Determining productivity software needs for your company

With such a large variety of solutions to choose from, it can be extremely overwhelming for a business owner or IT manager to determine which solution would be best for their company. So, I have some steps to help determine your needs, as well as some package options.

1. What does your company do?

This may sound like a very simple question. Good, it is supposed to be. The first step is to see what business functions your company performs, and then determine what software is needed to run all aspects. For example, let's say your company manufactures plastic widgets that go into a variety of devices. Also, your company has a R&D department and has it's own sales force.

For your day-to-day activities, you need to write up memos, reports, advertising material, store documentation, create and store CAD drawings, schedule meetings, track manufacturing metrics, manage your sales territories, manage customer service, track sales metrics, manage the company finances, and perform a variety of HR functions as well. So, just find an all-inclusive suite that will handle everything, right? Well, for some companies and budgets, that may be an option, but for most, this is not cost-feasible. So, what is next?

2. What is the size of your company and how many people will need to use the computing resources?

With our enormous list of software options from above, it appears that your company's needs seem astronomic and unrealistic. Don't worry, it gets worse. So, let's say your company has a total of 200 employees. This includes office staff, manufacturing, and sales force. Do you buy an individual copy for everyone? Can you just buy a few licenses for different software and limit how many people can use the software at a time? Do you just buy a bulk of licenses? Do you develop your own software? Do you try to use open source? Or do you try and operate in the cloud?

3. Choosing what you REALLY need.

I want to say there is no simple answer here. There are cost-benefit trade-offs all over the place. For example, you can go Open Source, but you still need the IT infrastructure to support it, plus the common risk of Open Source is that there is always the change there may not be enough support, support all of the sudden stops, or bug fixes or enhancements stop coming out. In this case, your software is free, but your hardware and personnel costs will be higher.

You could doing the Microsoft Shop method, and spend a ton of money to get all Microsoft products. You still have high hardware costs, but you get discounts if your employees have Microsoft certifications, plus you get the convenience of all of the software working with each other for a seamless experience, making overall maintenance fairly low, assuming you set things up correctly in the beginning.

Another option is to hit up the cloud. You can do this with Microsoft, Google, IBM, and others. You can get online tools like SalesForce.com, Google Docs, Microsoft 365, and the list goes on. In regards to hardware, all you need is a fast, reliable, and secure Internet access, and any device that can run the websites. So, your hardware costs are almost nothing, you get anywhere access, and it's easy to setup new users. However, licensing can very expensive, and if you need steady up-time in regards to your Internet connection, then you may be spending a small fortune on redundant Internet hook-ups.

In the end, you need to understand what the company can handle. Just because a cloud solution would be best, doesn't mean it's practical. There is still a lot of fear over privacy, security, and data integrity when it comes to Cloud computing, and rightfully so. It may not be possible to convince executive management to embrace this. Therefore, you may have to go with something that is either a hybrid or a full non-cloud solution.

As a rule of thumb, most companies go with hybrid models. A good example of this is having laptops and/or desktop computers powerful enough at the office to run Windows 7, Office 2010 or later, SharePoint 2010 or later, IE 10, etc. Then you have your primary data storage and servers on-site, with a direct connection to a secure off-site location for nightly backups of data for disaster recovery. You then use some of the new SharePoint features that allow mobile users to have cloud access and collaboration to the company's Intranet. There are still tons of options out there, and if you ever have any questions on a direction to go, ask me, or demo lots and lots of software. Sometimes, demoing is the best way.

Tracking Your Life...11 "Apps" to Help You Out

I am always trying to find more efficient ways to do things; and trying to keep my life organized and on-track is always challenging, given my schedule. So, I thought I would share some awesome "apps" that allow me to track everything. I quote "apps" because almost all of them have a web-based and mobile application access, which makes life even better; because once in a while you just don't want to be on a small phone or tablet screen.

1. Evernote
• Quite simply, this is a notebook to store anything you can think of; scrap book, create To-Do Lists, projects for work or personal, etc.
• Alternative to Microsoft OneNote
• Available on virtually every platform
• You can pay extra to be able to have offline usage and some other great features
2. Mint.com
• When it comes to personal finance, Mint does everything stand-alone software does, but it's a website or mobile application instead of something you are forced to install on a computer
• Syncs with almost every financial institution for tracking loans, income, expenses, bill reminders, budget planning, and tons more
• Did I mention you pay NOTHING for it? Yep, awesome!
3. Wegmans
• Chances are you don't even know Wegmans. They are a grocery chain and their app ties seemlessly with their website.
• Grocery list building from all products available from store you set as your local store
• Tells you location in the store of the items on your list
• Can add recipes ingredients from their awesome recipe section to your shopping list
• Can view history of purchases to track spending, what you buy, or to compile new shopping lists quicker
• NOTE: If you shop at a grocery chain, see if they have an app that is similar
4. My Fitness Pal
• Whether you are trying to lose weight or just trying to stay healthy, it's important to know what you eat and recommended by most nutritionists, doctors, and specialists. MFP, as it's commonly called, can track all of that
• It has one of the largest food and drink databases I have come across, and although not all data is always 100% accurate, people can update the incorrect items with the correct information if they want
• You can also track any fitness you do
• Many external fitness sites and tools can automatically sync with MFP, allowing even easier tracking of fitness and activities
5. CardStar
• Did you forget your 10lb keychain at home with all of the different membership and store cards? Don't worry, you can use CardStar to input all of those pesky cards...ranging from an LA Fitness membership card to a GNC rewards card
• CardStar has a huge database of existing services, so usually you just find the name of the company, group, etc. and then input or scan your card
• If the rewards program isn't in CardStar's database, no worries, you can manually input it
• Also, a few updates ago they beefed up security, which is a really nice piece-of-mind
6. Waze
• No website, since this is a GPS app
• However, this is hands-down the best GPS app I have ever used; and although Google has bought Waze, Google's map app for iPhone still isn't that great
• It updates with alerts as people report them, so if Waze sees that there are a lot of slowdowns or an accident that pops up in your route, it doesn't need to wait for it to be reported to the local highway administration, it gets updated immediately by other users, then can automatically re-route you
• This really is a must-have for driving almost anywhere
• NOTE: Google's map program is still the best for walking around a city and finding things
7. Google Drive
• With some recent updates, you not only gain access to all of your Google Drive files, but you can now edit and create as well
• If you keep all of your document on Drive, then this app is a must!
• NOTE: SkyDrive people, unless you have a Windows Phone, forget the editing unless you get another app such as Office2 or CloudOn
8. OpenTable
• OpenTable is basically a restaurant finder and reservation scheduler tool
• Okay, not every place to eat will show up in here...just the ones who sign up with OpenTable
• However, it's great to find somewhere to eat when you are out, and you get rewards and can make an instant reservation...Perfect!
9. Wall Street Journal (WSJ)
• All the news
• Yes, for all of the goodies and articles, you need to pay, but comparing the quality of writing and journalism to other free news sources, you typically don't need to worry about a poorly written and/or researched article in here
• And I personally have no patience or time to weed out the junk articles...no offense to apps or services similar to Google News
10. Chrome
• Sorry Safari, Opera, and million other browser options
• I love the Chrome browser...syncing across all devices I have is awesome...not only that, but Chrome has a great feel to it
• NOTE: With iOS 7 coming out soon, I may end up changing this back to Safari, but we shall see
11. EasilyDo
• No website, but apps on iOS and Android
• If you are busy, and tend to forget things, even when you enter them in your calendar, then you NEED this app
• It basically acts as your personal assistant, and it will automatically send birthday wishes and presents to people via Facebook, or will track a shipment for an order you just, and much more
• Various functions include:
• Location-based items such as Direction to Home and Work, Local Weather and Alerts
• Facebook birthdays, RSVPs, Important Posts, Popular Posts, Daily Top Photos, Tagged Photos of you, Friends' Profile Pictures
• Email (ties into your email service) - boarding passes, hotels, restaurants, events, invitations, job changes, contact information, package tracking, bill pay reminders, receipts, expired deals cleanup, old calendar emails cleanup
• Calendar (ties into your calendar) - Next Calendar Event reminder
• Contacts (ties to your contacts) - Duplicate Contacts Cleanup
• Extras - Free App of the Week, Free iTunes Single of the Week (for iPhone)
• And they are always adding more features!!!
• NOTE: If you are a privacy nut, you don't want this app, it invades everything...HOWEVER, the privacy policy states they will not use any of the information other than for the functions of the app...this still means they can get your non-personal stuff and use it, as most apps do anyway

Nike Training Club - NTC

I wanted to review a bunch of the Nike apps, as I really like the simplicity, yet effectiveness and usefulness of them. The first app on the chopping block is NTC, Nike Training Club. As a quick note, I am reviewing from an iDevice perspective, as I do not have Android or other mobile OS. With that said, let's dive in.

Walkthrough

First off, you'll need a Nike Plus account. You can either sign up with your own e-mail or use your Facebook account. I am not a fan of how much companies get when I use a Facebook login, so I use it as little as possible, but that is just me. You have less logins to worry about if you use your Facebook account though; that is pretty nice. Anyway, you can learn about the Nike account on your own.

The intro screen is nice and simple. The Swoosh is for the home screen, with My Workouts you can view your recent and saved workouts, Progress shows your training totals in minutes as well as the general info from your workout, and Rewards are the typical Nike fashion of encouragement, which is pretty effective. I do want to note that if you want heart rate and calorie burn information, you will want to get a heart rate monitor, such as the Polar FT40 or similar. The Quick Start option will let you go immediately to the last workout you did, if that is the one you want to perform. Get Workout allows you to browse a very healthy list of workout routines, including:

• Get Lean
• High Interval Cardio Drills to Slim Down
• Get Toned
• Light Weights and Intervals to Add Definition
• Get Strong
• Increased Weights and Reps to Build Strength
• Get Focused
• 15-minute Workouts to Target Specific Areas

After you select what you want, you select an intensity level:

• Beginner
• You Average 4-5 Workouts a Month
• This is really for someone who is not used to doing strength training or is wanting to get back into strength training
• Intermediate
• You Average 2-3 Workouts a Week
• If you have been doing strength training, then you still may want to ease into things with Beginner, or you can take the plunge
• Advanced
• You Average 3-5+ Workouts a Week
• You really want to have most of your current workouts focused on strength training and have a good base
• Typically you will work up to this; it's definitely challenging

Now you will get to see all of the workouts available in the level you selected. The list in the example above is from Get Strong - Beginner. Don't worry if you have no idea what Workout Routine to choose, select one and you can view the workouts and even click on each workout to see a video of that workout.

If you want to listen to music during your workout, go for it! It will be lowered when the voice is instructing you to do your next workout, if you need to switch sides, or just shouting out some encouragement. Then, select Do Workout and go!

During the workout you can Pause whenever you need. Also, if you get to a workout you either don't know or can't remember what to do, you select the Play button and can view the workout. This in essence pauses your workout, so after the video, you will be required to resume. 

The workouts have some simple warm-up and cool-down built in, but if you are a person who is typically very stiff before workouts or suffers from post-workout soreness, I highly recommend additional warming up and/or cooling down.

The Bottom Line

Regardless of any misgivings people have with Nike, this application and its workouts are completely free. It's one of the best free workout routine programs I have tried out. Sure, there are better paid ones out there, but free is free. And you will get a workout from these routines. Now, if you are a BeachBody or hardcore CrossFit convert, then even some of the Advanced workouts may not feel as challenging as you would want...but chances are if you are one of those people, you aren't interested in this app in the first place. Enjoy the burn!

Polar FT40 Review

I have had my Polar FT40 for about 3 years now. I purchased it for 2 reasons; 1) It was one of the few watches out at the time that had great reviews on overall accuracy of calorie expenditure during a workout and 2) It was Polar, so I knew the heart rate tracking was going to be very accurate and I could train in zones. Now, the FT40 does not have specific zone training settings, so this was a manual effort; I really only cared if my heart rate went too high. I also wanted a watch that was designed to be able to track fat vs. cardio; basically meaning that I wanted to figure out approximate calorie burn when I was doing weight lifting or HIIT workouts, in addition to my cardio workouts.

Watch Functions and Setup

When I bought the watch, it came with the manual, software installation CD, heart rate strap, heart rate monitor, USB sync dock, and the watch. I had to setup the watch first, since part of the software installation process was to sync the watch to the software. Watch setup was very easy; you put in your gender, height, weight, date of birth, and activity level, and set the time and date.

For more options from the main screen, press the bottom right button. The first option is settings. Now press the right middle button. Here are the Training Settings:

1. Training Sounds
• Off, Soft, Loud, Very Loud
• Pick whichever you want. When I used to listen to music, I turned the sound off, but since I don't usually listen to music now, I usually set the noise to Loud, which is usually a good volume to hear over gym noise or a treadmill motor.
2. Heart Rate View
• Beats Per Minutes or Percent of Maximum
• I do BPM because I don't train based on % of max, but if you do, you can
3. HeartTouch
• The Polar explanation says it better than I can: "When HeartTouch is on, different training information during training can be accessed without pressing buttons, for instance, when gloves make pressing buttons difficult, by bringing your training computer close to your transmitter."
• I personally use it so I can keep session duration displayed on the watch, and then when I want to see what time it is, instead of scrolling through the displays, which is a pain, I just move the watch near the heart rate monitor, and the time will be displayed.
• Per the manual and my usage, HeartTouch only displays the time, and no other display values...HeartTouch is either On or Off.
4. Heart Rate Upper Limit
• This value is set based on your personal info when you first setup the watch. However, if you are in amazing cardio shape, your max HR may be a lot higher. Therefore, you can change this if you know your max HR is different.

Other options on the main selection menu after Settings are Fitness Test and Data. You can read below about Fitness Test. For Data, you get some nice options:

1. Training Files
• Starts with most recent workout
• Displayed date, time of workout, duration of workout
• Press the right middle button to see details
• Calories
• This is your calories burned during the workout
• Cal. Fat
• This is the fat percentage of calories burned
• Average
• Average Heart Rate during session
• Maximum
• Maximum Heart Rate during session
• Fat Burn
• Amount of time you were in the fat burning zone
• This time is usually higher during low intensity workouts, such as strength training
• Fitness
• Amount of time you were in the fitness zone (or cardiovascular zone)
• Typically for runs, biking, or other purely cardio workouts, most of your session time will appear here.
2. Week Summaries
• Shows current week first
• Graph shows activity level of selected week vs. other weeks
• Pressing the middle right button, you can see the details for that week
• Duration (overall for all sessions)
• Calories (total from all sessions)
• Sessions (total sessions for week)
3. Totals since (when you first started using the watch)
• This is a really awesome feature, as you can see how awesome you are
• The one problem is that the max Duration time is 99 hour, 59 minutes, so although it will keep adding sessions and calories, your Duration will stop at 99h:59m
• Displays Duration, Sessions, and Calories
4. Delete Files
• Deletes your currently stored files...if your storage is full and you need to do a workout, you may need to do this
5. Reset Week Summaries
• Same as Delete files
6. Reset Totals
• Same as Delete files
• This is good to use if you are trying to achieve certain goals. This way you can see how many sessions, total duration, and total calories burned to achieve your goal. Then you can reset for you next goal.

Recommendations for Initial Use

After you have setup your watch, signed up on Polar Fitness website and are ready for a workout, I recommend doing 2 things. It's important to know 2 things; what is your resting heart rate and what heart rate range should you be working out in. Heart rate ranges for age and gender are good guides, but people who fall on either extreme end of the spectrum may either hurt themselves or not get enough out of a workout. For example, someone who is extremely out of shape, overweight, and has no real fitness stamina, then their heart rate range is going to be significantly less than another person who is in the middle of the spectrum in the same age group and gender. So, make sure to do the fitness test.

To do the fitness test, press the bottom right button 2 times, then press the right middle button. Make sure you heart rate monitor is on. You also want to do the following:

• Find a relaxed environment to do the test
• Avoid any physical activity prior to test, or any food, drink, or medicine that could alter your heart rate...do this for up to 1 day before test
• Avoid any large meals at least 2 hours before test (I tried test this way and right after a large meal and got the same results)
• Make sure if you are doing the test multiple times over time, always do it in the same conditions

Then, you can start the test, wait 5 minutes for it to finish, and see your results. You will then be asked to update your VO2Max, at which point you should, since it will make calorie burn more accurate.

My result for example, the first time I took the test mine was 42. Per the chart in the manual, that means my VO2Max was on the low end of being moderately good. The last time I took it I was at 53, which is very good. So, you can see I have improved. In essence, the fitness test is Polar's version of trying to determine your VO2Max. Compared to getting your actual VO2Max tested, it's not the greatest, but compared to most other calculators and competitor watches, it's one of the most accurate.

Training

When you want to start your workout, press the middle right button and wait for the watch to pickup the heart rate monitor signal. If you want to start, just press the middle right button again and go! If you need to pause, press the bottom left button, and the press the middle right button to resume. if you are done, press the bottom left button twice.

If you want to customize your workout, before pressing the middle right button a second time, press the bottom right button to see Training Settings, and then press the middle right button to see options.

• Training Sounds
• If you want beeps or not, and how loud
• Heart Rate View
• BPM or % of Max...whatever you want to display based on your training session
• Heart Touch
• I usually keep it on all of the time so I can see the current time if I need to
• Heart Rate Upper Limit
• If you are trying to keep from going above a certain heart rate, set the upper limit and make sure you have Training Sounds enabled so you know if you go over

Sadly, there are no other special training settings. However, there are plenty of other models you can get for this. But for a watch to get you accurate calorie burn from workouts, this is definitely the watch for you.

Can your company survive without Windows 8

For most companies, the answer is yes. Windows 8 doesn't have any ground-breaking features that alter business as we know it. With that said, there are a lot of operational efficiencies a company can gain from Windows 8. Therefore, your IT and business management need to run through some questions to decide if Windows 8 can help move your business forward.

 

Are we a "Microsoft Shop"?

 

I am not really sure when I first heard this term, but for anyone not familiar with it, it basically means your company invests heavily in Microsoft infrastructure. For example, your company may actually strive to be a Microsoft Business Partner because your company develops software or sells computers, and everything you do is around Microsoft products. Or, maybe your company is just "Microsoft-Centered" as I call it. This might be a typical example of the software your company has:

• Windows XP or 7 (for employee computers)

• Windows Server
• Exchange Server

• Microsoft Office
  • Word
  • Excel
  • PowerPoint
  • Outlook
  • Visio

• SQL Server

• Visual Studio
• Internet Explorer

 

If you fall into any of the descriptions above, and your company usually tries to keep up with the latest technology offerings, the simple answer on whether or not to go to Windows 8 is yes. The reasoning is that your cost to upgrade will generally be lower because of licensing agreements and other discounts. I will throw out the disclaimer that you will need to do a full software and hardware system review to make sure upgrading to Windows 8 will not negatively impact any other software or hardware currently in your company, unless you plan on upgrading that as well.

 

Are we mobile?

 

A really simple question that can make your life easy is if your company is mobile. Mobile can mean that your employees use laptops or tablets instead of desktops, most of your employees work from remote locations, and/or a large percentage of your employees are on the road and/or in field offices. If the answer is yes, Windows 8 has a lot of great tools to aid in keeping your technology footprint light while still having tons of security and flexibility. BitLocker and Trusted Boot are two applications that come with Windows 8, and they are pretty solid. There are also a lot of other tools that help with mobile broadband, remote desktop, file sharing, and more.

 

If the answer is no, this does not mean you should not consider Windows 8. However, depending on your current IT infrastructure, both hardware and software, you may not see the ROI you want or any ROI at all by getting Windows 8. 

 

What is the average technology learning curve of each employee?

 

This question can tend to be a huge unknown if a company does not have a tech support department or tech support department doesn't have a useful reporting system to capture metrics. If you know the learning curve is large, stay away from Windows 8, as you will never see the return you will be hoping for, despite the amazing benefits you can get from Windows 8. If you have no idea, then a good benchmark would be something like "How painful was it upgrading Internet Explorer from version 6 or 7 to version 8?" Or "How hard was it for users when the company upgraded to Microsoft Office 2007?" If it went pretty well, then you can assume that the learning curve will not be too bad overall.

 

Do we have the hardware in place to leverage all Windows 8 has to offer?

 

This is a complicated question. The benefits from Windows 8 unfortunately come with the synergies of the other Microsoft software; Office or Office 365, SharePoint, Exchange, etc. Although, from a system resource perspective, Windows 8 is more lightweight than Windows 7, if you are upgrading from Windows XP to Windows 8, your computers, servers, and even your network may not be able to support the system requirements. Also, you have to worry about older software being compatible with Windows 8, or more importantly, loss of functionality of older software in Windows 8. I already said this, but can't emphasize it enough; a full impact analysis must be done before upgrading to Windows 8. As a matter of fact, you should ALWAYS be doing an impact analysis, even on software patches. SQL Server is notorious for its patches messing things up.

 

Conclusion

 

Sure, there are many other questions, but I wanted to provide some key ones to ask. Windows 8 is not like any other prior Windows OS release, and needs to be treated as such. It has amazing capabilities and is a great step forward for personal and business computing. However, most people and businesses are not ready for that leap, as there is always fear and resistance to drastic change of any kind.

 

I am a technology advocate and believe that a company should stay as current with technology as their business operations demand. So, do you need to upgrade to Windows 8? Maybe not, but it may be worth it.

TomTom MultiSport Watch - Part 1

As some background, I was following this watch from the moment it was first announced. One of the main reasons is that I had tried the Garmin 310 and 910xt, and they were perhaps the most uncomfortable and bulky watches I have ever tried doing an activity with. I really liked the Polar RCX5, but it had too many external accessories (mainly the GPS had to be worn on an arm strap) and the price is even worse than the Garmin 910xt. So, I was excited there was a possibility of a multi-sport watch that would get all 3 sports, have integrated GPS, not be bulky, and not too be ridiculously expensive. I bought my TomTom Multi-sport watch a little over a week after it was released.

There are probably many more in-depth reviews on this watch, but I am going to cover in this first post the unboxing, setup (on a Mac), and my initial workouts with the watch.

Unboxing

I purchased the TomTom Multi-Sport + HRM + Cadence/Speed/Altimeter. It arrived stylishly boxed and compact; following in Apple and Ikea's footsteps for packaging.

In the box were manuals (multi-language) which are not very helpful past the most basic setup and use; although, setup was fairly straight-forward and easy, so that's not really a big deal. Also in the box was a heart rate strap, TomTom heart rate monitor, handlebar watch mount, cadence sensor with cords to attach to bike, the watch, watch band, and USB sync/charger.

Setup with a Mac

I recently went to the dark side and left the PC world and got a MacBook Pro. Not going to get into likes and dislikes vs. Windows-PC vs. Linux (Linux is the best IMO). Anyway, I went to the website in the instruction manual to download the software. The website automatically detected I was on a Mac and the download button was for the Mac version of the software. I downloaded and installed the software quickly. I did have to signup for a TomTom MySports Connect account. This sign-up process was quick as well.

With everything setup, I synced my watch to the computer. It detected the watch and synced immediately. I want to disclose something VERY important, as this information is NOT noted anywhere except the forums.

IMPORTANT NOTE BEFORE USING YOUR WATCH
If you want detailed stats, you need to enable ALL export options. Granted, if you don't plan on using MapMyRun or RunKeeper, you can ignore those. But for all file exports, enable them ALL. The watch will NOT create the files for older workouts, so you if you did a few workouts before enabling the exports, you can't get the extra detail (this happened to me). Fortunately it was only 3 workouts, so not a big deal...I at least got my overall stats. For Windows computers, the work-around for this is to double-click on the <> and then re-sync your watch. Sadly, this will not work on Mac. Again, for me, not really a big deal at all. Just a surprise...and from the forums, this angered a lot of people. You can follow my steps below for Mac...I assume it isn't much different for Windows.

My First Run

Upon putting on the heart rate monitor, the watch detected it immediately with no issues. I want to note that I do not like the new HR straps, as they chafe badly. You can solve this with BodyGlide or something similar. I like my Polar HR straps a lot more, plus they are machine washable. Either way, most HR straps fit the TomTom HR monitor. I did not try using my other bluetooth HR monitor and will have to report on that another time.

I went outside and noticed that the watch already had GPS signal, which is nice, because GPS on my phone is bad until I get a little away from my house. I had an interval run planned, so I went to Run\Settings\Training\Laps\Manual. To track each lap I just tap on the right side of the watch face; easiest thing ever. The only issue I have with this is that the backlight is operated the same way, so I can only see the running info when I select a new lap. I am hoping TomTom will fix this in a later firmware release. Otherwise, for my other runs I have done at night, I tap that spot and the backlight comes on and is extremely easy to read in the dark.

The running training options, if you want to use them at all, are:

• Goals
• Distance
• Time
• Calories
• Laps
• Time
• Distance
• Manual
• Zones
• Pace
• Heart
• Race
• 3 miles
• 5k
• 6 miles
• 10k
• 13.1 miles

I am hoping they allow for custom or more distance options for races in the future. But it will suit me fine for now. For the other options, like Distance, you can go up to 99.9 miles. 

Battery Life

I want to take a moment to say the battery life is awesome so far. It gets up to 10 hours, but that is from constant use with HRM and GPS going. I haven't had any workout or event remotely that long yet. I did have a 14 miles long run, and the battery didn't make much of a dent. I also have tried using this as a regular watch and didn't charge for 4 days and had 2 workouts...when I checked the battery, it was still well over 50%. I am impressed with the low power consumption when not working out.

My First Swim

I have not done an open water swim, but I don't see an option for it anyway. I guess you could use the running tracker, but for anyone not aware, GPS signal doesn't work under water, so the Garmin 910xt for example, although it can track open water swims, it loses signal every time the watch goes under, and then tries to regain each time the watch goes out of the water. So, open water tracking isn't that big of a deal. Anyway, my first swim was in a 25m pool, and it was easy to set the distance in the watch. The laps were 100% accurate and it was really nice seeing the stats:

• Time
• Distance
• Calories
• SWOLF (Swimming Golf: SPL + length time)
• SPL (strokes per length)

Training options are:

• Goals
• Distance
• Time
• Calories
• Laps
• Time
• Distance

Also to note, you can set which wrist you will have the watch on and customize some of the stats you see on the display. Had a good swim and tracking was great.

My First Bike

I was hoping to add to this when I wrote up the blog, but I still haven't gone on a bike ride yet...haven't even hooked up the sensors to my bike. I have done some spinning, but I got my trainer and hope to, at the very least, get an indoor session if not an outdoor session. I'll keep you posted.

My First Treadmill

This will have to be added at another time, as I try and avoid treadmills like the plague...just a personal preference. I still run on them a lot more than I would like, but I haven't had a treadmill run since I got this watch. The one concern and complaint I already know about is that there is no foot pod, and even if there was one, the watch is terrible at tracking anything other than consistent speed on the treadmill...so forget if you change your speed or try intervals. However, most devices and watches are bad at this too, even with foot pods.