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Wannabeskibum

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Anyone here who has been using a Carv for a season or two want to give us some thoughts on how well it works? I've been intrigued by the concept but not quite sold on it yet.
I have one season on mine. Looking forward to getting more use on them this season and will try them in the “drill mode”. Last year I skied in free skiing mode and just looked at the results at the end of the day. Got some insight from the data that seemed to correlate with some of the feedback I would get from my instructors that I skied with at Breck.
 

Steve

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My units just arrived today. I installed them and got them setup. They are thicker than the stated 1mm. I didn't measure them with a caliper but I'd guess they're 2-3mm thick. My boots are tighter. I just hope I can get the Lenz socks in the boots, because they're thicker than what I usually use.

Won't be skiing again until hopefully Friday.
 

James

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My units just arrived today. I installed them and got them setup. They are thicker than the stated 1mm. I didn't measure them with a caliper but I'd guess they're 2-3mm thick. My boots are tighter. I just hope I can get the Lenz socks in the boots, because they're thicker than what I usually use.

Won't be skiing again until hopefully Friday.
Are the insoles wired to the unit on the boot cuff?
 

Steve

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No they plug in to it.
You run a wire up the inside of the shell (on the outside side of shell) it comes with tape to hold the wire in.
That wire then hangs out and you clip the Carv unit to your power strap and plug it in. Pretty much the same as the boot warmer setup, except they have much better clips to hold them on.

After calibrating them, just holding a boot in my hand and moving it around and watching the iPhone display is very cool No pressure sensing, just movement, and it tracks the movement of the boot in 3D.
 

TheArchitect

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I have one season on mine. Looking forward to getting more use on them this season and will try them in the “drill mode”. Last year I skied in free skiing mode and just looked at the results at the end of the day. Got some insight from the data that seemed to correlate with some of the feedback I would get from my instructors that I skied with at Breck.

That correlation is the type of feedback I was hoping to hear. I'm sure that the Carv will provide all sorts of data but it wouldn't be valuable, IMO, if it wasn't able to be somewhat checked against an outside source.

My units just arrived today. I installed them and got them setup. They are thicker than the stated 1mm. I didn't measure them with a caliper but I'd guess they're 2-3mm thick. My boots are tighter. I just hope I can get the Lenz socks in the boots, because they're thicker than what I usually use.

Won't be skiing again until hopefully Friday.

Looking forward to hearing your feedback, @Steve
 

textrovert

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Just got email of shipping delay to the warehouse. My unit is "now expected to leave our fulfilment center in Dublin, Ireland, on Monday 14th December." with delivery in US being 2-3 days after that.
 

Steve

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Sorry
 

textrovert

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Update- I did have a CARV set I bought for my wife back in Feb just before the season abruptly "ended". She never got a chance to try it out.

Her first test with it was today at Diamond Peak. Slight initial hiccup - it required another pairing action on the mountain and did not connect even though it showed up in the bluetooth paired devices list. After that - it was a big hit for day one!

She just had it on "Free session" today and got feedback to her skiing on the chair rides up. She said the suggestions helped a lot, especially since it was hitting one area at a time (unlike any "tips" from me that would give her information overload :roflmao:). We also looked at the per run data at the end of the day and she especially liked how it showed she was consistently edging her inner ski less than her outer ski. This gives her something very specific to train on next time and have a baseline to reference against to measure improvement.

Unfortunately, now my daughter wants one too and her birthday is coming up. :geek:
I used the BLACKICE code for 20% of for my order earlier this month. I should have just bought for her too then and gotten the 30% off for the pair. :doh:
Will try to contact CARV and see if they can help me out here, given my order had not yet shipped out to me.
 
Last edited:

textrovert

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One quirk with the CARV units. They look identical, but when you pair to they phone/app the first time, they get assigned Left/Right depending on which foot insert they were attached to (since the foot inserts have left/right, of course).

If you disconnect the 2 modules that attach outside the boot from the cables coming from the foot inserts, you have to keep track which was connected to left and which to right. Otherwise, the app will complain that they were incorrectly attached our not even pair properly.

I put the R from the CARV sticker on one of them to identify as Right-
PXL_20201205_223235639.jpg


And of course, I put the sticker on the left one instead. :roflmao:
 

mikes781

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I quickly put a red mark with a sharpie on the right unit to identify it. I’ve been using them for two seasons now and have been happy with it. Wont replace an instructor but is helpful to get feedback between lessons.
 

Steve

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One quirk with the CARV units. They look identical, but when you pair to they phone/app the first time, they get assigned Left/Right depending on which foot insert they were attached to (since the foot inserts have left/right, of course).

If you disconnect the 2 modules that attach outside the boot from the cables coming from the foot inserts, you have to keep track which was connected to left and which to right. Otherwise, the app will complain that they were incorrectly attached our not even pair properly.

I put the R from the CARV sticker on one of them to identify as Right-
View attachment 116918

And of course, I put the sticker on the left one instead. :roflmao:

Brilliant! I just put the white R on my left unit too. (Not really, but thanks to your info I did it right before I ever had to recharge them.)
 

mikes781

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One other minor quirk/annoyance that I’ve had with them is the firmware updates. It’s great that the consistently looking to improve the software, but there have been several occasions when I’ve booted up and plugged them in to find out there was a required update which had trouble going through due to poor cell coverage or required calibration meaning boots needed to come back off. Not fun when your all geared up in the parking lot. Wish the app had a notification of a pending update without it being connected to the sensors. I always try to plug them in at home the night before just to check.
 

Quandary

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Obviously nothing wrong with trying to improve your skiing. I foresee the negative of a he potential of a tool like this as of use. Its in your boot, installed ready to go and rather than reveling in the joy of skiing you are tempted to have constant beeping in your ear telling what you're doing wrong. Personally the joy of freedom, speed, the mountain and yes the challenge is why I love skiing. I don't need to be constantly reminded that I made a bad turn, I know when I make a bad turn. I could see the value of putting the system into a second pair of boots and using once every week or two......
 

Mike King

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Obviously nothing wrong with trying to improve your skiing. I foresee the negative of a he potential of a tool like this as of use. Its in your boot, installed ready to go and rather than reveling in the joy of skiing you are tempted to have constant beeping in your ear telling what you're doing wrong. Personally the joy of freedom, speed, the mountain and yes the challenge is why I love skiing. I don't need to be constantly reminded that I made a bad turn, I know when I make a bad turn. I could see the value of putting the system into a second pair of boots and using once every week or two......
You can leave it in your boots and simply not load the software. Nothing then going off in your ear. It is also possible to ignore the yacking in your ear -- my wife says I do that all the time...
 

TheArchitect

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I don't own the product yet but I assume you can just turn it off at any given point. Use it for a few runs in the morning and then turn it off.
 

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