David Windsor
Wednesday, 27 January 2016
Thursday, 21 January 2016
Review of Fenix 3 Watch
I'd thought of buying an Apple Watch for some time before getting this instead. I work in an environment where getting your phone out to check emails, messages etc is frowned upon so this seemed a more discreet way of staying connected. I also like the idea of using a watch for basic navigation in the hills (see my previous post on my Casio).But, although I am heavily committed to Apple, the watch didn't seem to be what I wanted. It doesn't have in-built gps, so you need to keep your phone with you at all times. It doesn't have its own app for fitness and tracking - you have to use third party apps like Strava, Runkeeper, Edmondo etc. And it isn't waterproof, so I'd worry about constantly checking it in a Highland downpour. The battery life is poor, compared to what I eventually bought. It does have a Viewranger app, but this wasn't enough to sway me.
A comparison of the screens of Fenix 3 and 2
So after a quick trial of the Fenix 2, which I sent back after a few days as the notifications drained the battery very quickly and the screen was nowhere near as good, I settled on the Fenix 3. I use it to record any walks, runs or bike rides I do. These are then automatically uploaded to Garmin's Connect website with routes, speed, ascent, pace amongst the information available. Routes can be exported from there, so I can import the routes into Viewranger and view them on a decent map.
The screen is excellent in sunlight, however bright. But from twilight onwards it's less easy to see. There is a backlight though, which can be configured to come on automatically.
I've yet to experiment with importing routes to the watch and then following them. There are simpler functions you can do directly from the watch, for example re-tracing your route, having directions to your starting point or any other point you record. I left a rucksack on a pathless slope to complete the summit and recorded its position as a waypoint.On my return I selected navigate to waypoint and the watch showed me the direction, distance and how long it would take to get there; all while continuing to record the whole route. It was very accurate.
Although the forums were, until the latest update, full of people complaining about gps inaccuracy I've yet to have a problem. Updates are frequent and continue to add functionality to the device: the most recent added new apps (activities you can record) such as indoor rowing, widgets (data screens you can access at any time), as well as automatic sleep tracking.
Notifications match those on your phone, so anything you have set up as a notification will appear on the watch screen. This is very useful as you can decide whether or not it's worth getting your phone out.
You can get further watch faces, apps, widgets and data screens from Garmin's Connect IQ store. I've tried a few watch faces out but none of them seem as good as the ones done by Garmin. I don't find any analogue watch face to be as good as the digital ones - why would you use a digital watch to copy, in rather a bad way, what analogue watches do?
I've worn this watch on every walk/run/bike ride/visit to the gym for the last 6 months and it looks as good as new. Battery life depends upon how many activities with GPS you record. I charge mine up every week, having used it for perhaps 5 or 6 hours of recording.
So far, I'm really pleased with the watch. There's still a lot I haven't tried out: following routes, pairing it to a heart rate monitor etc and the configurations of data screens within activities are endless and I haven't played with these much.
I'll finish with some pictures to give you a better idea of how apps, widgets and data screens look.
My current watch face
The activity widget, showing steps goal, total steps, distance, flights of stairs climbed and the red inactivity bar
That's an all-day event, I wasn't doing this in a staff meeting!
Walking app started, finding gps
Still here
A Slight Delay
It’s been 3 years since I last blogged in a personal capacity. My last posts dealt with donating a kidney and since then I’ve been trying to get back the energy I used to have to get my job done and still find time for other things.
The stages in this were:
- get used to working again
- get fit again
- get back to being able to read without falling asleep
I’ve managed to do all those at last. What set me back was having to go through two further operations for three hernias, which arose as a result of the initial operation. I’ll post about these later on. But for now I think I’ll just post something different as I feel it may be unhealthy and tedious to write too much about health!
I’ll do future posts on hillwalking, Scotland, books and music (although that’s the day job and I aim to do something different).
So, while I’m preparing quick reviews of what I’ve read over the past two years, here’s a review of my latest toy, sorry, vital navigational equipment.
Thursday, 23 May 2013
Kidney donation: back at home
- the cystoscopy was agonising for a short time, but not everyone will need this test
- the lack of a kidney does not hurt, I don’t feel any different
- after the operation I had pain through constipation and a soreness in the main wound
- the leakage of the wound didn’t hurt
- from the operation onwards I had pain in my stomach muscles. This culminated in a day of feeling as if I had “pulled” them all, fairly severe pain. This disappeared, but I still have a small amount of muscle pain, so I haven’t tried running yet, as I think this would jiggle the muscles up and down too much.
Wednesday, 1 May 2013
Kidney donation: in hospital
Thursday, 28 February 2013
Kidney donation: preparation
This involves inserting a camera into the bladder via the penis. When you are taken into a separate room to have the procedure explained to you, you know something is going to hurt!. When the procedure takes place with 5 members of staff present that is confirmed. The agony lasted a couple of seconds as they squirted anaesthetic into my penis. It was excruciating but soon over. For some strange reason I had parked a mile away from the hospital (I hate paying to park!). I emerged desperate for a wee, in agony. I walked that mile, had another wee. Drove back to school, stopped halfway for another wee. Stopped just before school. A couple of days later all soreness had gone and at least the thorough probe showed that I was fine.
Further delays happened because, partly to get my kidney fit and help me through the operation, I had taken up cycling. This reduced my BMI and "significant weight loss" (not really, only half a stone or so) meant that I had to have a few more tests and scans.
By November 2012 all was clear and we were waiting for a date, this came through, with about a month's notice, for the 10th January. I had plenty of time to organise cover for my classes. Both our schools have been extremely supportive throughout all this and I am very grateful.
A few weeks before the operation we went to Birmingham to see the surgeon. Everything seemed to go well but when I got back the local hospital said that he had been in touch because I hadn't asked enough questions and therefore was depressed. They sent me a depression quiz to fill in. Ironically, I could have answered yes to many of those questions, but that was to do with my work, not the operation, so that's what I put on the form. I'm sure I was positive on that day. I didn't ask questions because I'd read about everything and just wanted it all to be over. I must have passed the test because we visited the hospital the week before the operation for some final tests.
How did I prepare for this? I'm fairly strong, mentally and physically. I exercised as much as I could. I told myself that I was going to go through this and be alright. Once I'd made the decision I didn't feel any fear. There's no heroism in that - I had made the decision and there was no going back, the rest was just making sure I was strong enough to get through it all and looking forward to being fully fit again. I was sacrificing a few months of full fitness to achieve something really worthwhile. So I convinced myself I could go through with it so convincingly that I knew everything would be ok. Luckily for me, so far it has been.
I did feel trapped by the situation and if you asked me whether I wanted one or two kidneys my answer would be two thank you very much. But I needed to help my son and here was an opportunity to do some absolute good.
Throughout all of this my son has been the real hero. He went through everything without complaint, without self-pity, often comforting those upset by his situation. He kept up his full time job while having dialysis three times a week. He never asked me or anyone else to donate. Indeed, if we had discussed it too much he might have refused to accept it.
Donating a kidney: diagnosis
Anyway, 3 years ago my son joined us for a holiday in Scotland. My wife and I had already been there for a few days, walking in the hills and we were hoping my son would enjoy doing the same, the way he has done in the past.
This time, however was different. He seemed much less fit than us. Instead of walking a mile or so ahead, he was getting further and further behind. My wife was worried. I tried to shrug it off, thinking that it had been a long time since he had been away with us, he was doing a PGCE course and had little time to exercise.
As one final walk we made it up to the top of Ben Starav:
As a photo on the way up, with my son just about visible, this would be normal. But this was on the way down.
Back to his PGCE course he went. His illness got worse. He described it as feeling that his whole body was shutting down, which it was. He hardly ever slept. One visit to his doctor left him with a false diagnosis of depression. No criticism here just yet - he was fit and healthy and not a typical victim of kidney disease. Many of the symptoms - a sense of impending doom for instance - are similar. But when he asked for a blood test the doctor refused, saying "You're a teacher, you're depressed". That mistake and refusal of a simple request could have been fatal. When telling his mentor at school how ill he felt and how little he slept he was told something along the lines of "this is what it takes to be a teacher, if you can't stand the heat..."
Nevertheless, he passed his PGCE and got a great job which would mean him moving back in with us.
On his return my wife insisted he ask our doctor for a blood test. This was given and hours later we received a call which basically said "take him to hospital, now". He had suffered near total kidney failure and was on his way to a heart attack.
It was awful to see him in hospital, various lines attached to him. I felt guilty about brushing things off a few months earlier. It became clear that dialysis was not a permanent solution - it leads to a possible reduction of 20 years in life expectancy. Waiting for a transplant from the normal list could take years. A better way would be for a living donor to turn up - I knew it would be me and for some strange reason I knew it would be my left kidney.