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Wearable Ski Coach - New Era?

elks

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granite

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Total gimmick.............but there are a lot fools out there looking to part ways with their money. That instructor wasn't a very good skier.
 

Jcb890

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Seems pretty neat. I'm not sure how I feel about it being inside of the boot though, could possibly be uncomfortable or not fit right I suppose.
 

elks

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Total gimmick.............but there are a lot fools out there looking to part ways with their money. That instructor wasn't a very good skier.

Gimmick or not, I find it interesting that companies are investing in our sport and thinking outside of the box. Several companies are exploring it for golf, swimming, track & field, etc. Some Olympians are already incorporating them in their training routines.
 

elks

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Seems pretty neat. I'm not sure how I feel about it being inside of the boot though, could possibly be uncomfortable or not fit right I suppose.

At 1mm thickness, not sure it will be very noticeable especially if it's the same thickness throughout. But yeah, comfort certainly has to be part of the equation.
 

Jcb890

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At 1mm thickness, not sure it will be very noticeable especially if it's the same thickness throughout. But yeah, comfort certainly has to be part of the equation.

I would probably be more worried about it bunching up due to pressure exerted by the user inside of the boot by your foot.

Now, I know I'm a snowboarder, so it is different than ski boots, but in theory this is for skiing and snowboarding right? I don't know about you guys/gals, but my feet sweat when I'm riding. After a day of riding, my feet are quite sweaty. Usually at lunch I'll re-tighten and re-adjust my foot inside my boots. If this is a thin layer of material that can move at all separately from the sole of the boot, it could possibly get bunched up somewhere inside the boot and be very uncomfortable.
 

elks

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According to their page, the insert can be placed between the liner and shell or between the insole and liner. So it's not in contact with your socks, which may make it less likely to move around. They are also cutting these inserts to your specific boot size in an effort to, undoubtedly, mitigate any comfort issues.

I think they are solely focused on skiing technology (alpine and cross-country) for the moment as a proof of concept, but it reasons to think that if it proves successful, this could easily be adapted for snowboarders, ice skaters, etc..
 

Jcb890

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According to their page, the insert can be placed between the liner and shell or between the insole and liner. So it's not in contact with your socks, which may make it less likely to move around. They are also cutting these inserts to your specific boot size in an effort to, undoubtedly, mitigate any comfort issues.

I think they are solely focused on skiing technology (alpine and cross-country) for the moment as a proof of concept, but it reasons to think that if it proves successful, this could easily be adapted for snowboarders, ice skaters, etc..

Ah, that may work then if you can put it under the footbed insole.
 

mbedle

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As someone said, think that its great that people are out there investing in the ski industry. For racers, I guess I can see the benefit of using this. To the causal skiers (5 times a year), not sure this is really something they will want. I wonder how many people, that already know how to ski, actually take a lesson or are that concerned with their overall skiing ability. Wonder how this would work in the woods or moguls. Plus, it looks like snowboarders are left out of this one. I did a quick search online and apparently there are already companies that have this type of system (Moticon). Not sure if its exactly the same, but seems to be similar.
 

elks

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Personally, I'm always looking for drills to practice especially when I'm skiing leisurely with my younger kids. I certainly divide every day on the hill between pure fun and focused activities to improve my skiing. I love taking lessons, but seldom do it for lack of planning and often financials.

Moticon looks geared to the professional athlete and his coaching team whereas Carv seems to be going mainly after the consumer market. The Carv app seems to be an integral part of the product giving real-time feedback to the skier, suggesting specific drills to improve areas of concern, etc.. Moticon looks more like an analytical tool that allows you to bring back data points to the lab for further analysis.
 

mbedle

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Ah the top skiers in the world...a Brit, a New Delhi boy...straight from Remote Tech Support...ROTFL.....
Foreign software Engineers(aka fraud artists) all out to do one thing = grab the $$$ of rich little Caucasian boys with wealthy parents. Purchase online....yeah Right.

Wow - that hurts just a little.
 

abc

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I think it's a great idea, and I think it probably doesn't work.
It's a great IDEA, but not a good product.

Moticon looks geared to the professional athlete and his coaching team whereas Carv seems to be going mainly after the consumer market...
Moticon might be a good product. Here's why:

Moticon looks more like an analytical tool that allows you to bring back data points to the lab for further analysis.
Now, how many "consumer" wants to spend hours after skiing to do ANALYSIS of the data collected in their boot?

Without those analysis, the product will be absolutely useless. In computer software industry, it's call GIGA.

Only with hours of analysis by professional coaching payroll, the professional athletes can potentially benefit from the product.

And ONLY until a good base set of data were collected & analyzed that you can start understanding those "real time feedback".

So yeah, good idea, but not a good product. Long way from it.
 
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elks

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Now, how many "consumer" wants to spend hours after skiing to do ANALYSIS of the data collected in their boot?

Without those analysis, the product will be absolutely useless. In computer software industry, it's call GIGA.

Only with hours of analysis by professional coaching payroll, the professional athletes can potentially benefit from the product.

And ONLY until a good base set of data were collected & analyzed that you can start understanding those "real time feedback".

So yeah, good idea, but not a good product. Long way from it.

Moticon is not the consumer product being discussed. That product appears to be a more analytical tool geared to a different market. Carv is the consumer product being funded via Kickstarter and provides real-time analysis and feedback via its app. Two very different products and audiences imo.
 

abc

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But that's exactly my point you missed.

Carv is NOT a good product. Motican is a much better execution of the same excellent concept
 

deadheadskier

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Total gimmick.............but there are a lot fools out there looking to part ways with their money. That instructor wasn't a very good skier.

definitely not a gimmick

I'm not saying I'd buy it, but the concept makes perfect sense and is really only following the direction of other industries. It's all about data capture and analytics. This is utilizing the same technologies in your mobile phone that makes sure the screen is upright (accelerometers) and coupling it with pressure sensors to communicate real data to a skier probably better than a professional instructor can do in simply looking at you.

I could talk your ear off about how the same technologies are rapidly being incorporated into health care monitoring and how posture analytics will soon be used as a new vital sign to determine wellness just like blood pressure has always been used. At it's core, this system is basically trying to do the same thing. Think of it as a skiing specific Fitbit.

The individual market might be difficult to build, but I could totally see professional ski schools adopting this technology, having all students use it and achieve much more rapid progression of new skier skills.
 

lerops

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Bringing this up.

This seems to be gaining traction. There was an FT article. And a few others. But nothing from the skiing industry (unless I missed it). Does anybody have experience with this or have heard from others who used it.

I am curious, but don’t want to pay for something that does not work.


Sent from my iPhone using AlpineZone
 

mikes

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My wife gave me one for Christmas this year and I have about 10 days on it. A little background on myself. I came back to skiing last year after a 25 year break. Never had lessons in my youth. You could have said I came back to skiing with a clean slate but it was more like a piece of paper with doodles all over it lol.

This year I decided to take several private lessons to get me heading in the right direction and having been using CARV to give me feedback on my progress. I haven’t used the drills very much at all yet so I can’t definitely say how useful they will be. I do know they are making tweaks to the software and provided more real time feedback.

I use it after each run to see how I did and what I can focus on for the next. To its credit the feedback that I’ve gotten has been pretty consistent with what I got from my instructor... need to work on edging earlier, outside ski pressure. If I have a run where I felt like I was in my backseat, sure enough the app shows my balance was off.

Don’t think it will ever replace good instruction though but should be thought of as a supplement. There are things it just can’t monitor. For example I have a tendency to not keep my upper body facing down the fall line and have been working on separation. It can only tell what is happening from your boots down. A good instructor also can employ multiple techniques/drills to see what works to help you make corrections.

I’m a sucker for gadgets but I do think it is very useful. The developer does seem to be very engaged in continuing to make improvements. I’ve seen several updates over the past two months. The software itself if pretty polished and I’ve had zero issues with it. Here are a few screen shots of the type of feedback that it gives. If you have any specific questions I’ll do my best to answer them.
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