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Another month, another substantial update of the COROS watch firmware. As always, most watches will get all these updates, regardless of age. This makes COROS the second watch company after Amazfit (and GoPro’s own now deprecated Apple Watch app) added support for it with the new SDK, enabling you to switch modes on GoPro Hero 9 or Hero 10. You can also take photos and videos at the same time. It is simple and easy to use.
At the same time, they added Komoot Route Sync support and Strava Route Sync support added last month. For this, the unit received a new "walking" movement mode, as well as Galileo support (if they don't already have one). For cyclists, Pace 2/Vertix 1/APEX PRO get ANT power meter calibration.
Now, these updates will be rolled out for different watch models on different dates next week. This is the current plan:
COROS Vertix and APEX Pro (today, November 22): terrain/map function, walking mode, Galileo support, ANT power meter control, action cam control, new light shortcut keys, Italian language support
COROS Pace 2 (Wednesday, November 24): Walk mode, Galileo support, ANT power meter control, action cam control, new light shortcut keys, Italian language support, added multi-sport mode to support five sports (from three Kind of start), add distance option to exercise rest circle (there is no Komoot route synchronization, because Pace 2 does not do route)
COROS Vertix 2 (Monday, November 29): Walking mode, Komoot route synchronization, sports camera control, adding distance options in the exercise rest circle
COROS APEX (December): Galileo support, Komoot Route Sync
Finally, it’s worth noting that in the detailed information provided to the media, COROS stated that this will be the last "functional" update of the basic APEX unit, because they don’t have more space-especially worth mentioning: "APEX storage We have reached the limit and we will not be able to add more new features to the watch except for future performance optimizations."
But as mentioned earlier, they promised "performance optimization" in the future, which may also include any bug fixes along the way, although COROS is not as inclined to list bug fixes in their release notes like some other companies.
With this, let's take a closer look.
Camera control supports GoPro Hero 9 and 10 action cameras. The reason it only supports these cameras is that as part of the GoPro SDK/API bit released this summer, only Hero 9 and Hero 10 are currently supported. Therefore, this is not a COROS limitation, but a GoPro limitation.
So, pick up your GoPro, open it, and swipe down from the top, then you will see the "Connect" menu:
Then click "Connect Device" on GoPro and select GoPro Quik, while on the COROS watch, press and hold the lower right button to access the system menu, and then go to "Camera Control"
After a few seconds, they will find each other and magically pair up. It's super simple.
With it, you have GoPro camera control, which is very simple. Use the digital crown (scroll wheel) to simply scroll between the photo and video modes (only these two modes). Then click on the digital crown to start recording or taking photos:
If you are in video recording mode, the timer will update and stop the timer correctly, either from the watch or from the GoPro.
That's it. It's very simple. This menu can be accessed at any time in sports or non-sports mode, just press and hold the button and go to camera control. The only disadvantage (medium) now is that the pairing will not be saved after you turn off the camera. You must re-pair each time. COROS says this is a current limitation of the GoPro developer interface (but my reading of the GoPro SDK specification clearly shows that, in theory, BLE connections are reserved for future connections). However, they did notice that they had some ideas for solutions. I think if there is a good side, the pairing process actually takes 3-5 seconds, so it is very fast. Nevertheless, I think this will limit my use of this feature, because deleting and recreating the pairing is just another matter.
Although some people may argue that it would be nice to be able to change the GoPro photo/video mode (for example, to switch between video modes), I think the simplicity here can be said to make it easier to use. There are only two options, and it is difficult to get yourself into trouble. I also appreciate that the TimeLapse/TimeWarp screen is not displayed in the loop (although it is one of the three GoPro modes), because no one actually sets these through the watch.
However, if you do this on a bicycle computer, perhaps it might make more sense to list a list of video modes for quick clicks, because the screen is larger for interaction. In short, super cool stuff.
Note: As part of this firmware update, COROS also added Insta360 support for Insta360 ONE X2 and ONE R action cameras. I outlined this earlier in my COROS Vertix 2 in-depth review. Please note that unfortunately, this does not include support for the newer GO 2 (in addition, I think the Insta360 SDK has limitations).
Next is Komoot Route integration. You will remember that COROS added the Strava Routes integration last month, which makes it easier to get routes on the watch. The same concept now applies to Komoot. This update is basically just an app/platform update, and some minor adjustments may be made to the back end of the watch to ensure it runs smoothly.
To perform this cooking, please enter the profile option in the COROS app, then enter the 3rd party integration and select Komoot. Then just follow the usual OAuth permission prompts:
With it, you are verified:
Now, go to Komoot to do something. Specifically, routing things.
Next, return to the COROS App and go to the Routes Library, then refresh it. You should now see that new route.
Click on the route and select "Sync with watch", then select the relevant watch. In my case, Vertix 2:
Now you are done – it has been synced to Vertix 2:
Donezo. From here you will navigate as usual.
As with the Strava Routes update, the main limitation I hope to address here is the increase in the maximum number of routes in the watch (now only 10), and the entire synchronization process should be automatic (as it is on all other competing devices). When someone marks the route to sync/favorite on the platform, it should automatically end on my watch during the next sync. I don’t need to mark things manually, then sync/push it manually, etc...
I'm sure this is on the COROS to-do list, but I think I will mention it.
In addition, since COROS has transferred Komoot and Strava pipeline data to the platform, it would be very convenient if the COROS app (and watch) could put a small icon next to each route so that I could know where they came from. Wahoo does this on their device and is very convenient, especially when you have a lot of routes. Now, it's a bit like a route wall. The same is true for some organizations (for example, sort by date added, length, distance from location, etc...).
But as I said before, from a macro perspective, these are relatively easy things for COROS, and more of what I call catch-up projects. When someone wants to switch jobs from a different watch, these little things by themselves will not disrupt the transaction (usually), but in general, they may become a hindrance.
Okay, now we have a list of leftovers. This does not mean that they are unimportant. It just means that they are... well... well, yes, they are not that important. I classify most of them as catch-up projects because they are common projects for competitors.
First of all, there is an ANT power meter calibration option, which is suitable for those COROS watches with ANT (notably, Vertix 2 does not). Assuming that the ANT power meter is paired, you will enter the accessories menu, where you will find the "Calibrate Now" option:
As usual, make sure that your power meter is in the correct orientation (if applicable) and that there is no load on it (no clamp, no weight, etc...).
When finished, it will display the calibration confirmation:
Next, is the new "walking" exercise mode. This is essentially just another sport mode, except that COROS creates a lap target based on steps instead of distance by default. By default, the goal is 1,000 steps per lap. The reason they did this is that they noticed that in some urban environments you may not be able to get a good GPS, so the number of steps may be a better indicator of walking. very fair. This sport mode can be used for indoor and outdoor walking (that is, with or without GPS):
Next is the Galileo satellite support mode. This allows the watch to connect and view Galileo satellites, which may improve GPS performance (especially in Europe). Or, it may not. This is not important to COROS, it is just the reality of my real test on a device with Galileo support. Sometimes it is great, sometimes it shrugs. this is life.
In any case, with Vertix, APEX Pro and PACE 2 (which Vertix 2 already has), you will now get Galileo included in the GNSS quartet by default. This includes GPS GLONASS GALILEO QZSS GNSS system, or GPS BEIDOU GALILEO QZSS. There are also options that only apply to GPS. COROS stated that Galileo satellites will have a slight impact on battery life (most companies believe that battery life will be reduced by about 10%, but COROS tends to do better than most companies in terms of battery life).
Last and least important (see, it must be the least, that's it), you can now add the "distance" option to the structured workout for rest blocks/intervals. This means that you used to rest based on time, but now you can also rest based on distance. This is very useful if you are doing any structured workouts on the track and doing 400-meter high-intensity training and 200-meter recovery training. This can be accessed from the COROS app and of course will be displayed on the watch during exercise.
It is great to see COROS like this to add features to the entire product line, including device firmware updates and software driver updates (such as Komoot integration, mainly in the application/platform).
If we look at this update and the watch it is updating, its oldest watch is about three years old (the original APEX, announced in November 2018), and the original Vertix is about 2.5 years old (May 2019 ). COROS stated that this will be the last feature update for the base APEX (not Pro), which roughly reflects what they said about the original Pace earlier this year-in both cases storage restrictions are cited. Therefore, We can start to roughly understand where the sand line is for the old watch function update, especially even the basic APEX only got Galileo firmware support this time (because Komoot updates are basically application/platform).
I point this out because although I can easily say that COROS is a leader in this area, in fact, when we look at their main competitor, Garmin, they are actually comparable on this point. For example, Forerunner 945 and Vertix were released at roughly the same time and continue to receive major feature updates (including the major update last week). Fenix 6 has also undergone major feature updates (including last week), but it is younger than the 2.3-year-old. Garmin launched the three-year-old Vertix and does not have a good timetable for direct competitors, because the Fenix 5 Plus series has a history of about 3.5 years (and these days, including last week, most of them are just performance updates) . Last summer, Suunto was slightly ahead of COROS. It added features from the new Suunto 9 Peak that was just released at that time to the 3.2-year-old Suunto 9 Baro/series.
A bigger "test" for Garmin will be to see if Fenix 6 and Forerunner 945 will continue to receive updates when spring arrives as they approach their third birthday. Obviously, we have seen this level of support provided by Apple and its watches and Wahoo on bicycle computers (and Garmin on bicycle computers). Heck, we even saw companies like GoPro add features to old cameras, something they *never* did. once.
Anyway, I point this out because it is interesting to me. I think all of us would like to see devices continue to receive functional firmware updates after the marketing release, especially because companies today include more forward-capable hardware than ever before. Just look at the textures that COROS added to the original Vertix and APEX Pro. This is not just a small update for 2.5 years of equipment, this is a large-scale update where most companies will only keep their latest equipment.
Hope this is a continuing trend. Not only for COROS, but also for the entire industry.
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Hello Garmin-watching you here! Prepare yourself so that you also have control of GoPro. Or they are very short-sighted and think they don't have to be because of Virb! ? Can this be done in Connect IQ?
Think of the code as a non-developer but someone who knows enough, I don't see any reason why someone can't do this in CIQ.
In the comments on the GoPro API post, someone pointed out in the comments that they started its path, so it didn’t see any hard blocks there: link to dcrainmaker.com
The last comment indicates that the developer gave up...🙁
Yes, if I read it correctly, he gave up because his own hardware (unit) is too old to support the semi-new BLE control through CIQ in recent Garmin devices.
Yes-let us hope that others are looking for...
You can definitely do this through CIQ, but this is not necessarily a good user experience. You really want it to work during the event, and CIQ support is extremely limited there. With the exception of Edge touch devices, there is no easy way to add controls to data fields—they can respond to touch commands. You really want it to be controlled like an inReach device, where you can call up Control to control it, but CIQ cannot do this.
A standalone CIQ device application will be the best user experience for camera control, but if you want to record activities at the same time, it is indeed a bad user experience. You can make it work, but when you do, you lose a lot of native activity functionality.
Therefore, it might be good to implement for 1030. For Garmin watches, there are more restrictions.
You really want it to work during the event, and CIQ support is extremely limited there. Except for Edge touch devices, there is no easy way to add controls to data fields
For the SuperApp idea introduced with Connect IQ System 4, this might be a useful app, isn't it? Start a widget type application to control, and the recording of the active application is still going on behind it.
Super apps don't really help here. Think of them more as a combination of device applications and widgets into a single executable file. From the activity, you can set a hotkey to switch to the watch face, and then scroll down to your camera control widget. But at this time you still have all the limitations of the widget. While recording local activity, you will not suddenly gain full access to run CIQ device applications.
To make matters worse, depending on which device you are trying to use to perform this operation, if there are any CIQ data fields in your activity, you may encounter issues with the CIQ widget.
very fair. This description sounds as if to the user, what you get is not much different from the previous ones (maybe the things I read earlier are oversold!)
It looks like we, royal us, are making progress: link to twitter.com
"You can definitely do this with CIQ, but it's not necessarily a good user experience. You really want it to work during the event, and CIQ support is extremely limited there. There is nothing simple except Edge touch devices You can add controls to data fields—they can respond to touch commands. You really want to control it like an inReach device, you can call up Control to control it, but CIQ can’t do that.”
For newer devices (CIQ 3.2 and later), you should be able to use the settings on the device to add "controls" to the CIQ data field, which can be accessed by: press and hold UP> connect to the IQ field> [your application Program name]
After setting the "View" on the device that enters the CIQ data field, you should be able to perform any operation with the buttons. Of course, it's not perfect, but it's not much worse than the pan/zoom mode that enters the native map field.
It should be clear that the settings on the device do not necessarily have to be used for text settings. I don't see any reason why they cannot be used for controls and/or auxiliary views in a given application.
One limitation of the settings feature on the device is that it times out after 2 minutes of inactivity. However, this is no different from the pan/zoom mode of widgets or (IIRC) local map fields.
But I want to implement GoPro control through data fields (except for actual button controls). The main problem is that for data fields, BLE communication can only be carried out through a predetermined background process, so I am not sure if it is feasible to control GoPro in real time. .
You can certainly do this, but it is not a good experience to bring up the menu, scroll and select menu items, change settings, select apps, and tell it to start recording. Then repeat the same thing to tell it to stop recording. When you are cycling or running, you certainly can't do that. When the time comes, why use the watch directly instead of go pro?
So yes, it is possible, but please refer to my first comment on "User Experience". This will be a miserable user experience.
Compared with Edge1030, Edge1030 can have a data field with buttons on the screen to directly control it.
Okay, but for the same argument, the music controls on the Garmin (non-touch screen) watch are useless.
First, you must press and hold DOWN or scroll to the music control data page and press and hold UP. Then you have to scroll to the button you want to press. Then you have to press start.
At this point, you might as well use the controls on your headset or mobile phone.
Music controls are even less meaningful on watches that don't support music, but they have been around for a while.
(To be fair, I do think the music controls are pretty useless. On watches that support music, at least they are meaningful for selecting playlists, but for controls like pause/resume/next track/previous track Otherwise)
In any case, the entire "data field can only communicate through the background process" may be a hard block of this problem, because the background process can only run once every 5 minutes. (Unless there is a solution that I don't know.)
I think the only way to do this is to implement a widget or device application. Of course, the latter cannot be used during the event, and the former may not work during the event. (People in the 945LTE forum reported an error, they can launch the CIQ widget *once* during the event, but it doesn't work afterwards until they restart the watch).
I have several applications that use Ant universal channels in the data field, but I didn't realize that BLE is just a BG process. That would be a performance barrier.
I agree to music control DF. This is the same as inReach. This is why I always use inReach Control-a deterministic set of button presses to send messages so that I can do it without looking at it while running. I do want them to add control functions to CIQ.
The complete CIQ device application is indeed the only way for you to get a good user experience of camera control. Unfortunately, if you want to add activity records, this requires a lot of additional development work, and you will eventually give up all native functions, such as navigation, ClimbPro, etc.
It was not a good move for Garmin to remain relatively silent in the fourth quarter. It allows all competitors to publish their information and products there.
If Garmin is unable to launch hardware due to chip shortages, they can at least use their time to focus on changes in software steps (add more phone management, more health features, etc.)-keep things one step ahead/anything.
"If Garmin is unable to launch the hardware due to a shortage of chips, they can at least use their time to focus on changes in software steps"
I gave an overview in the last few paragraphs of the last few paragraphs-all their major products have gained substantial new features not only in the past few weeks, but even in the past 3-6 months. Looking at the release of Fenix 6, you will find that starting at 16:00, that is, early summer, there are more features here than COROS, Suunto and Polar combined: link to www8.garmin.com
I pick the most interesting updates and post information about them occasionally. If it weren't for the GoPro bit here, I might not release this COROS update because the rest of it is a "catch up" project (something their competitors already own).
I also think that Garmin's launching of products solely for the sake of products is what most people think Garmin has stopped doing, because to a large extent this has led to poor quality software/hardware at the time of release. Since they have slowed down in doing so in the past 1 to 2 years, we have seen a great improvement in the quality of the release day.
You are right in all respects. The functions and stability of my 945 and 530 are great. Still, it feels a bit like they opened the door for others to catch up. Today, the combination of Coros and Wahoo is very attractive.
Personally, I think I want their competitors to provide more "ease of use" and "comprehensive health picture" features-if Garmin adopts it, it will be a huge added value and make their customers happy/locked in. OTOH, Garmin has provided a lot of no additional sub-costs, so hey, I know what.
Competition in the field of sports technology is an interesting topic. Happy Thanksgiving early!
Lei mentioned that the era of various sports watches raises an interesting question-when will the next model be launched? My Fenix 6 Pro Solar is still competent. The only reason to get COROS Vertix 2 [Guide my inner Ray smile]-GoPro support. Or I want to be a Time Check in Tek Wars. When I go hiking or camping, I also wear Casio Pro Tek solar-if my Fenix fails, I still have time and basic navigation functions.
I am very excited about the 5 types of sports in a multisport event! I have encountered this limitation before.
Like many others, I have been waiting for the Fenix release before I decide to buy a new watch-but Coros seems to keep pushing to keep its traditional model relevant, which is very compelling. It's really cool.
Any news about the Coros web app (similar to Garmin Connect)?
In the Coros Facebook user group, the staff stated that a web application will be launched "soon", but nothing is more specific.
Garmin has provided many impressive feature updates for its high-end 745, 945 and Fenix 6 watches, but unlike Coros’s Pace 2, they did not bring these new features to cheaper watches, such as Venu, Vivoactive And Instinct watch. Even the 245, which is in the same code base and update plan as the 945, will miss the sleep widget and HIIT activity profile. Not to mention 645.
In fact, it is easy to argue that all current Garmin watches should provide features such as sleep widgets, HIIT activity profiles, body battery improvements, and rest HR improvements. Oh, all these "cheaper" Garmin watches are more expensive than Coros Pace 2.
I agree that it varies by business group (which in turn drives the product line) especially Vivo/Venu watches, most of them have not received any updates. Or at least, nothing more than crumbs on the table.
In other words, FR245 has actually made considerable progress over the years. Sleep is actually fun because I asked why I didn’t get it, and they pointed out that although they plan to do so, they worry that FR245 tends to be a broader market basis with wearable changes to sleep-algorithms (which may change the results) in Confusion can be caused in the cycle. I kind of understand, I don't understand. I think some of the early problems when the new sleep algorithm was launched on Fenix 6 made them a little scared, and I am not sure if they have healed from these wounds.
But yes, I agree that the Vivo/Venu watches have not received meaningful updates, which is not only in sharp contrast to the Forerunner/Fenix team, but more importantly, their core competitor: Apple Watch (and even Samsung Galaxy watches) now too ).
Ah yes, forgot that Garmin is a fairly large entity, divided into different business groups. Therefore, if you are concerned about feature updates, Forerunner and Fenix watches seem to be your best choice.
Yes, I am not friendly to 245M. If you don't participate in the triathlon competition, after all the updates, the 245M is totally worth the extra $100 (compared to Pace 2). In fact, Amazon currently lists 245 as $199 and $245 million as $249.
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