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Compromising Garmin Sport Watches: A Deep Dive into GarminOS and Its MonkeyC VM

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Re: Compromising Garmin Sport Watches: A Deep Dive into GarminOS and Its MonkeyC VM

#21

Post by canucker2016 »

jbj wrote: post #6
SturgeonsLaw wrote: post #2

Anyone got a recommendation for fitness wearables where you can opt out of having to sign up with an account, and can export data out of it in open/standard formats?

I am pretty sure you can use the sports tracking functions in garmin without an account, if not, at least without connecting the watch to a phone. You just need to connect with usb to copy the activity file (.fit) which can be converted to tsv. regarding the passive tracking I dont have a clue

The main thing that I miss from connecting to Garmin Connect is downloading the EPO/CPE files which speedup acquiring the GPS data a lot. see https://support.garmin.com/en-US/?faq=6IbaJEHc1i9gydzQomXzyA

To avoid waiting up to several minutes to get the GPS data when I start my workout, I'll switch to an exercise mode to start acquiring the GPS data while I change into my workout gear and leave the watch near a window.

By the time I've finished changing, the GPS data is available and the watch will behave almost like I had downloaded the EPO/CPE files from Garmin Connect.

Re: Compromising Garmin Sport Watches: A Deep Dive into GarminOS and Its MonkeyC VM

#22

Post by gnicholas »

gregoryl wrote: post #20
gnicholas wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really? I recently got a forerunner 265 and it definitely didn’t give the impression that was possible. The battery life is also nowhere near the advertised length (13 days). Most disappointing is that their support people say to expect about 60% of that, which is what I’m getting. That said, this will likely be the replacement for my Pebble. Battery life over 6 days, buttons to control music playback, and an English…

Your 265 can be mounted as a usb drive, as can pretty any Garmin device for maybe 10+ years.

On a Mac, it requires some utility made for reading Android devices. It doesn't pop up as a drive when plugged in.

Can the device receive notifications from my iPhone without an account? That's one of the main reasons I use the device.

Re: Compromising Garmin Sport Watches: A Deep Dive into GarminOS and Its MonkeyC VM

#23

Post by hackernewds »

bbbbbr wrote: post #10
SturgeonsLaw wrote: post #2

Anyone got a recommendation for fitness wearables where you can opt out of having to sign up with an account, and can export data out of it in open/standard formats?

Garmin watches work well with the desktop sports tracking program MyTourBook. I've never had to activate a Garmin watch or register it online in order to use it. Not connecting it to Garmin Services and apps may limit access to 3rd party apps, or at least make it harder to load them load though. (I haven't researched side loading since base features are fine for me). MyTourBook supports FIT/GPX/TCX/etc, has maps, cal…

> This is with syncing over USB btw.

Nevermind it is not worth the trouble, vs handing in anonymized data with a temp email

Re: Compromising Garmin Sport Watches: A Deep Dive into GarminOS and Its MonkeyC VM

#24

Post by rr808 »

asdfman123 wrote: post #11
SturgeonsLaw wrote: post #2

Anyone got a recommendation for fitness wearables where you can opt out of having to sign up with an account, and can export data out of it in open/standard formats?

I know my COROS Pace allows for data export, but you probably need an account.

Yeah I have the same watch. The app isn't in the Google Play store, you have to download it straight from the company. Given that its half Chinese company it really isn't going to be better than Garmin.

Re: Compromising Garmin Sport Watches: A Deep Dive into GarminOS and Its MonkeyC VM

#25

Post by nradov »

tcbawo wrote: post #19
SturgeonsLaw wrote: post #2

Anyone got a recommendation for fitness wearables where you can opt out of having to sign up with an account, and can export data out of it in open/standard formats?

I used to buy Garmin fitness bands, but they seem to have been discontinued. Among other things, I wore them overnight and use them as an alarm clock. Having a charge that lasts 7+ days is such a huge benefit imho. Does anyone have any other recommendations? I currently have a Fitbit, but I would also prefer a model that didn’t have an associated cloud account.

Most current Garmin watches have 7+ days of battery life depending on how much you use the GPS.

Re: Compromising Garmin Sport Watches: A Deep Dive into GarminOS and Its MonkeyC VM

#26

Post by usrusr »

stonepresto wrote: post #13

What is the "so what" here? Are these internet connected?

During workouts internet connection is only through bluetooth to the companion app and by this somewhat regulated, but for updates, offline music storage and the like most also have wifi.

Tangent: that bluetooth uplink comes with some bewildering differences for those monkeyC apps, e.g. a request started to be consumed as json will happily talk to localhost on the companion app's host. A request started to consume a navigation itinerary will also do, except when the host isn't on the internet, then it fails to read localhost.

Re: Compromising Garmin Sport Watches: A Deep Dive into GarminOS and Its MonkeyC VM

#27

Post by tcbawo »

nradov wrote: post #25
tcbawo wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to buy Garmin fitness bands, but they seem to have been discontinued. Among other things, I wore them overnight and use them as an alarm clock. Having a charge that lasts 7+ days is such a huge benefit imho. Does anyone have any other recommendations? I currently have a Fitbit, but I would also prefer a model that didn’t have an associated cloud account.

Most current Garmin watches have 7+ days of battery life depending on how much you use the GPS.

I would prefer wearing a lightweight band overnight. I wish Garmin still made the Vivo* models

Re: Compromising Garmin Sport Watches: A Deep Dive into GarminOS and Its MonkeyC VM

#28

Post by Aldipower »

asdfman123 wrote: post #11
SturgeonsLaw wrote: post #2

Anyone got a recommendation for fitness wearables where you can opt out of having to sign up with an account, and can export data out of it in open/standard formats?

I know my COROS Pace allows for data export, but you probably need an account.

You need an account for that. As a bonus you download your files from the Alibaba Cloud fronted by Cloudfare. Garmin gives you local usb drive access to their devices.

Re: Compromising Garmin Sport Watches: A Deep Dive into GarminOS and Its MonkeyC VM

#29

Post by Aldipower »

SturgeonsLaw wrote: post #2

Anyone got a recommendation for fitness wearables where you can opt out of having to sign up with an account, and can export data out of it in open/standard formats?

I am always using Garmin devices locally as an USB drive. You can access all your workouts, planned structured workouts, routes, calender via the USB drive. This is why I am still with Garmin. I did not find any other manufacturer providing this. In fact I always upload my executed workout .fit files directly from the watch into Tredict. The planning and analysis software I am using.

Re: Compromising Garmin Sport Watches: A Deep Dive into GarminOS and Its MonkeyC VM

#30

Post by suddenclarity »

gnicholas wrote: post #12
jbj wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am pretty sure you can use the sports tracking functions in garmin without an account, if not, at least without connecting the watch to a phone. You just need to connect with usb to copy the activity file (.fit) which can be converted to tsv. regarding the passive tracking I dont have a clue

Really? I recently got a forerunner 265 and it definitely didn’t give the impression that was possible. The battery life is also nowhere near the advertised length (13 days). Most disappointing is that their support people say to expect about 60% of that, which is what I’m getting. That said, this will likely be the replacement for my Pebble. Battery life over 6 days, buttons to control music playback, and an English…

Are you doing something special with the watch? I've gotten several weeks out of all my Garmin models except the first one I bought around 2005. Battery life is one of their main selling points and the only reason I have one over a proper smartwatch. Maybe have a second look at optimising the settings for battery life. There are quite a few recommendations on how to do that.
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