Have you considered using analytical performance tools to improve your rowing and gain a competitive advantage? Are you seeking a cost effective alternative to existing devices on the market? If you have a smartphone, you need to check out the CrewNerd app by Performance Phones LLC.
What is CrewNerd?
CrewNerd is a smartphone alternative to Nielsen-Kellerman’s SpeedCoach device, available on Android, iOS and Windows Phone platforms. The app uses GPS technology in your smartphone to accurately calculate stroke rates, distance, speed and more, across a variety of rowing shells and vessels. Information is acquired wirelessly through your mobile device and then relayed to web servers. From there, it can be downloaded and analysed by you or your team to track your progress using a variety of desktop programmes or websites.
Features and Benefits:
- Full range of information available: time, distance, stroke rate, stroke count, speed/pace, average speed/pace, interval number, direction, time of day, check factor, bounce factor, total distance, and meters per stroke.
- Thanks to recent updates, the GPS tracker now takes up to 10 readings per second – ensuring every stroke is measured and recorded with pinpoint accuracy.
- The live tracker feature allows coaches and spectators alike to observe your rowing performance precisely as it happens.
- The user interface is largely influenced by the design of existing Concept 2 Ergo and SpeedCoach monitors, meaning it is both familiar and simple for users to operate.
- CrewNerd can be connected to a range of heartrate monitors to provide information on fitness performance.
- Display can be configured to show as little or as much information as you wish.
- Data can be exported and used by external websites and compatible desktop programmes.
- Configurable workouts. Upload them straight to your Trainingpeaks or Sportlyzer accounts.
How much does all this cost?**
A free ”trial mode” download is available on Android for evaluation purposes only and is limited to 100 strokes or 5 minute sessions.
The full version can be unlocked for US$1.99 per month in the USA. Other regions are subject to price variations.
Full Version
US$49.99 for iPhone 4, 4s, 5 (running iOS 7.1)
£31.99 on Windows Phone.
**A whole lot more if you don’t have a waterproof case – save that additional expense and go get a waterproof case here.
Additional Information…
CrewNerd website
Latest news from CrewNerd on their Facebook
This Post Has 4 Comments
“Thanks to recent updates, the GPS tracker now takes up to 10 readings per second – ensuring every stroke is measured and recorded with pinpoint accuracy.”
Just to clarify this point, the update doesn’t enable 10hz GPS reading on your iphone, that is beyond the iPhones hardware specs which is around 1hz I believe, what it does do is allow you to sync a 10ghz bluetooth receiver so that you can activate 10hz GPS
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dual-Electronics-Corp-XGPS-160/dp/B00E65TNYE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1427984732&sr=8-1&keywords=XGPS
This aside I agree with the article that the app is brilliant and an excellent alternative to getting a Speedcoach, another feature that isnt mentioned is that you are able to set “courses” in Google Earth so that the app starts and stops recording your workout at specific spots. This is very useful in head races as you dont have to worry about starting/stopping the app at the start/end of the race!
SpeedCoach (now called CrewNerd) is a great app. I use it in single, pair, double, four, quad, eight, and when coxing. It is on an old iPhone3 that is not being used for anything else. It does not need a provider account since it is updated through USB through my computer.
One of its best features is allowing me to optimize my rowing technique by displaying how efficiently the stroke and recovery are. However, a disadvantage is that it smooths this data over a five stroke window, which largely negates its usefulness. They should have allowed the rower to specify the size of the smoothing window, just like they allow the rower to specify the size of the GPS smoothing window.
It allows me to set up practice scenarios by distance, time, or strokes and to chain them together. This way I can practice and optimize any portion of a race.
And I use it in races so that we always know where we are and can accurately implement our race strategy.
However, when I got a new Android phone, I was not able to transfer the app to my new phone since the licensing is different and non-transferable between platforms. Grrrr. Bummer.
All the original customers with iPhone3s were thrown under the bus when they stopped supporting iOS3. As a software developer, I consider this unacceptable customer support.
The meter display stays at zero. I chose distance on the data display but it doesn’t engage. A
what am I doing wrong
Matt, you’ll have to ask CrewNerd. They are the experts.