’m also putting more effort into my turns on cat tracks than I ever have before. :)

Today I was with my daughter. I knew we’d be skiing easy runs all morning. As I said earlier, my biggest opportunity for improvement is with what they call “foot roll”. I decided this would be a good day to ski all morning unbuckled to see if helped me focus on my feet more. I was then going to do one run by myself back on the run I lapped over and over on day one and see if my foot roll score improved. It was frustrating that the technical difficulties with their app didn’t let me measure what was happening, but I still stuck with the plan of skiing unbuckled for all but the last run.

For what it is worth I _feel_ like skiing unbuckled helped. Starting out, things felt “slippery” for lack of a better word. By the end the slippery feeling was gone. I then did the one run by myself buckled back up. It felt really good, I just wish I could have seen if what I thought I was feeling was backed up by what the Carv sensors were saying.

To answer the original question I don’t think it has impacted my enjoyment of skiing negatively, but time will tell. Granted it’s only been 4 days, but so far I really like it. Crap happens and I’m willing to give them a pass for today’s glitch, assuming this doesn’t end up being the norm.
 
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