GPS surf watches - why?

offshoreozzie's picture
offshoreozzie started the topic in Tuesday, 11 Aug 2015 at 11:56am

Please explain why the average punter would even remotely require one.

Who gives a shit if it's 933.67 yards and a top speed of 25.67mph. Is it now not good enough to just brag that we linked one from Outside Corner through Kiddieland (hypothetical example) and have the GoPro claim (!) to prove it.

Companies seem to be in a race to the bottom with meaningless technology born of societies insatiable appetite for narcissism. I get the need for a tide and even forecast integration but GPS?

Maybe it's that Nixon et al are winning the style game so Rip Curl have to bring to market some useless technological crap to even remotely compete or at least satisfy the product development quota for the year. I dunno. I am confused.

http://www.swellnet.com/news/swellnet-dispatch/2015/08/11/timmy-turner-s...

udo's picture
udo's picture
udo Tuesday, 11 Aug 2015 at 6:17pm

#

ACB__'s picture
ACB__'s picture
ACB__ Wednesday, 12 Aug 2015 at 8:52am

From selfie sticks (narcisstick) to gopro mounts and GPS watches. It must be soon they'll have technology where a drone flys above you filming your waves.

In this day and age, if there's no photo proof it may as well have never happened.

lostdoggy's picture
lostdoggy's picture
lostdoggy Wednesday, 12 Aug 2015 at 9:04am

The surfers are getting tagged with GPS before the sharks are, and they're funding it themselves.

wally's picture
wally's picture
wally Wednesday, 12 Aug 2015 at 9:22am
ACB__ wrote:

From selfie sticks (narcisstick) to gopro mounts and GPS watches. It must be soon they'll have technology where a drone flys above you filming your waves.

In this day and age, if there's no photo proof it may as well have never happened.

Yep, they have Lily, the waterproof drone that follows you to provide selfie footage.

barley's picture
barley's picture
barley Wednesday, 12 Aug 2015 at 10:41am

Its one way to dial in the peak!

caml's picture
caml's picture
caml Wednesday, 12 Aug 2015 at 11:32am

Its actually way overdue that you can log your tubes & know how far u traveled . I started timing tubes in indo 15 yrs ago & told timmy turner about it back then .

fartpaddler's picture
fartpaddler's picture
fartpaddler Wednesday, 12 Aug 2015 at 11:41am
ACB__ wrote:

From selfie sticks (narcisstick) to gopro mounts and GPS watches. It must be soon they'll have technology where a drone flys above you filming your waves.

In this day and age, if there's no photo proof it may as well have never happened.

ACB_ have a look at this...not far off, I think I actually saw on this site somewhere?

&spfreload=10

braudulio's picture
braudulio's picture
braudulio Wednesday, 12 Aug 2015 at 12:28pm
caml wrote:

Its actually way overdue that you can log your tubes & know how far u traveled . I started timing tubes in indo 15 yrs ago & told timmy turner about it back then .

Why overdue camel? Other than being narcissistic, what difference does it make? Who cares?

saltyone's picture
saltyone's picture
saltyone Thursday, 13 Aug 2015 at 3:55pm

hehe good topic. I agree, just another ego driven piece of consumerist plastic that will end up on the garbage pile once they invent one that also makes an espresso, cuts your hair, waxes your board , and times all of it to automatically download footage into a built in microchip in your beard

caml's picture
caml's picture
caml Wednesday, 12 Aug 2015 at 11:23pm

Ok well I wasn't timing my rides but I timed how long certain waves tubed for . Start to finish was surprisingly long

caml's picture
caml's picture
caml Wednesday, 12 Aug 2015 at 11:16pm

When the clock was invented im sure there was the critics too !

braudulio's picture
braudulio's picture
braudulio Thursday, 13 Aug 2015 at 9:12am
caml wrote:

When the clock was invented im sure there was the critics too !

Yeah, and now most of us are a slave to it.

Roy Stuart's picture
Roy Stuart's picture
Roy Stuart Sunday, 16 Aug 2015 at 9:52pm

Back in 2002 i wantedto know how fast my boards were travelling, partly for calculation of fin area chord etc.

There was nothing available so I rang a company called Neilsen Kellerman who made speed recording equipment for rowing, and made the case for a surfing unit. It was all impeller based gear back then no gps.

Anyway a little while later they came out with the 'Speedmate' but I didn't even know about it as we were off the grid.

Then when hand held gps became affordable in 2005 I finally got into speed and distance recording. I copped an amazing amount of abuse for it and was banned from the biggest surf forum on the planet largely because I didn't bow down and 'admit' that my speed readings were faked as charged by the inner circle of forum f-wits and industry goons with multiple troll handles. Apparently it is impossible to go 37mph on a surfboard... Terry Hendriks PhD wrote a paper in the 60's supposedly proving it.

So, the official word was that I was a liar, a charalatan, a delusional mental patient, and yes, narcissistic simply for being curious about relevant data and doing my best to record it.

Ergo stfu you idiots who immediately start slinging personality disorder accusations around just because someone might be interested in a data collecting surfing gadget.

If you don't care about it as claimed then prove it by shutting up.

If speed recording is so bad then all you blokes bitching about people not reaching the speed limit on the road , or exceeeding it while tailgating... well you must be emotionally disturbed too.