I’ve always been a bit impressed by Sigma. Here’s a company that is mostly unknown outside of Europe (or even Germany), yet they tend to put out high-quality products that compete technically with those from the bigger-name American and European brands. Now, I say ‘technically’, because in general Sigma nails the functionality aspects. After all, their SIGMA ROX 12 GPS that came out last summer is ahead of what popular bike computer maker Wahoo Fitness offers on any of their head units from a functionality standpoint, and it’s not terribly far behind Garmin in certain areas either. The challenge for Sigma instead has always been the inverse problem of ‘Form over function’, more of a ‘Function but not form’ sorta issue.
But first, an explainer. The company has two products here – the iD.FREE (169EUR) & iD.TRI (179EUR) I’m going to abbreviate them to just Tri and Free, simply so I can type faster. Both units include a bike mount in them, which is reasonably impressive – and both units are identical in hardware specs. The 10EUR difference simply adds structured workout, competitions, and multisport mode to the other model. I’m mostly going to use the Tri variant in this post.
However, what’s impressive is the list of pretty advanced features for a sub-$300 watch, let alone at sub-$200 watch. Here, a quick overview:
– GPS recording with up to 12hrs run-time (8hrs in 1-second recording)
– 7-Day always-on mode battery life
– Optical heart rate sensor (via Valencell)
– ANT+ & Bluetooth Smart Sensor support (HR/Power/Cadence/Speed)
– Barometric altimeter (no new Suunto/Garmin/Polar triathlon watch below like $400 has a baro altimeter)
– Full navigation via GPS track & Komoot integration
– Full structured workout support via app (or 3rd party .FIT files)
– Full multisport mode (have to set up via app)
– Geocaching mode (supports Geocaching.com)
– Glowing light on bottom used for zones/targets, notifications, workouts
– Smartphone notifications
– Automatic crash detection, emergency contact notification
– Medical information shown on watch in crash
– Normal activity tracker type functionality (steps/etc..)
– Waterproofed to 50-meters
– Weight at 42g (that’s less than any Garmin triathlon watch) with mineral glass display (not plastic)
That’s a super-strong lineup for any watch, let alone one in this price bucket. And again, it includes a bike mount. And hardware-wise, the strap is silicone with a metal buckle (most cheaper watches have plastic buckles). On the flip-side, note that there is no backlight in regular watch modes, though it does appear to come on when text messages come in. Kinda quirky.
With that – let’s get into the basics of the watch.
Watch Walk-Through:
You’ll start on the watch face, which as one might expect, shows the time. There’s two watch faces on the watch, but down in the bottom left you’ll find the steps for the day (you can also change this to HR, distance, or calories).
While my day today did have some 8-9 miles of hiking/running/etc, it didn’t quite have 29,000 steps worth. About 15,000 of that is due to driving the rental RV down to Eurobike. Apparently it’s a bumpy ride (the Garmin only accumulated a bit over 1,000 steps during that time period, including two gas station stops). In any case, I don’t own a car, so normally this wouldn’t bother me personally.
Most of these settings can be tweaked via the companion app. You can see things like the clock face, as well as more general bits like the alarm (configurable for Daily, or Mon-Fri), as well as bits like smart notifications enablement. It’s also where you can set the daily step target.
Looking at more general things, from the watch-face, if I tap the lower left or lower right buttons it’ll iterate through some quick daily stats including steps, heart rate, distance, and calories.
The heart rate comes from the Valencell reference optical HR sensor on the back of the unit. This is considered one of the best sensors out there from an accuracy standpoint, but perhaps more importantly, one of the best sensors out there when put on a super-lightweight watch like this (as compared to when it’s put on the far heavier and bouncier Suunto 9). Weight matters for optical HR accuracy on the wrist.
Back on one more general thing before the sports side of life, it does get smartphone notifications. And this is an area that shows some of Sigma’s inexperience. Right now you have to manually dismiss every notification, always. Meaning, they don’t automatically disappear after a set number of seconds, nor can you clear everything in one bunch. Nor can you set to ignore. There’s only one option – OK – and you *have* to press it each time on each notification. Notifications are toggled back in that settings menu (On/Off), and then ultimately controlled on your iOS/Android via the normal notifications center. This notification came in an hour ago, it’s still there:
Ok, with all that said, we’ll press the sacred red button. This will go ahead and bring up the main sports menus. It’s also where you can dig into settings and such as well:
Your options here are:
– Training (select a sport, off you go)
– Load Track (following a course/route)
– Games (various activities including Geocaching, ‘HR Slalom’, ‘Speed Recovery’ (HR), and ‘Activity Sprint’)
– Memory (history and minor analysis tidbits)
– Settings (piles upon piles of things to dork with)
We’ll temporarily defer looking at the ‘Training’ bits, since I’ll cover those in a second. So let’s look at ‘Load Track’ instead. It’s here that you can load tracks from the smartphone app or Sigma Datacenter (desktop app). You can’t seem to make a track directly on the smartphone app itself, though you can show nearby routes via GPSies integrated right into the app:
I will give credit to the above that it’s pretty cool, the using your current location to find nearby trails. Albeit only a handful of trails, but still – something I don’t see in other apps.
And with Komoot if you’ve got a Komoot account you can integrate that as well, all right within the app:
All of that will sync via Bluetooth Smart to the app once you send it over. Though I find the sync can often fall apart and I’ve got to manually sync things. In that same vein, it’s super weird to me that after I’ve synced (usually manually) from the watch to the app, that I have to then remember to press the button to sync that again to the Sigma Cloud platform. Without doing so you won’t get your workouts on sites like Strava or such. I don’t understand why I have to take so many manual steps. It should just be instant when my workout completes.
And while I’m on the app – this really gets to my core complaint about the Sigma lineup: They need to invest in some graphic designers. This is the main page of the app when you open it. And if I swipe once, I get this second page:
As you’ll see above, the watch is currently not syncing today, but let’s ignore that. Why on earth is 60% of my entire iPhone screen taken up with showing me how many steps I did today? And the same goes for showing me activities by week (using the ‘Week number’ system that’s commonly used in Europe, but virtually never used in North America). So much of the app feels like 1997. They desperately need to re-think the user interface. The same applies to the Sigma Datacenter desktop app (and was a core complaint of mine back with the Sigma ROX 12 GPS).
And, once it did finally sync, here’s what I get. Except – I can’t tap on anything. What does the ‘Low 2:13h’ mean? I get that 31,302 is my steps for the day, but I can’t tap on anything, and there’s no explainer text anywhere.
And I get it – there will be some of you that say ‘User interface doesn’t matter, I just want accurate stats’. Which is fine I guess, except that I see no reason they have to be mutually exclusive. Nobody actually likes using clunky interfaces, and anyone that says they do are the same people that say they don’t pee in wetsuits. I’d easily go as far as arguing that the singular reason Sigma hasn’t really caught-on outside the German market is because of the clunky user interface of their apps (and to a lesser extent, sometimes their devices, though the ROX12 was pretty smooth device-wise).
On the bright side – I do like the usage of the little LED along the bottom. This is used in a pile of scenarios, from notification of an incoming text message, to heart rate zones during a structured workout, to when it displays an error message for something. It’s also used in things like showing you that you’ve progressed to a higher level of workouts or activity this week:
You can see how even on your wrist, it’s super easy to see:
In any case, let’s wrap-up real quick in settings before we get to the run. It’s here we can pair sensors (ANT+ or Bluetooth Smart), as well as pair our phone:
It’s also where we can set various device settings like units or language, alarms, keylock, the current altitude, GPS update rate, and so on. More or less all the major stuff you’d expect:
You can also configure user settings here as well, like your weight/height/age. Plus also where you can view medical information if you’ve added it via the app.
In one way – mainly the display rectangular-ness, the device reminds me of a TomTom watch. Though it’s clear this is all Sigma from the ground up. For one, it’s a heck of a last faster – but most notably, it’s also a bit more Android-like. Tons of things you can toggle and tweak. Whereas TomTom was all about minimalism.
An Example Workout:
Ok, with all that set, let’s go back into the training section, pick a sport, and go running, hiking, or something. I’ve done both. Even some rides too. First up, choose your sport. You’ve got Running, Cycling, Swimming, Hiking, Fitness (Gym), Skiing, and Other.
There aren’t explicitly indoor variants of these, but rather you just skip finding GPS, and then go ahead and start the activity. I’ve found in general that GPS acquisition is often slow, and usually takes at least 2-3 attempts. The watch has a very fast time-out if it doesn’t find GPS, so you have to keep telling it to try again. This is in numerous locations that I’ve tried including: Amsterdam, New York City, the glorious town of Putz, Germany – and the middle of the Austrian Alps. It’s just rarely successful the first time around.
Once you’re ready, simply press the ‘Start’ button (the red button again), and you’re good to go. One of the cool things about the watch is that it mirrors Garmin’s ability to see data fields even when paused (a surprising number of other watches don’t let you see data fields/screens when paused). And of course, you’ll see those same fields when you resume again.
Atop that, it’ll actually briefly show you the name/function of each data field on your data pages when you switch pages:
Fear not, you can turn this off if you don’t like it (it’s a bit long for my taste). The switching of data pages is super quick – instant. I mean, it should be. But it’s instant-instant. There’s no lag whatsoever. There’s also a few graphical pages, like the altitude profile:
And there’s even a data field for weather. Albeit, I’m not terribly certain on telling me if it’s going to start raining, or was raining (Post-Thought Update: I then got rained on). Still, I appreciate the thought.
The heart rate will by default come from the optical HR sensor, though again, you can pair an ANT+ or Bluetooth Smart heart rate strap. I’ve done testing with both the optical HR sensor and two different external ANT+ HR sensors (Garmin HRM-DUAL & Polar OH1+). I’ll show some charts down below.
From a wearability standpoint, it’s nice and light, and the strap is high quality and doesn’t feel too stiff or weird. I’m happy there.
Once you’ve completed your workout you’ll be able to see some summary stats on the watch itself, as well as upon sync (manual or automatic) over on the Sigma app. Or, if you’re using the desktop, the desktop app. All of which can ultimately be synced with Sigma Datacenter and then up to various 3rd party platforms like Strava, TrainingPeaks, and 2Peak.
So how does accuracy look? Ask and you shall receive. We’ll start first with a run on relatively flat terrain. This one compared the Polar Vantage V with the OH1 Plus connected for HR. While on the Garmin side as a reference point we’ve got the FR945 with the HRM-DUAL chest strap. I know, these are both more expensive units, but frankly in all my years of testing that hasn’t mattered. After all, most of these companies are using the exact same GPS chipset anyway, and half of them are using the exact same optical HR sensor. It’s how they use it that matters.
Let’s start with GPS. In this case, it’s a simple run around the rowing basin, though, about half of it is in the trees, and half of it in more open fields. Kinda a blend. Here’s that data set:
In general in this section below (both going out, and coming back), it wobbles quite a bit into the trees and off the into the water, and isn’t anywhere near as accurate as the Polar unit:
It’s getting the general gist of the route right, but doing it in a drunk-driver sorta way:
And the lower section:
Honestly, I think we’ve seen enough on this run, it’s not good.
As for the heart rate side of things, despite the watch saying it was ready – it apparently wasn’t. You can see how the HR stays stuck at 70 for a while, before it catches on. Also, in case you’re wondering – apparently I didn’t press start on the FR945? Or I did (I’m like 99.99% sure I did), and the watch crashed and lost the workout (a first). Or, aliens. Either way, that’s why it starts 12 minutes in.
In any case, once the Sigma unit locks heart rate at the 3-minute marker, it holds it nice and steady for the remainder of the workout. A bit of a wobble here and there around the 35-minute marker however. Not huge, but worth noting.
Let’s go look at another GPS track, this time up in the mountains. While I know the flat-lands were challenging, perhaps we just need something more robust to get some good GPS accuracy. This time I’m off doing a trail run in Austria. It’s basically just up, and back down. I suppose like all runs in the Alps. Here’s the data set:
At a high level, things don’t look too shabby. The lines are all atop each other – that’s a good sign! So let’s zoom in. Note that the vast majority of this is in the forest, though there are some open field sections as I descend (the north/upper portion of this image).
Let’s look at the ascent first. This was slow, as one might imagine when it’s a 20%+ incline. But, things look good here too:
So let’s skip ahead as I start descending a bit, and initially, that’s across some large meadows of sorts:
And oddly enough, this is where the Sigma goes astray a bit. It’s almost like it struggles with each terrain, and does better with hard terrain. Though, admittedly that is a pretty short lasting issue. We’re talking only a few hundred meters and then it locks back on again.
The remainder of the zig-zags back down into the village are perfectly fine:
Now it’s worth noting that the run today (literally, just 4 hours ago), is on a newer firmware version than the run 2 days ago. There’s supposed to be some fixes in there, though I’m not sure if they were for GPS. I’ll likely post a few more GPS & HR tracks over the coming days. I have more GPS tracks from the previous few weeks, including in the mountains and in Amsterdam, but they were all on the previous GPS firmware.
Either way, on the whole, for this run – given the terrain and huge trees, was actually very good for it overall. I’d have no complaints with using this GPS track for anything on this run.
(Note: All of the charts in these accuracy portions were created using the DCR Analyzer tool. It allows you to compare power meters/trainers, heart rate, cadence, speed/pace, GPS tracks and plenty more. You can use it as well for your own gadget comparisons, more details here.)
Wrap-Up:
Ultimately, like with the Sigma ROX 12 – the company might be onto something with this watch. They’re effectively taking the place of the ultra-budget market from the now defunct TomTom wearables line – but doing so with a far greater and more capable product (at least in terms of technical functionality). The thing to keep in mind with Sigma is that they aren’t actually a new kid on the block. They’ve been around the block more times than a toddler on a tricycle. And they have very strong brand recognition in Germany and other parts of Europe, and will show that on Wednesday with a sprawling booth at Eurobike. One that’ll be packed with people as always.
The challenge for the company though is whether or not they want to break out of that mold. Do they want a global product that competes on a global scale with the likes of Garmin, Suunto, and Polar (and to a far lesser extent, Apple/etc..)? Or are they content with the product they have and raking in the budget buyer with what is arguably a great physical watch, albeit with some minor quirks?
If they want to expand beyond their safe zone, then that’s gonna be spending some money to overhaul their app platforms: Phone, desktop, and web. It’s as simple as that. The apps as designed today just don’t cut the mustard in 2019 (let alone even 4-6 years ago). They do have the underlying technical bones though, they just don’t have a cohesive and coherent user interface for this decade.
But again – I see promise here. And the pricing is incredible. Seriously – 179EUR for a full-featured multisport product is an astoundingly good value. Let alone one that can also follow courses, do structured workouts, and has a nifty green glowing light on the bottom. Everyone loves a good glowing light.
With that – thanks for reading!
(Availability note: My understanding is the product is set to ship immediately, this week, starting in Europe. Availability beyond that region-wise is a bit unclear still.)
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Sigma: Let’s name our new watches like the VW ID.3!
Volkswagen lawyer: Hold my Dieselscandal file!
Curious how you would compare this to the Coros Pace which has most of these features for $200? Admittedly, this is a pretty cool looking watch compared to the super ho hum Coros.
The devices have hit the FCC website so I suspect US availability soon!
It’s great these watches have a barometer at this price point but I’d rather have a watch that can measure temperature and humidity, which also affect performance and can’t be determined from GPS data. Do any sport watches measure temperature and humidity?
Virtually all watches that have a barometer also show/measure/record temperature, however, humidity is a rare one.
The challenge with temperature though is that it’s on your wrist, so that’s a bit impacted by body heat.
I came it to slam them for such an ugly product and wondering how they could compete with Garmin.
But that price is a relief and looks like a great watch for someone who just wants to track sports rather than wear it all-day
not more ugly than Apple watch. Actualy the shape is pretty similar than an apple watch
Ray, thank you for this post! I live in Germany and I use Sigma products since many years. It is good to see that they are diving into wider possibilities while they don’t leave their ‘cheap but trusty’ playground…
You mentioned a bike mount thing. Could you show a picture of this?
Thx and keep up your good work!
Hi JJS,
the bike mount is quite unique for the two watches. You can mount or dismount the watch easily with one hand.
Also it is mountable on the handlebar and also on most out-front mounts…
I will attach a screenshot from the currently launching website.
Thanks and have a nice day!
Sorry, the picture did not upload…
Who’s idea was it to put SIGMA in big white text on the front. No one will wear that
Hi DC,
thank for the review. Can the watch be charged during workout? I couldn’t find any picture of the charger cable. Are the watch files accessible as USB mass storage?
Cheers,
pingi
Hi Pingi,
let me give you a quick answer for your question.
Mechanically, the watch could be charged during the workout, however, we currently do not have this feature implemented in the software. I guess you are asking for some ultra- run usage or similar?
Yes, the watch is accessible as a masstorage. So you can download the files as .FIT format or also upload structured workouts e.g. from TrainingPeaks in .FIT Format. Just drop them into the “Workout” folder (iD.TRI only).
I have attached a picture of the charger.
Hope that helps!
Really great to see the manufacturer responding to comments here Nik. Great job!
Hi Nik,
thank you for the fast reply!
Yes, my major outings are around 9h (in winter too), few times even 14+h and I am planning to try some 24h events/summits. Also I know there is a huge influence on the battery based on the temperature..
Cheers,
pingi
Yup – I agree – I love it when manufs reply in the comments and help folks out! Thanks Nik!
Welcome 🙂
Happy to help with technical questions!
“On the bright side – I do like the usage of the little LED along the bottom…”
I see what you did there….
Seems odd to offer two distinct SKUs with all the extra production and logistics that involves, for just a €10 difference in retail price. Maybe they’re testing the market and will drop one of these after a few months?
Heart rate strap??
Hi John,
off course, you can connect any ANT+ / BLE compatible chest belt.
Further, Speed and Cadence Sensors as well as Power Meters can be connected.
Hope that helps!
> Nik (Sigma) …as well as Power Meters…
Did you tested data transfer from STRYD ?
are power meters supported in running mode as well (e.g. STRYD) or in bike mode only ?
STRYD only works with iD.TRI in bike mode ie detected as a bike power meter
Ray, do you intend to to a full review. I am very interested in GPS accuracy. I am looking at this as a ‘cheapish’ option for my children orienteering training/events. Previously our go to option was Polar M430, but it is quite bulky on small wrists. This looks like it is slimmer/ smaller. HR accuracy and all the training bits are fun and motivational, but I would mostly use it to look at the gps tracks post orienteering event for analysis. And good GPS is a important for this.
TBD on a full review. I might just add a few more things to the post/etc..
My concern is mostly around availability. I generally don’t review products that are only available in a single country or region, or more specifically – don’t have more global plans. If a product says ‘We’ll only be available at launch in the US, but plan to expand beyond early next year’, that’s totally different.
Or, frankly, if a product is available in at least the US/Canada – that’s 40% of my audience. Whereas Germany is…like 4.56% according to the metrics today.
Finally, sometimes I’ll review products that are region-limited, but show great potential or are hugely innovative in their field. An example of that is the Wattbike Atom, which was only UK-available, but really lead the charge on indoor ‘smart’ bikes.
Only 4,56? Need to talk to my friends… -_-
Would be interested to see your full audience region / country % according to the “metrics”?
Thanks for the hands-on review, Ray! Afterall a full review would be great! 🙂
Is the “following a course” function can be used during a running session? I mean is there an additional data screen for the navigation? Like on the Ambit3 series?
Thanks
Zoltan
What Zoltan said, I’d be really interested in the course-following screens etc
Meanwhile I found some additional info on the manufacturers webpage:
link to sigmasport.com
But I’m still not sure, whether this screen is accessible during a running session or not.
On the “Service”-tab you can find the manual: link to sigmasport.com
“3.1 Loading the tracks on the device and navigate
[…]
You can start a track from the main menu level. To do so, select the menu item “Loading track”, select the desired sport profile and start the training session. The track will then be displayed on an extra screen.”
I missed that, thanks! Good old RTFM. 🙂
Good news, anyways. That makes this watch a real contender for me.
Hey Guys,
sorry for the late reply. But glad you found the information..! 🙂
The “track navigation” is available in all sports profiles, so you can use it in running, cycling hiking (iD.FREE) etc. mode. Only for swimming we did not implement it for good reason 😉
The navigation page will always load as a separate page, so you will have all your “regular” training values on hand.
Great work Ray.
Does the ‘swimming’ option include open water and pool swimming?
Hi Adam,
you can enable GPS for the swimming profile. However, we currently recommend to use it on a buoy or in the swimming cap (like many other manufacturers do…). As we are not fully happy with the GPS distance accuracy when worn on the wrist. We are optimizing this atm.
Pool swimming is fully supported, and different pool lengths can be set.
Hope that helps!
Thanks Nik
Hi Nik, but what is the setup when you wear a chest band (as the wrist seems not too accurate 🙁 ) and you do a triathlon… in the water you want the wrist measurement (as the chest will not work/send through the water… does it automatically switch if one signals falls away? How is this arranged here?
Thanks, Freek
i was just a little curious so i went to the SIGMA page to look it up. This 180euro watch has a barometer (says that it is measuring air pressure). have to say, i am interested in this watch. Will definitely come back for your in depth review, thx Ray!!!
ok the barometer is listed in your hands on,i just read over it :/ … nevertheless, great hands on!!
Ray, at what point do you pull the plug on a post? This product seemed to throw up more red flags than green, so to speak. I’m not sure how it will succeed given the issues surrounding notifications and the core functions of HR and GPS lock time and tracking. A previous-generation Garmin watch beats it on features and price, other than barometer.
I don’t think it threw up too many red flags. The GPS did better after the firmware update on Friday evening, so that helped. HR is TBD another workout post-update (though given that’s outsourced, there’s really nothing that will change there).
I agree that a previous-gen Garmin would easily beat it, though probably not in this small a form factor. For example you could get a FR920XT on sale for sub-$200, but that’s also a beast of a watch physically.
As for giving up on posts, I usually don’t tend to give-up because a product is bad. Usually once I start investing real effort into it, I’m going to write about it no matter what. Typically speaking what happens if I start seeing problems on an unannounced/unreleased product is that I’ll ‘downgrade’ my post plan from ‘Full In-Depth Review’ to ‘Hands-on’ type posts, meaning that the company needs to put more time into it because for whatever reason, the product I have in my hands at this point simply isn’t ready for prime time, and as such shouldn’t be released to consumers as-is. I generally only write full reviews on final hardware/software, and for products that are expected to ship within the next hours/days, or at worst perhaps a week.
Sometimes that can simply be because I don’t get the final firmware until a day or two prior, which isn’t enough time for me to fully test all the scenarios (I can sometimes in trainers, because it’s a much more static scenario).
It’s a trend that you’ll see on full display this week in a lot of upcoming products that frankly just aren’t baked enough yet.
Right. So how many Full In-Depth reviews are we getting in the next 72 hours and how many Hands-on posts? 🙂
Somewhere between 8-11 Hands-on/First look like posts, and between 3-6 In-Depth Reviews in the next 72 hours. Though, it seems like the number of products making the transition from Review to First Look/Hands-on is sliding with each successive workout I do. :-/
Wow. May the Haribo be with you.
Don’t worry, I’m covered! Fresh pickup at the grocery this afternoon.
Ray – can you take laps with this watch (eg use on a running track)?
Hi,
you can take laps manually (by pushing the start button during training) and also enable Automatic Laps based on Distance (e.g. every 1km) or Time (e.g. every 5 mins).
You will get a lap pop-up and can see the laps after training in the training summary, memory and also in the Apps.
Hope that helps 🙂
“then that’s gonna me spending some money”. You can be forgiven for “gonna”, but “me”?
Doh, thanks!
Ray I’ve never had a problem with my Garmin’s while driving, until I became a lorry driver. Now I’m getting 10k a day just bouncing around on the air seat.
Is Stryd powermeter supported? How? How much Stryd fields van we het in 1 screen like power lap average, power 5s average, power Total average, etc.?
Hello Marco,
Stryd is not explicitly supported. We have focused on the compatibility to bike power meters at the current stage.
However, I will have another look into this topic.
You can freely define the displayed values for training, so you can have up to 3 values on one page and a total of 6 training pages per sport profile.
Have a nice day!
Thanks Nik,
Ik hope you Will support Stryd and I’m sure a lot people want it..Garmin does not support native power si you can get An advantage there. Thousands of Stryd users want it. Please focus and you will have a great USP.
More as 3 valies will be better. 3 sound reallly bad to have a good overview.
Can you extend the battery life similarly wth this watch by reducing the sampling rate?
This really reminds me of my TomTom Adventurer which has a 24 hour battery life (with 2s GPS sampling rate) and I wondered if this can compete.
Hi Belinda,
the watch has two GPS modes, the low power (“ECO”) mode already puts the GPS chipset into a low power option. The sampling rate in this case is not really relevant for the power consumption.
When comparing to the Adventurer, you have to also compare the physical size of the devices. And you can see that the SIGMA watch is a lot smaller and lighter, so I am afraid 24h runtime will not be possible with our current chipset. Nevertheless, we are still working on the optimization of power consumption and will hopefully be able to reduce the battery drainage without loosing performance with a FW update.
Thanks Nik! Interesting that this is smaller, I hadn’t realised that.
Sigma didn’t have a polished product with their wired units. My past experience and some of the comments here indicate that sigma can not be trusted…their old wireless units were hardly better. They were also spendy for the lack of features when Garmin came on the market.
I would not agree. I had 2 HR monitors and 2 bike computers from Sigma and did not have any problems with them.
Thanks for the Hands-on Ray.
For me this looks to have all the features I’d want, at a good price and a nice small to wear size, so as not to bother me to wear casually as well as for training.
I have tried lots of the more well known brands for such devices over the years (Garmin, Suunto and Polar), and some have been great, and others have fallen below my expectations, so I guess I have been looking for something new, and this has appeared just at the right time.
I’d been keen to try recently a TomTom wearable (probably the Adventurer), but shied away from them when I realized that support had dried up from the manufacturer over recent times, plus the sizing also looked a little big too, when I looked in detail.
I am UK based, so it will be interesting to see on availability, but hope they make it to these shores soon.
In France the price on Amazon is only 135€
link to amazon.fr
The only feature I like on Garmin Connect is the calendar with all the colors.
Most of the time I go directly to Strava to check my activities.
For triathlon I need a basic and not too expensive sport watch (I lost my 935 during a triathlon swim).
All the complex features are only usefull during training or hiking.
For cycling I already have a Garmin edge 1000 (and an old edge 800 mounted on my bike for triathlons)
I will wait a bit to get more comments on this Sigma watch.
Regards
Thanks dli, looks like there is a listing for both the Tri and Free on the UK version too if you do a search. Also a little less in £s, but guess that is the exchange rate currently.
Great article (I would be very interested in a complete review).
To Ray or Nick, I see on one of the the ID TRI screenshots the hiking profile, but from Sigma’s website it should only be available on the ID FREE. Can you confirm if the hiking and skiing profiles are available on the ID TRI?
Also, is it possible to see the elevation profile and progress on the watch (with a loaded track) while running?
Finally, I see that it not possible to charge the watch during an activity. Is it something that is planned to be implemented in a future update?
Thanks a lot
Benjamin
Hi Benjamin,
thanks for your questions:
Sport profiles on the watches are:
iD.TRI: Swim, Bike, Run, Other
iD.FREE: Swim, Bike, Run, Fitness, Hiking, Skiing, Other
You can see the elevation profile in two ways. One, without a track loaded, you will see the elevation of the past 2 km. Second, if a track is loaded, you will see 500m of past elevation and 1.5km of elevation of the track. So you will see what is ahead of you in terms of elevation.
The elevation profile can be used independant of the Sport profile. You can simply set it as one training parameter in one of your pages (a total of 6 pages with max of 3 values per page is possible). Setting is done on App or DataCenter.
I will look into the “charging during training” question, as this has been raised before. So we wight implement it in one of the first updates.
If you have any further questions, I will be happy to help!
Hallo Nik,
I’d appreciate to have all default profiles also available on the ID.Tri rather than to define them on my own.
Hi,
Thanks a lot for the details. Is there a place were we can check the change logs for the future updates ?
Benjamin
Hi Benjamin,
I guess the best way is to follow our social channels. We will post updates there normally.
Hi Nick,
I am wondering whether there are any plans to bring the skiing profile to the ID.Tri. Alternatively, how well would the ‘Other’ profile work for skiing (e.g., Can you customize it to give you pretty much the same information such as descents etc?)? Thanks!
I am triathlete, but also like to go skiing! However, buying both the TRI and the FREE version is unfortunately not an option for me.
Ray,
In the example workout section during your Alps run:
“It’s almost like it struggles with each terrain, and does better with hard terrain.”
Did you mean “easy”?
Hi Thanks for the great review Ray. These watches fill a gap in the market delivering all the essential features that a Triathlete wants plus a few more unique features at a “reasonable” price point. I was just wondering how the pool swimming works and if they have advanced metrics such as stroke rate, number of strokes, etc. Looking forward to the in-depth review in a few weeks and well done to Sigma!
I‘m always super interested in creating and following a course.
So, as I see it right now, you can follow a course on this watch. But, it has to come from komoot or gpsies?
There is no easy way to create your own course (in the app, on their website, or Whatever) and then use that on the watch?
So, if I’m in a new town and want to run 5k, around that lake I saw on google maps, without getting lost and without checking google maps the whole time. What’s the easiest way to plan and make that run?
L
Hi,
you can use our PC Software (Windows or Mac) to create routes easily and synch them to the watch. Then you can download routes from Komoot and Gpsies as well. Another option for navigation is using the Komoot Navigation. So you plan your route inside the Komoot App, start the Navigation on the App and will receive turning notifications on your watch. However, for the last method, the smartphone needs to be in your pocket.
So to summarize, there are many different ways to navigate with the watch, including self-created courses.
Hope that helps!
Hello,
does it have builtin GPS or not? Which satellite systems are supported? How does automatic fall detection sensor work? How long does it take to dial the default contact?,
Hi Martin,
yes, off course, GPS is integrated in the watch. There is no further support of other sattelite systems, so no GLONASS, Galileo etc. only GPS.
The fall detection is based on acceleration and Speed. After a fall is detected during training, the watch will vibrate for 30s and alert you. If you do not react in this time period and our App is connected, your emergency contacts will receive a SMS with your coordinates etc. Further, the watch will display your Name, Bloodgroup, medication etc. (you have to manually input this information via our App).
Hope that helps! 🙂
Why no GLONASS, Galileo etc. ?
Well, there are two reasons.
1. Price. GPS chipsets with mutliple satellite types are much more expensive than GPS only chipsets. As we wanted to offer both watches for a really good price, we cut down on chipset price. Still the chipset is a very good one, and the performance is also good.
2. power consumption. With a small watch you need to find ways to reduce power consumption and the GPS chipset is a ver power consuming part. GPS only simply needs less power.
Kind regards,
Nik
Hello Nick,
thank you for your answer. I don’t know if I missed it, but can I change the GPS logging interval to extend battery life? And I do not know whether I also overlooked whether the watch has a blood oxygen sensor.
Best regards,
Martin
Hi Martin,
you cannot change the logging interval, but you can set the GPS chipset to a low power mode (calles ECO mode inside the watches). This will extend the battery life to 12 hours approx. However, GPS accuracy is slightly decreased with this mode.
There is no blood oxygen sensor in the watches.
Thanks and have a nice day.
Nik
Michelle HAwk at [somewhere dot com] stole your review:
[Redacted link to plagiarizing website]
Also stole the Apple watch review as well.
Yeah. I found an e-mail address today that might go somewhere, but probably doesn’t. If not, they mistakenly used GoDaddy as their hosting provider. Which is great for me, less so for them. GoDaddy takes a pretty hard view of DMCA requests (in my favor) and will simply wipe off their entire account if they don’t quickly respond.
I’ll give them a few days before escalating over.
Thanks for the heads up!
(Also: I’m going to break the link in this thread, simply so it doesn’t give them more SEO credit)
Just noticed similar plagiarised reviews for Garmin Venu and Marq Athletic.
Can Sigma iD.Tri shows distance and speed from Garmin’s Ant+ foot pod for running?
Hi Bruce,
No actually the ANT+ foot pod can’t be connected.
Kind regards,
Nik
Hi Nik,
Thank you very much for the reply.
Cheers.
Is there any chance to get into it TRI or FREE some 24×7, vo2max and recovery functions. Or do they have them?
Thanks in advance
Hi Dan,
iD.TRI and iD.FREE has 24×7 monitoring. But it do not have vo2max or recovery functions.
Kind regards,
Nik
Hello, just got my Sigma Id.Free today and so far so good.
Nevertheless i have a few questions for which i could not find an answer in the user manual:
1) how do you see past messages/sms you have received? It seems as if you press OK the message is deleted from the Watch
2) What is the backlight used for? (it is located between the Watch and the armband)
3) How do i see the clock during the night? The Watch does not seem to have a “light”
4) How do i see just the clock on the main display? I would like to remove the calories/steps/HR and so on
5) How does the crash detection exactly works?
Thanks, Pascal
Just got my id free yesterday too, great price on Amazon.it (147 euro)
2/3) don’t mess with the smart light that is only for notifications, for the screen backlight press + and – together (see the manual)
4) in the settings you can put tracking OFF, I did it too because the step counter is a totally random 🙂
so like this you will see magically appear the date near the time instead of step calories etc.
5) it was explain in some posts before and in the manual (download it from the website, not the paper one inside the box)
I really like the look and super light weight, I will test it soon on the mountains!
The first thing that I really miss btw is the altitude view using the barometric altimeter… you can see it only during a session.
Thanks Gabriele for your answers!
I realise too that if you select “race” for the Watch face, the steps/hr disappear, but no date displayed.
Furthermore you can customize your activity screens using the app or the sigma data center.
One last note, it seems as if there is an internal thermometer in the Watch.I’ve not been able to test its accuracy yet.
Regards, Pascal
Thanks for the hands-on. It convinced me to buy an ID.FREE, mainly for the Komoot navigation and the Geocaching integration. I got mine yesterday. Before the ID.FREE, I used an Amazefit Bip and I already start missing a few things:
– I need at least 2 alarms (Mo-Fr and Sa) but can only set one on the ID.FREE.
– A raise to turn on the light feature would be great instead of pressing +/-
– The ID.FREE is missing basic watch features like Countdown and Stopwatch.
I also was not able to get the Komoot navigation working. None of the Bluetooth connect options in the Komoot settings let me connect the ID.FREE. Did anybody get this working?
Hello, i was able to connect to the ID.FREE from the Komoot app on IOS using Bluetooth.
Funny enough the iD.FREE is listed as “unknown Bluetooth device” when you select SIGMA iD.Free from the menu “What do you want to connect to” from the Komoot app.
Regards, Pascal
That’s strange. On my Android phone I only get a selection of boke computers when I open the Bluetooth connect menu in the Komoot app. I already updated to the latest Sigma Link and Komoot app versions. Maybe I need a new firmware version for the ID.FREE. I’ll check that once I am home.
Thanks,
Marko
As you can see from the snapshot, the IOS version of the Koomot app has the SIGMA watches option
FYI, the IOS Koomot app is version 10.0.03 (2391) and my Id.Free firmware is 1.41
Regards, Pascal
With the help of the Sigma support I was able to get the Komoot navigation working. As a workaround I had to select the “Metz E-Bike-Display” from the Kommot Bluetooth connect settings to get the iD.FREE connected. Now it’s in the list with its correct name and navigation works like a charm.
Does the Sigma watch bring HR broadcast e.g. to bike computers?
The watch does not seem to broadcast the HR as an ANT+ sensor. At least my ROX 11 did not find any sensors. The ID.FREE connection settings also only have an option to connect to ANT+ sensors.
I was thinking right now… the bluetooth is always on?? I mean, there isn’t a way to turn it off or airplane mode etc.
I really don’t like the idea of having a constant bluetooth transmission on my skin.
Honestly I don’t think that without pairing a phone the bluetooth is off…
Can this connect to a running power meter (stryd). Thanks
This could be a real contender if the gps is good in the firmware tweaked post release. I will follow.
There are sure some limitations and annoyances but the size, square screen and barometer still makes it compete with more expensive watches.
The watch is indeed usable as a masstorage and you can download the files as .FIT format but what a strange and complicated way to name the file!!
This is the filename of my activity:
24AF967F-3437-1440-0F8C-7A9F38F38772_937479019700_2019-09-15_11-48-40.fit
Please Sigma, make the filename much shorter.
Thanks, Pascal
Hello.
I received my ID.TRI last wednesday.
My comments about it :
– Price : 135€ amazon changed the price from 135€ to 175€
– RUN and BIKE activities : GPS is ok compared with 935
A little bit slower than 935 to acquire GPS (+10 seconds).
Altimeter calibration : so far I did not manage to make it work.
The altimeter seems to be ok so far (graph and D+).
Heart rate is ok when running (better than 935, the same as VA3M)
– SWIM : not tested (all swimming pools are closed at the moment)
The swimming pool length is not easy to change…. you have to go through a lot of screens.
– Day to Day use : works fine for me but I noticed a few limitations :
The battery indicator is not precised (% indicator would be better).
The battery drains a lot when you leave the heart rate monitor ON.
Heart rate value is not going below 42 (my resting HR is around 34).
– SIGMA applications : You can export the activity in FIT, GPX files.
But the FIT/GPX file import feature is not working for me.
(I wanted to import an activity from garmin to Sigma).
Regards.
” SIGMA applications : You can export the activity in FIT, GPX files.
But the FIT/GPX file import feature is not working for me.
(I wanted to import an activity from garmin to Sigma).”
It seems as if the FIT import is not possible (there is no FIT filter in the import box) and i confirm that the GPX import does not work.
It recognizes the file, but it never shows in the application
Ciao, Pascal
Hi Pascal,
Unfortunately you can’t import .fit files or any kind of activities from other brands. If you import a .gpx file, it will be show up in “Tracks”. So you can upload this .gpx files to the device to follow the route during the training.
Kind regards,
Nik
Are there any plans to export the daily steps or other activities to Google Fit / Apple Health from either the Sigma Link App or the Sigma Cloud? Having this data locked in the Sigma ecosystem is a real downer for me.
Hello,
a few more comments :
– Sleep duration : at work (behind a computer, not moving a lot) it thinks I am sleeping … Yesterday the sleep duration was ok when I checked before going to work. But it increased while I was at work…
– Today I tried to connect my garmin footpod and it did not work (no device found). I checked with VA3M (which is having display issues) and the footpod was detected correctly.
– Altimeter calibration : the value you can set in the application is not taken into account. After uploading your file you have to change the altitude of your starting point manually in the application itself. This is not a big issue for me because I am only looking at the D+ value.
As said before the potential of this watch is good (not hardware issue so far) but it needs software upgrades.
By the way I still didn’t find how to turn off the watch.
I wanted to reboot it because the notifications were not working any more, I rebooted my phone but still issues with notifications…
Regards
You can restart the watch by pressing the START button for several seconds. Be sure to be on the main screen and that key lock is not active.
Thank you !
It works but you have to press the START button more than 5s…
Finally I tested the swim mode (swimming pool 25m no GPS).
Seems to work fine, my only concern is the optical heart rate always ON.
The HR values are very wrong : way too high, and I did not find a way to turn it off !!!
As I see it, HR is using a lot off battery for no good reasons : 30% of my battery is gone during my 1 hour of SWIM !!! it is not good at all
I doubt that this watch is suited for a 6h half IM triathlon (with this firmware)… 30% for the swim + 30-40% for the run (OHR active) it leaves only 30% for cycling (3h-4h depending on the elevation profile).
The battery duration is said to be 8hrs with GPS 1s…
Regards
As the hardware seems to be exactly the same between the iD.Free and the ID.Tri, could you turn the iD.Free into an iD.Tri or vice versa via firmware update/change?
As the iD.Tri is 10 euros more expensive than the iD.Free i could understand that Sigma would charge this amount to be able to perform that operation.
Just curious 🙂
Regards
Hello, the Sigma watch does not seem to have the “quick GPS” facility, which is not good for a watch from 2019.
On my TomTom Runner 3 from 2016, once it has locked onto the GPS signal. I can stop the exercise and restart it and it will find the satellites within seconds. On the Sigman iD.Free, if you do the same operation, it will redo a complete GPS finding, which could last up to 20/30 seconds (or more, i did not count to be honest).
Furthermore, yesterday during the testing of the Komoot app with the watch, it worked like a charm at the start, but then for some unknown reason, the watch lost the bluetooth connection and was not able to re-establish it,
A restart (holding the start button for more than 5 seconds) did not help, only a complete reset of the watch helped.
Let’s hope, it won’t repeat.
Regards, Pascal
How did you do the reset of the watch? The watch produced a corrupt activity file for one of my bike rides. That is now causing the sync to fail. I am also not able to delete the file neither from the watch nor via mounted mass storage device.
The reset of the watch was done from the watch itself:
settings/device/
go to the last screen where you’ll find the “reset device” option.
Be carefull, the “reset” erases everything…
I hope i was clear enough 🙂
Regards, Pascal
What are the main differences between this watch and the polar vintage M?
Besides the gps & barometer?
i feel like i’m being stupid, but i can’t upload a GPX file to the deive…in the Sigma link app TRACKS, I can see tracks I’ve made from a trip, GPSies files in my locality, kommot tracks, but in the ‘Device’ tab there is nothing – and no upload button. Is there a setting I should be chaning so that the tracks tab looks in a specific folder on the phone …i thikn its probably me but it driving me around the twist!!!
It’s a two-step process.
First, you need to download one of your Komoot/GPSies tracks to teh device. You can do this by clicking on one of these tracks. In the detail view, you will see a download button in the lower left corner.
Once the track is downloaded, it appears in the first “My Tracks” tab. There you will see an upload button in from of every track to upload the GPX file to the watch.
The “Device” tab only shows tracks, that you recorded with your watch.
Hello new Firmware released: 1.45
What’s new? I don’t know as i cannot find information about this release anywhere: Sigma web page, facebook, and sigma app.
I am really dissapointed with the GPS accuracy, in the “open” it’s OK, but in the woods, if you are surrounded by medium sized building or if it is cloudy the signal is really not good. Especially “around the corners”
Disappointing…
Pascal
According to the Sigma support the new firmware is supposed to fix the issue with corrupt activity files being recorded. Unfortunately, I did not have a change the test the new firmware.
Lucky you got an answer…
After 2 emails to Sigma’s support, this is their reply:
“there is no changelog available for this product. As with all other products that are supplied with firmware updates, minor adjustments, errors or improvements are made.”
What an answer…
Hey Guys, sorry for the late reply!
We are currently working on the implementation of the changelog on our website. I hope that we will have the changelog information (similar to our handling or ROX 12) available for the next update.
For this update, Marko is correct, we have found an issue with some files showing an error and have corrected this for Version 1.45.
Regarding Pascals first comment/ question… can you please check two things:
– Watch regularly connected to the SIGMA Link App
– GPS mode set to “Normal”
If both things are the case, please contact our service again and quote that you have been in contact with me, they will forward your request and I can look into your case more in detail.
Sorry for the inconvenience and kind regards,
Nik
Hi,
I did a M triathlon this sunday (only 2h40min).
I used an external heart rate sensor (OHR1+ from polar).
The ID.TRI watch worked well.
Regarding the battery, I started the triathlon with 100% and finished it with 60% remaining (not sure the battery value returned by the app is good).
GPS tracks and distances are good (compared to 935).
My only problem is with the OWS. In ‘competiton’ mode the gps is not enabled during OWS (? I thought it was the default setting ?)
I only get a 23min swim with a distance of 25m (swiming pool setting) instead of 1500m.
You cannot modify the distance with ‘sigma data center’.
I don’t know how to enable the gps for OWS… couldn’t find it.
I hope to find a solution for my next triathlon.
I forgot, when you want to switch from swim to bike and from bike to run you must press the button 5 secondes… not easy to perform during fast transition
Regards.
Hi David,
thanks for your comments and report!
To enable GPS for swimming (and basically also the other sport profiles) you can simply use the “Quick Settings”. To get there, you have to go to TRAINING choose your sport profile (in this case SWM) hold the “+” Button for 2 Seconds and then you will find the quick menu with all the fast settings.
For the transition from one profile to anothe in the competition… actually a 2s button press is enough, however, we have found an issue with the user feedback. So the transition is triggered after 2s button press, but sometimes it will take a little longer to show the transition screen. We are working on this issue.
Hope that helps, kind regards,
Nik
Hi,
in Navigation section, is there a functions like:
1. Navigate back to start – either straight or follow route?
2. When Trace is uploaded, is there option to do it reverse direction?
3. How does work Navigation and connection to specific acitvity type?
a. When I start navigation, can I mark that this is Cycling or it is done vice versa, that Activity is started and then navigation via GPX trace is started?
b. During navigation can I switch other screens to see speed/pace, heart rate, altitude a etc?
c. Can be following GPX route and Komoot navigation running in parallel? I would like to see GPX trace for route context and Komoote for Turn by turn navigation
d. Can I zoom GPX trace larger or smaller scale?
4. Is there Pause funcion for activity?
5. Is there Auto-pause when GPS recognize that there is no movement?
6. Can I create a GPX trace on some mobile and trasnfer via Sigma mobile app to watch without use of PC?
Hi Jan, here are my answers to your questions: 🙂
“1. Navigate back to start – either straight or follow route?”
You can select “same track back” and the watch will take you back on your previous track.
“2. When Trace is uploaded, is there option to do it reverse direction?”
Yes, you can reverse any track uploaded to the watches
“3. How does work Navigation and connection to specific acitvity type?
a. When I start navigation, can I mark that this is Cycling or it is done vice versa, that Activity is started and then navigation via GPX trace is started?”
Both is possible. You can either start the training first and then start the Track (this is done by pressing the “+”-Button for 2s in training mode and selecting “Load Track”, or you can choose the menu item “Load Track” and then proceed with choosing the sport profile.
“b. During navigation can I switch other screens to see speed/pace, heart rate, altitude a etc?”
Yes, besides the navigation screen, you will have your usual training screens.
“c. Can be following GPX route and Komoot navigation running in parallel? I would like to see GPX trace for route context and Komoote for Turn by turn navigation.”
Yes, thats possible!
“d. Can I zoom GPX trace larger or smaller scale?”
No, currently zooming is not possible.
“4. Is there Pause funcion for activity?”
Yes, if your speed drops below 2,2 km/h it will go to AutoPause. You can enable or disable this function via the sport profile settings, or using the quick menu (“+”-Button for 2s in training)
“5. Is there Auto-pause when GPS recognize that there is no movement? ”
Same answer here.
“6. Can I create a GPX trace on some mobile and trasnfer via Sigma mobile app to watch without use of PC? ”
Currently, our own app does not provide this feature. However, you can definitely create the route on your Komoot App, and then synch the SIGMA Link App with your Komoot account. Then you are able to see all your Komoot Tracks (saved tracks) on your Sigma Link App.
Hope that helps!
Kind regards,
Nik
Hi,
Is it possible to put distance manually in case of OTHER training?
I would like to use this watch in case of cross trainer and add to the training distance which is displayed on cross trainer.
Regards,
Mateusz
Hi Mateusz,
that is not possible on the watch directly.
The only way is to add the distance to the description of the file in our data-ecosystem.
Currently you can not edit the “hardfacts” of a training, like Distance, Avg. Speed etc.
However, if you run indoor on a treadmill, the watch will calculate distance and speed with the accelerometer. You only have to use the RUN profile and switch off GPS. But I am not sure, if this will work for you as you said “cross trainer”.
Kind regards,
Nik
Hi Nik
Thank you for the reply.
I am using BC 23.16 STS for bike and Polar H10 with Polar Beat app for cross trainer.
After the cross trainer training I rewrite data (distance, speed, HR max…) from Polar Beat to Sigma Data Center as a manual activity. I expected that this Sigma ID.FREE or ID.TRI would be a good solution for me to collect all data in Sigma Data Center.
It would be nice to have cross trainer activity in Sigma Data Center where would be possible enter/change distance and average speed.
Regards,
Mateusz
Hi, I see answer from Nik (sigmasport) here, thats very nice, thank you Nik.
so I will ask because it is not clear to me.
1)
I would like to use watch on wrist during MTB rides. What is accuracy of altimeter. On videos and pictures we can see that hole for barometer is on backside of the watch. Can sweat affect accuracy or functionality of altimeter?
2)
There is android app. There is NOT desktop app for linux which I am using, thats OK if I can use android app for everything: configure watch, firmware update …
thanks
Hi Jano,
happy to help 🙂
Regarding your questions:
1. We are logging the altimeter in a resolution of 1m. The altimeter itself is more accurate than this, but for datamanagement reasons, we log in this resolution. And yes, the holes are on the backside of the watch. But in total there are 4 holes for the barometer, 2 on the backside and 2 in the joint between wristband and housing. So usually, sweat is not a problem. However, of course when you sweat heavily and the watch is “soaked” in sweat, it will not be possible to have an accurate reading. Same for swimming off course.
2. Currently you need the PC App for the firmware update. But we are working on the integration of the update into the app. So it should be in one of the next app releases (I hope this year). Everything else is configurable with the Android app.
If you have more questions, I will be happy to help.
Kind regards,
Nik
I’d love to see an in-depth review of this. I’m currently using an Ambit3 and with Suunto discontinuing Movescount next year and refusing to confirm that we will retain all existing features of the Ambit3 I may be in the market for a new watch.
I’ve had enough of Garmin and their disposable device culture, but sadly the Fenix 6 / 935 / 945 are the only watches I can find that support all the features I regularly use:
Full multi-sport modes (inc. ability to define own series of sports)
Pool swimming including HR sensor (Mio Link works fine for me in the pool) and drill mode (why, oh why have Polar and Suunto not implemented this in their latest watches???)
Structured workouts
Course following (including points of interest)
Find back (navigation) functionality
This looks pretty close although its not clear from the hands-on review or the comments how usable the pool swimming mode actually is.
I’ve been using the iD.Free for a couple weeks now (updated to firmware 1.45 immediately after I got it) and I’d say that for the price, it offers quite a bit. I’m pretty happy with it as a bike computer, and its battery life is pretty darn good.
But as a GPS running watch, I’d have to say that my experiences mirror the results shown in the hand’s on–namely, the GPS tracking is simply bad. It regularly has me veering off track and running through houses when running under light tree cover and long after I’ve left said areas (which is basically everywhere here). Heart rate measurements seem more reasonable, however.
An e-mail to Sigma inquiring about the GPS tracking issues just came back with a request to just sit tight for further firmware issues, but I’m honestly on the fence about returning it and splurging a bit more for a more expensive alternative.
Purchased the iD.Tri recently as my TomTom Runner seemed to be suffering from lag in updating current pace and due to TomTom pulling out of the market. I’ve had Sigma bike computers for a while now and like their products.
One big issue I’ve noticed is when syncing a run to Strava, the cadence is doubling on that reported in the Sigma link & Data Centre activity. So, Sigma activity reports cadence of 175, for example. When it syncs to Strava, the Strava activity has my cadence at 349spm!
I contacted Sigma support, explaining the issue is with the Strava sync and they replied with:
“we are sorry for the inconvenience with your product.
You can change/check the product by the store where you bought it.”
That doesn’t seem like a great reply from support, particularly as I bought it online. I’m pretty sure changing the product isn’t going to change the sync to Strava!
I wonder if anyone else has seen this? Maybe I have a setting wrong somewhere.
Hi Rich,
I am sorry for the issue and have tried to trace your service request. Off course that is not a satisfying answer. Our service will get back to you asap to help with the other issue you have mentioned.
I have found the issue with the Strava cadence. I will integrate the fix into the next FW release if possible. Thanks for the hint!
Kind regards,
Nik
Hi Nik
Thanks for the quick response.
The initial response from support asked what version of data centre & FW I was using, which I responded to (all most recent ones as far as I’m aware). But the next reply was the one I pasted above. Did seem a little odd to ask for more info but then follow it up with that response.
Presumably the other issue is Data centre not downloading the activities when I connect the watch. I can only download them using Sigma Link app. If it helps, I do also have my Rox 11 computer connected to my PC, although the only highlighted device in data centre is the iD.Tri. I think I tried it without the Rox connected but that didn’t help.
As I’m used to the Rox, which shows you have new activities to Load etc. when using Data Centre, I was assuming the iD.Tri would work in a similar way. But it just has the option to delete activities that are stored on the watch.
Not a problem if I can only use the Sigma Link app, but just wondered if this was right.
Thanks
Hi Rich,
ok, sorry again! I have asked them to contact you again to solve the Data Center issue.
Compared to ROX 11 the data does not actively have to be synched with the PC. As soon as the watch is connected with the clip and is shown “green” in the DataCenter, the synchronization of data starts. You can see this in the small progress bar on the bottom of the screen. So if you do not get an error message in the DataCenter it should work fine.
Please check with our service team, usually, they can help really well! 😉
Thanks and have a great evening,
Kind regards,
Niklas
Hi Nik
No problem. I have had a response from support now and replied.
OK, I see the problem now. When I open Data Centre with the watch connected, the data synchronization says “Device settings are synchronized…” But the progress bar just sits at 0%.
I’ll reply to support again with this information.
Thanks for your replies again.
Rich
Does the ID.Tri have a pool swimming drill mode?
For a device from one of the less well-known players in the field, this device is one of the MOST infuriatingly inconsistent pieces of tech I’ve come across in years…!
I REALLY REALLY want to love it, but it just keeps doing stuff that infuriate me.
– Syncing between watch and app is annoyingly slow, and often simply DOES NOT work
– sometimes a Bluetooth symbol is left on the top left screen of the watch and it simply will NOT talk to the phone app
– THEN you need to re-set, I *was* able to press both bottom buttons at the same time to soft reset, but that doesn’t seem to work now, and if you do both top buttons, you end up re-setting the time etc…OR if you hold down the start button you also reset the time etc (is there a better way to reset?)
– Komoot works well, but i would love the chance to just upload a gpx file of my own
– battery life is “ok” but there’s no way to know a percentage until you start an activity by which point it might be too late…
I really like the size, and whilst a bit quirky the OS does what it is supposed to do. The GPS tracking can be a bit off on occasion, but mostly it is the user experience via the app and trying to get my activities to upload – alongside the re-start issues that frustrate me…
Nic from Sigma – if you’re listening I like this watch, but i WANT to love it. Can you advise on a better way to restart (NOT reset) the device to take the bluetooth icon off home screen? can you advise if direct gpx upload is being considered?
Thanks in advance…its good, i want it to be GREAT!
JON
Hi Jon,
thank you for your detailed comment and the partly positive feedback! It seems we have the same target… 😉
Here is my feedback:
– in the next weeks we will offer an update for the Link App that will improve the data handling and thus increase the speed of the synch process. Also, you will have more options, e.g. only synch training data, etc.
– regarding the “crash” of the BLE function. Can you please get in contact with our service team (link to sigmasport.com)? This is not a “normal” behaviour of the watch, and we would be happy to help solve the issue as soon as possible! Please give a short comment, that you have been in contact with me and they will forward the issue.
For the re-start you only have the chance to do a hardware reset. This will be done by pressing the Start button for 15s. However, this will reset a lot of things, so I would prefer to solve the issue first 😉
– Regarding GPX Import. Currently we do not have a solution for this inside the App. As GPX files can be very different it is not possible to directly put them on the watch. However, you can import GPX files in the SIGMA DataCenter and upload them to the watch quite easily.
Sorry, that I can not solve all issues, but hope to provide a bit of background knowledge.
Kind regards,
Nik
Hi, I’m happy user of Sigma Rox 11.0 for about 3 years and I’m mostly satisfied with it.
Now I’m getting interested in this device and I have few questions about it:
1) Can I have simultaneously different bike profiles (with different wheel size) in this watch? If yes, how many? Sigma Rox 11 has 3 of them for example..
2) How many different ANT+ sensors can be paired at the time – is there any limitation? Again, I have more than one bicycle.
3) Does the bike activity export to Strava contain calculated power values even when there is no power meter installed/used? This is the issue I’m fighting with on my Rox 11 device, Sigma Support says, that it’s not a bug..
4) I’ve read one review that says, that if device is turned off because of discharged battery, activity is not saved at all (=is lost). Is it true? If yes, will Sigma be able to fix it in the future. Review link (only in Slovak unfortunatelly): link to mtbiker.sk
Thanks,
Marian
Dear Marian,
thank you for your postive feedback for the ROX 11.
Here are my answers to your questions:
1) Unfortunately, this is not possible. You can set the wheelsize only for the CYC profile and currently it is not possible to exchange the profiles on the watch, so you cannot replace swimming by a MTB profile for example. We are working on this, but currently it is not possible.
2) There is a limitation, but I believe not relevant for your case. It is only of technical nature and will not affect the “normal” user. So you definitely can pair all your bycicles.
3) No, we do not calculate Power without a Power Meter.
4) When the device turns off due to low battery, the training is saved before shutting down. That is the standard procedure.
Hope that helps!
Kind regards,
Nik
Perfect, thank you!
Thanks Nik..
I’ll wait for that firmware update and keep fingers crossed for performance improvements – whats the ETA of the update please?
Thanks for responding – always great to have a manufacturer actively *listen* to users
JON
I’ve started to experience similar issues as Jon Patterson mentioned with the watch and app now.
I did a short run yesterday and opened up the app after completing it. The app spent a while syncing with the watch but then didn’t show any new activity. I tried several syncs without any luck. I tried to delete the watch from my phone and reconnect it. But then it wouldn’t reconnect to the phone at all.
I was able to connect the watch to my PC and upload the run to Strava from the .fit file. I then reset the watch and was able to reconnect it to my phone.
I went for another run today, opened up the app, the watch went through the sync process but, again, no new activity was shown. So, I’ve manually uploaded the .fit file to Strava again.
The only thing I can think that I’ve done differently to all my other runs, is that I set up a target pace for the run. As an aside, the light bar wasn’t bright enough to see it in normal daylight; although maybe I had done something wrong! When I went through a tunnel, I saw it was flashing blue (but couldn’t remember what that was indicating!!)
I’m still unable to sync the watch at all using the desktop Data Centre program. And now, it seems, I can’t sync it using the app either.
I have FW 1.45 on the watch, data center v5.7.18 and iPhone app v1.7 build 1.7.18 (running iOS 12.2).
Seems like I might have to go back to my old TomTom Runner until a FW or app update is released.
I have a few queries that I’m really struggling to track down answers to (including reading the online manual):
1) Does the watch record HR during swimming – either from its own sensor or from a connected sensor worn next to the watch i.e. a Mio Link (this works with an Ambit3 providing the devices are worn on the same wrist)?
2) Does the watch have a drill mode for pool swimming?
3) Does the watch have a ‘find back’ mode – simply an arrow pointing to the place where the workout started and a distance?
4) Do the workouts from Training Peaks support ‘press lap to end interval’ functionality?
5) Do the end of intervals put a ‘lap’ in the result workout file without having to press the lap key?
Hi Alex,
here is my feedback:
1) Yes, you can record the HR with the integrated PPG sensor. To be honest, I have not tested the Mio Link but believe it will suffer from the same issue as the direct measurement on the wrist. If the watch is too loose and moves too much during swimming (in relation to the skin), the measurement can be biased.
2) No, it will not measure drills where the arms are not moved, unfortunately.
3) Not exactly the way you are asking for. The watch can guide you on the same way back to your starting point. But we do not have an arrow pointing to the start of the activity.
4 ) Yes, this is supported.
5) Yes, you will have a marker inside the training file for all phase changes. So for automatic phase changes, as well as manual phase changes. However, these markers will only be visible in our software environment.
If you have more questions, I will be happy to help!
Kind regards,
Nik
Hi Nik,
Thanks for the responses – looks like its pretty close to perfect for my requirements!
Thanks,
Alex
I think Sigma is dead… website unresponsive in the last hour. At the very least, my new iDTri unit is pretty useless.
I wouldn’t need to be in using their website if my newly unboxed ID.Tri wasn’t a brick. It did pair with the phone (iPhone 7) after a couple of tries, but does not synchronize anything – not the workout screens, user data, time, elevation, or maps. And upon starting a workout (tried to record walking to pickup the kids) it states “memory full” and doesn’t record anything. Firmware was 1.4.1 – nothing prompted me to update or showed a source for an alternative.
Very disappointing experience so far. Should have picked a Coros at this price range :S
Hi, is there a way to power off the ID.free? I use it only sometimes for my workout, and then it is out of battery, typically. Or do I have to keep it at the charger the whole time?
I have bought the watch for Christmas for our son who uses it for running and cycling. I wanted to share with you my observations.
Positives:
– the prize is great for the feature set (barometer, ANT+ power meter support)
– the watch is super small and hence great, if you have small wrists (but you need good eyes as the display is of course not massive)
– the hardware looks solid enough (for the price)
– battery life is fine
Negatives:
– the companion software on iOS needs work. It took a number of attempts for the watch be setup and sync is unreliable at best.
– step counting seems to count vibrations from for example sitting in an airplane or car.
– GPS seems to never acquire a lock on the first try, but does work eventually.
I hope that Sigma improves the software both on the phone and the watch, as this has the potential to be a great buy, but currently things are a little too fiddly for my liking.
The watch currently runs on 1.45 and I have been unable to confirm whether this is the most recent version.
Hello, i can confirm that:
“GPS seems to never acquire a lock on the first try, but does work eventually.”
it stays at 100% for ever… going back and starting the activity again gets a lock instantly.
“The watch currently runs on 1.45 and I have been unable to confirm whether this is the most recent version.”
it looks that is the latest version… only one firmware update since the watch was released 5 months ago seems a bit strange to me. Especially for a “new” watch.
Regards, Pascal
Hoping Sigma’s Nik is still following these comments, because I have two questions
– Earlier you mentioned that a simple ‘back to start’ using an arrow instead of retracing your steps was not available. Is his something that might be added in the future?
– Related, can you navigate using waypoints uploaded or marked on the watch?
Thanks.
I run fw1.45 and battery life is about 6 hours but after 1hour is says 20% for next 5hours until drains out. It needs fw update.
Nik…Nik?..NIk! Are you there?
Any update on possible firmware update timeline please?
Power off would be a great feature…
Better GPS lock also…
Better battery management…
Cheers looking forward to hearing something / anything? I really like this watch but currently it is JUST the wrong side of usable
JON
Hi Jon,
terribly sorry for not catching up in the last weeks.
However, here is my feedback:
We are currently in the final testing of a major FW update. This should be released approx. in the next 2 weeks.
However, this update mainly targets BLE performance. We have also looked into battery management and hope to have improved the handling.
“Power Off” is currently not in the update, but I am already working on another update with more included User interface improvements, based on customer feedback- power off is definitely a major request.
Please have a look on our social media, there we will inform about the new update.
Thanks for your feedback and kind regards!
Nik
Thanks Nik, appreciate the response!
Id.Tri at first was a bumpy road for me. It also simply took me too long to discover that I was running on too old Firmware. 1.45 made the watch usable. I lost a lot of important trail runs on previous firmware versions…
A full marathon trail run of 4 hours 08 minutes however pushed the watch to it’s limits of the battery. So I certainly hope that the new firmware version does much much beter with regard to battery consumption.
Next big step will be a 1/2 triatlon and I am quite sure that version 1.45 will deplete the battery completely before finishing.
Currently my biggest problem is the HR sensor. After my HR peaks and when coming back close to normal HR (f.e. after a serious hill climb) the HR sensor does not follow my HR rate going down. It stays at its hights for a very long time. I have been running for +7000 km so I perfectly know where my HR peaks and goes down again.
I will start with dual measurements and bring some more factual data soon.
Hope that Sigma is aware of this issue (which I think has popped up with version 1.45 of the firmware).
Nik, is Sigma aware ? Hoep to hear from you.
Pascal
Hi Nik,
Any news on the new software release ? Any feedback on my previous post ?
Tnx, Pascal
Hello, we are still waiting for the new firrmware release as stated by Nik on 6-Feb-2020 :”We are currently in the final testing of a major FW update. This should be released approx. in the next 2 weeks.”
The GPS signal experiences too often “bad lock”, meaning that the trace is way off where it should be.
Sigma is aware of this issue, but i haven’t heard anything from them since end of February.
It was my first experience with a Sigma device and i can tell you, it will be my last. The watch looks promising, but it is not up to the standard of the competitors. Even at around 150 euros, i find it too expensive for the problems i experiment.
Regards, Pascal
Hi Pascal,
I am really sorry for the delay. The FW was ready earlier, but we experienced some issues with our Cloud that needed to be solved before we could release the app and firmware.
From today the new FW will be live and you can update the watch via SIGMA DataCenter (also an update is available there).
Hope you will have a better experience with the new FW. We will shortly be releasing the changelog on our website, here is a short summary:
– BLE speed increased for (a lot) quicker data transfer
– increase stability for communication between watch and App
-> both will result in a more stable GPS fix, as the GPS data is also loaded more frequently
Further minor improvements:
– automatic discard of unread smart notifications
– improved sensor handling, so that all sensors can be used in any sport profile
– running cadence data handling improved for better STRAVA compatibility
– improved battery status calculation
Sorry again for the delay and me not informing you about it.
Have a nice day,
Kind regards,
Nik
I was just going to this page to notify users that my watch just received an update, but I see you got here first 🙂
Thanks for the update.
I have id.free for something like week. Here is my comments:
1) Original fw was 1.45 (if I remeber correctly) and did make 3 MTB rides with it. At begining GPS fix was long, stuck in 90% for while but activity started. I did update fw to 1.67 yesterday and I did make 2 MTB rides. GPS fix in both cases was longer then before. Once watch ask me if I want to start without GPS, I did say no and start it again.
Just a question, why LINK (I have android app) asking for location to be turn on when starting?
If I undersdand correctly watch is AGPS => it needs to download some data from internet instead from sattelite.
2) sorry, daily activity is kind of joke. One day I did sit at office and not moving a lot in home and id.free show me that I burn cca 1900 kcal.
Comparing with my 12km MTB ride durring which I did burn 186kcal it is very strange.
If I believe in id.free then I am sleeping in office sometimes.
3) durring MTB ride (cca 10km long)I did see that HeartRate is bellow 100 what is bit strange, especialy at uphill.
4) I am pretty amazed with altimeter. I did have garming instinct before and I did experience with problems with barometric altimeter. But ID.free is recording altitude perfectly.
I think that ID.FREE is selling to soon. You should test it much better before release it. I am paying for product. So I am a customer and not a tester who should be paid for testing.
Hi Jani,
thank you for your feedback and comments. Let me give you some more insights and feedback regarding your questions:
1) The Location permission is required for Bluetooth Low Energy to work properly.
However, the A-GPS service is not related to this. Please to a short synch before the training, then you will have the fastest GPS fix, as the GPS data will be pre-loaded by the Link A..
2) The Activity Tracking is taking your daily resting energy expenditure into account. So even if you do not move at all, your body will burn some calories. Based on the user settings (sex, weight etc.) this value will be adjusted. The calories burnt during the MTB ride are most likely related to the low HR values you have reported, as the Calories are then calculated based on actual HR.
3) Please make sure to wear the watch correctly. For PPG (especially during cycling) it is crucial to wear the watch rather tight to ensure good skin contact. Then the HR reading should be correct.
4 ) No comment here 🙂
Hope that helps!
Kind regards,
Nik
Nik, thanks very much for answers. Does sigma has its own customer forum? I think it will be better to discuss issues there then here.
I did make 3 mtb rides from my last comment
1) I find out that I need to follow these steps
a) enable location and bluetooth in phone
b) start sigma link app
c) put phone and id.free on table beside itself. I have table outside of garage so using that.
d) bring bike from garage out. Wear helmet, prepare bottle with water.
e) if id.free is not synced then wait until sync icon on watch disappears BUT mostly after d) it is synced
f) disable location on phone, put phone to bike pack.
g) start cycle activity on id.free => gsp fix is fast and I can start ride.
3) strange, I am wearing id.free in same way for last 3 mtb rides and HR looks better.
Nik
I forgot point
5) smart notification, id.free can show me SMS, emails … and I can read first words of text, thats OK
but if someone is calling me I can see only number on id.free. I am expecting it will show me a name of contanc, same as for SMS where I can see who did send me SMS.
First of all, thanks to Ray and all the usefull previous comments, that lead to the the decision to give Sigmas ID TRI a try!
After two weeks with several runs and bike rides with the ID TRI, I’d like to give some feedback.
Connectivity to PC Software:
totally ok, no problems, upload to strava works fine, best way to set up the workouts.
Connectivity via APP “Sigma Link” in iOS:
configuration of the device settings totally ok, synchro of activities sometimes not working, upload to strava works fine.
GPS accuracy:
slightly below iPhone which I used before to track activities.
Pairing Sensors:
without problems – Wahoo TICKR for HR run and bike, Wahoo SpeedSensor and Assioma UNO Powermeter additionally for bike rides.
Battery lifetime:
far behind the expectations and Sigma specs (up to 8h with gps). Probably I miss something important in the settings, but even when I take the ID TRI directly from the charger over night and start a workout the battery status is 90%.
I set the daily activity tracker “off”, GPS normal mode, connected sensors like above, but I don’t see a 4-5hr bike ride with that setting.
Last one was 3hr bike ride, started at 90%, endet with 20%. One of the main reasons to change from iPhone as an activity tracker to a wearable was the limited battery lifetime, but this is quite the same and dissapointing.
I am a little bit confused about the small possibilities to save energy. Set the “Sleep” Mode “on”, but seems it makes no difference.
Would also feel better about to simply turn off the device, because I only use it for workouts and not wearing it always on. It can’t be the best way to keep the ID TRI always on the charger between 3-5 activities per week.
Next things about battery status are the display. While “training mode” you get the percentage in ten steps (90,80,70…). Why not more accuracy? 75, 62, 49 …?
I’d like to see the battery status as a digit in the front display even without “training mode”.
I hope urgently FW Updates solve some of these issues or I’ve missed some settings to avoid energy loss.
Operating concept:
Buttons and menue navigation are intuitiv and rock solid.
Setting the sport profile displays is very easy. 4 datafields per display site would be cool.
Smart light is very usefull and well done!
Small critisim to the background light. It would be cool, if you have the possibility to turn on the light constantly, if it’s neccessay – maybe in the quick menue. Or by acceleration gesture.
Doing some hard pace training or intervalls in the dark and always fumbling on the two buttons is annoying and nearly impossible not to change the display site. So you spend some precious energy to adjust and look twice at your watch with HR 170.
Workouts:
Easy to set up, rock solid and fun to use.
Build-in Sensors:
HR can’t comment on this, because I have my doubts on this LED concept in general and be pretty satisfied with the Wahoo TICKR.
In my understandig so far, the build-in acceleration sensor is only used for cadence and step length while running. Cadence isn’t working well at all, the data is complete rubbish. Would be better to get this data fields from the Wahoo TICKR (cadence, ground contact time, vertical swing), which seems not intended to work so far.
I suggest to use the acceleration sensor also for turn on the background light, if it’s possible.
Conclusion:
I knew that the ID TRI is a new product in first generation from a likeable small german tech company with less than 100 employees.
I knew that there would be some issues around software and maybe hardware stuff. But for 149 € I got what I expected and had some good times with the ID TRI so far.
Now I hope for some FW improvements, would recomment the product and wish all the best for the Sigma Team to have more chances to force up product improvements based on market success!
Have all a nice day and stay healthy!
Hi Chris,
thanks a lot for the detailled feedback on your experiences with iD.TRI.
I will take your comments into account for our next FW releases and hope to provide some improvements here soon.
Here is some feedback on your open points:
– Battery runtime. Please make sure to check this again with the new FW (v1.67) we have improved the handling here. However, Battery percentage is still only in 10% steps. But you are also mentioning that the runtime is not as long as expected. Please check 2 things:
1. The charger you are using is “strong” enough to fully charge the watch (500mA as a minimum). Does the smartlight turn green and then turn off after a few minutes when fully charging the watch?
2. Let the battery drown completely. After that charge the watch fully with an appropriate charger. That will improve the battery runtime calculation.
– regarding Backlight, I will try my best to improve it. The current implementation is either pressing both buttons (I agree, this can be difficult) or pressing one button and having a page change.
Hope I can help a bit with these comments.
Kind regards and thanks again,
Niklas
In the new version of the software FW (v1.67) the watch can be charged during training.
GPS recording with a working time of up to 12 hours (8 hours in a 1-second recording) is a thing of the past.
The charging cable is connected to the watch even in the original bicycle mount.
As a power source I use “TOPEAK MOBILE POWERPACK 6000 mAh”.
link to topeak.com
Now training time with GPS probably can 3 months without a break (6000mA !!)
I checked today at a distance of 100 km (5 hours).
And when I finished training, the watch showed 100% battery.
A very small icon of the connected USB cable is still visible on the screen.
I don’t know if only Powerpack Topeak can. I didn’t check it. I do not currently have devices from other manufacturers for testing.
However, now I don’t have to save battery. Now I am happy with iD.FREE.
It is very important that the watch is connected to the powerpack before we start training.
Hello Nik, my new Sigma iD.Free, bought a month ago, does not charge correctly. When charging, the light above the wristband turns red and lasts red even after many hours of charging. Battery status is 70%. After restarting the watch it shows 100%. After resetting the watch it charges one time correctly with light turning from red to green to off, but next time it is again still red and 70%. (Restarting the watch puts the time and date to March 1st 2020, 00:00, resetting the watch deletes all settings completely.)
I have tried to let the battery go to 0%, charging it with a few different chargers: 500, 850, 1000 mA, it did not help.
Is there any solution, to solve this out, or will it be necessary to send the watch for service?
Kind regards for your reply.
Hello joojiinoo,
sorry to inform you it’s a few months Nik stopped replying here and a few months I’ve contacted Sigma vie their web helpdesk with no reply from them… 🙁 Looks like there’s no progress in debugging or creating new firmware.
Luke
Hey Luke, thank you very much. I have response from Sigma, they hinted me to send the watch to them.
Great! Would you be so kind and check the compass function before sending please? Does it work properly? Is west and east ond the sides it should be?
Training – HIK – wait for the GPS (or cancel it with upper left button), press bottom right button to advance to the next screen with “heading”, “time” and “weather”, watch the “heading” part, rotate and compare the displayed letters with reality or with a real compass. You can also try to recalibrate the built-in compass: Long press the bottom right button, browse through the displayed menu, calibrate the compass. Do again the steps above. Let us know the result. Thank you!
Hello, there was no problem with compass, neither with letters, nor with the compass arrow, both were in accordance with each other and also with reality
Thank you, joojiinoo!
Hello, can you see the training pages during charging? I can’t. Any suggestion?
Mirek, I don’t see this documented anywhere else and have not been able to reproduce it. If, as you suggest, I connect the watch to a powerpack before starting the recording, the screen just shows the battery charging icon – none of the buttons seem to do anything, and I can’t begin recording an activity.
It’s been a long time since you posted this comment, but if you’re around a reply would be helpful!
Firmware 1.67
I tried with a very good powerbank 26800 mAh and it didn’t work. Actually after a few seconds it gets disconnected and it does not charge. Following the suggestion of Mirek I bought a Topeak Mobile Powerpak 6000 mAh and it came yesterday. I connected it to the watch, the battery was at 70%, the battery charging icon appeared and after few seconds it disappeared and I could see the display as before plus a little icon in the corner like in the Mirek’s photo. I started the training mode and I could view all the training pages. After some hours the battery was always at 70% but unexpectedly the charging icon appeared full screen, I disconnected the watch to check it and the battery was at 10% so I realized that in all that time it didn’t charge. I reconnected the watch to the powerbank and the real charge started with the big icon on the screen with the impossibility to do anything. When the battery reached 90% the powerbank went into standby and the training display reappeared. Throughout that time the watch recorded the training.
To sum up: the Topeak powerbank turn on for real when the watch’s battery goes under 20% and turn off when the battery goes above 90%. In the middle range it does nothing as if it were in standby. No matter if you started the recording before or after, when the powerbank charge the watch for real you can’t do nothing with the buttons and you can’t se the training page.
This was the result of my first test. It is difficult to explain, I hope that I’m clear and my English is understandable.
Thanks Nik !!! Will give the updated FW a try as of today. Install went OK !
Any feedback on:
>>>Currently my biggest problem is the HR sensor. After my HR peaks and when coming back close to normal
>>>HR (f.e. after a serious hill climb) the HR sensor does not follow my HR rate going down. It stays at its hights
>>>for a very long time.
Tnx, Pascal
Hi Pascal,
could you send us a Service request and send me the data? I would like to have a closer look.
link to sigmasport.com
Please give them a short note, that you have been in contact with me, and they will forward your request directly.
Generally, please also make sure, that the watch is worn correctly. This means rather tight and slightly higher on the wrist than normal.
Thanks and kind regards,
Niklas
Good evening!
Is cadence shows on main screen during riding bike?
Thanks.
Hi Alex,
You can modify the values you want to see, so you can have any value on the screen during cycling (speed, cadence, power, HR, training time, etc.).
There is a set of close to 100 values you can choose from….
Hope that helps,
Kind regards,
Nik
Great to see Sigma’s Nik replying to questions and remarks. Thanks.
Most of the issues other users have noted I have seen myself, others not so much.
Regarding battery usage: with FW 1.45, the battery would drain pretty fast when syncing with my phone, this seems to be fixed with the latest FW. I don’t run with my phone so I have no indication if this also drains the battery.
My first few runs with the watch were a mixed bag: some runs would show up very sharp with regards to HR, Baro and GPS (comparable with the SiRFstar in my previous watch), while others would present me with a 4k climb over a 2k stretch of flat road, a deviation of half a kilometre to the road I was using, and even at one time a corrupt fit-file.
While running the new FW, I have seen no problems at all.
Still, my wishlist ….
– Back to start using simple directional arrow
– Load and navigate to waypoints. (setting waypoints while on the move is a nice-to-have)
Great to see Sigma’s Nik replying to questions and remarks. Thanks.
Most of the issues other users have noted I have seen myself, others not so much.
Regarding battery usage: with FW 1.45, the battery would drain pretty fast when syncing with my phone, this seems to be fixed with the latest FW. I don’t run with my phone so I have no indication if this also drains the battery.
My first few runs with the watch were a mixed bag: some runs would show up very sharp with regards to HR, Baro and GPS (comparable with the SiRFstar in my previous watch), while others would present me with a 4k climb over a 2k stretch of flat road, a deviation of half a kilometre to the road I was using, and even at one time a corrupt fit-file.
While running the new FW, I have seen no problems at all.
Still, my wishlist ….
– Back to start using simple directional arrow
– Load and navigate to waypoints. (setting waypoints while on the move is a nice-to-have)
(had a PHP error when submitting this post, hope it won’t show up double….)
There is a new update!!! 20.4.2020 @dcrainmaker did you try it? ( if not would you,please?)
I think I finally/maybe found my first sportwatch.
Hi there,
I’ve just ordered this watch and I got a few questions:
– What bluetooth version run with? 4, 4.2, 5?
– What type is the front glass? Is there any protection film for?
Here are tropical conditions (high temp, humid, salty air, mud, jungle, strong sun and heavy rain) and we do take it all:) So this watch going to have extensive testing. If it survives a year (and half) without mayor damage, than it is pretty good quality.
Ouch, may you delete the attached photo from my last comment. Tought that is avatart.
Hi Nik,
We need your help again.
I am trying 3 posts on the forum, one after the other as it seems only one 1 picture per post can be uploaded.
I have been using the gps for open water swimming. The gps seems roughly to be off by 80 to 90% overshooting in the distance.
This came to attention because I don’t swim along. To do a final check I used google maps to have it calculate the distance.
Any chance you can do something about this quickly ?
Tnx, Pascal
ps: here is picture 1
Hi Nik,
here is picture 2
Pascal
Hi Nik,
here is picture 3
Pascal
Are you wearing the watch on your wrist whilst swimming? This may result in errors in gps reception. You might want to put the watch under your swimcap, so it has good reception all the time.
Good suggestion. Will give that a try !
Hi Nick,
I attached the watch to my boei. 1 out of 4 swims seemed to be OK but due to abnormal gps measurement, the speed calculation is of course way off …
Are you aware and can we expext a firmware update which provides for :
1. Measurements which are correct for crawl while the watch is on the wrist
2. At least correct measurements while tje watch is in the swimcap or boei attached ?
Tnx very munch !!!
Hi Pascal,
could you get in contact with me using our service please? I would like to look deeper into your files, as you are quoting “abnormal” gps measurement on the boei…
You can follow this link to get in contact with us directly:
link to sigmasport.com
Thanks and looking forward to analysing more in detail with you! 🙂
Kind regards,
Nik
Hi, I’m using my ID.Tri basically for OWS and am observing the same behavior. The device is counting more distance than my training partners (that use garmins). I always wear the gps under the cap because I have a distance alert set to 500m. Depending on the day’s session we stop at each 500th ou do 1k, 1.5k before stop. I’m leading the pack and when we stop their devices are on par with each other but counting less distance than the Sigma. The Sigmar triggers the 500m 50/60m before theirs.
Today we swan 3k and I recorded around 450m more meters.
Tomorrow I’ll try to swim in Eco Mode.
The garmins are recording points every 1sec.
Hi Nik and everybody here,
I have a strange problem, it looks like east and west is switched. The course pointer points correctly to north but the heading display says I’m heading NE instead of NW, E instead of W and SE instead of SW. I know how to caibrate the compass but it doesn’t help. N and S are correct. 🙁 any idea what should I do? Id.free and FW 1.6.7. Thanks. Luke
Good afternoon,
does somebody else have this problem? I’ve contacted Sigma, but I have no reply to this day.
L.
Hello, i tried to reproduce your problem but i am not able to have NE/SW etc displayed on the screen using “tracks”. How did you do that?
I have an Id.Free.
Regards
Pascal
Hello froggyranita, please try this:
Training – HIK – wait for the GPS (or cancel it with upper left button), press bottom right button to advance to the next screen with “heading”, “time” and “weather”, watch the “heading” part, rotate and compare the displayed letters with reality or with a real compass. You can also try to recalibrate the built-in compass: Long press the bottom right button, browse through the displayed menu, calibrate the compass. Do again the steps above. Let us know the result. Thank you!
You’re right, I just tested it and:
– Head N
– Turn left
– Expect: NW -> W
– Display: NE -> E
– Head N
– Turn right
– Expect: NE -> E
– Display: NW -> W
So yes, it looks like the headings E and W have switched. Thank God I’ve not yet had to rely on this during my adventures ?
Thank you, Jeroen!
Now I hope this will get fixed in the next FW update – if it is only a SW bug…
Nik from Sigma, are you here? 🙂
Hi Luke,
sorry, just saw the comments here…
I will check if we can reproduce it and find the root cause! Thanks for your help!
Kind regards,
Nik
Hi, Nik!
Great, I hope it would be an easy issue, because I like the watch. I was also thinking that it would be nice to implement another “shortcut” – long press of the top left button in the default mode (only watch displayed, locked) could quickly start a predefined training mode (bike, gps on, tracking on…). What do you think?
Have a nice day!
Luke
OK, i was also able to reproduce that bug.
Does not seem complicated to fix 🙂
Other things that i find not so nice:
In the HIK mode (or other mode besides load tracks); i could not find a screen showing the map of where i’ve been, is it available somewhere? Similarly, i could not find a “back home” feature showing the direction of my starting point (only option available is doing the track in reverse). And last, when using load tracks, there is no zoom in nor zoom out available; only one scale available.
Regards, Pascal
These are exactly the features I’ve asked for in an earlier comment. Good to see I’m not the only one who’d really appreciate it if these were implemented.
Hello, Pascal, thanks for testing the disovered bug. 🙂
back home – i’m in the office now but i believe you can save the actual track (the track you’ve just made from X to Y) and then navigate it in reverse.
zoom and a map – is it really important when there’s no real map in the watch, only a simple line when navigating?
Luke
Hello Luke, indeed there is a « reverse » option but not a direct back home with a simple arrow pointing to where you starting from.
Zoom… i had several cases when using « tracks » that during my runs a global overview of the map would have been handy. That’s why a simple zoom in zoom out is on my wish list. I also understand that the screen size and resolution might be limiting the possibility of the zoom.
Have a good day
Pascal
Hello Pascal,
not on my wish list but now I understand and should not be too complicated to implement. 🙂
Regards,
Luke
Still no official reply to my mail. Cardinal directions mismatch in a device that should navigate you. It’s almost a month I’ve contacted Sigma’s helpdesk via their website. Nik, please, do you have any news? Let us know.
Regards,
Luke
Hi Luke,
sorry for the inconvenience. I have tried to trace your contact with our service team. I believe there was a misunderstanding. As you have posted the issue here and also via Email to our service, while mentioning that you are in contact with me over this forum, they believed that we are discussing the issue here already and closed your case.
Anyhow, as mentioned earlier, we are looking into the issue. I believe it is not a big thing to solve and we should be able to adress this issue in the next update. Unfortunately, I cannot give you an exact date for this update, as we are also implementing some UI updates according to some requests. These need more testing which is ongoing.
Hope thats at least a perspektive, thanks again for your help!
Kind regards,
Nik
Hi Nik,
thank you for information. Any chance that the shortcut I’ve mentioned will be included? (long press the upper left button while device locked will start a predefined training).
Regards,
Luke
three months and nothing happened. i’m returning the watch back to the seller. this is not good.
Is there a possibilty to see a firmware udpate or is the development on this watch stopped like the replies from Sigma on this forum?
Pascal
Do you know anything about this problem?
Same thing happens on my device.
Hi, just got my unit, tried a quick run and so far so good.
Still fiddling with the buttons and functions
But have an elementary doubt. How to turn off the device. It the top right button is pressed and hold for 5s it will restart the device.
Is it designed to be always on?
Yes, this is how it was designed. However, quoting Sigma’s Nik earlier in the comments:
“Power Off” is currently not in the update, but I am already working on another update with more included User interface improvements, based on customer feedback- power off is definitely a major request.
Thanks Jeroen
Hello everybody,
just a quick tech tip: if your watch ever run out of battery while in training (and shut itself down) and the Sigma Link won’t sync the last activity, simply exit the Sigma Link, connect the watch to a PC, backup the last activity file (.fit), delete it from the watch, sync with Sigma Link again, copy the .fit file back to the watch and sync with Sigma Link. It happened to me twice – a few hundred meters before the end of my biketrip/hiking…
Luke
PS: Hello, Nik, any progress with testing/bugfixing? 🙂
i would like to know how to switch off this watch.
See my comment a few replies above.
(You can’t, but it’s a major request that Sigma knows of)
All,
My ID.tri has been sent to and returned from the factory. I sent it in, within warranty, because the gps measurement are so much off when using ID.tri during open water swimming.
It was returned back to me with the comment that everything is OK as measurements are accurate when i attach the device to a boei.
I conclude differently. The watch is not suitable for triatlon full stop. Can you imagine the struggle switching from swimming to biking without the watch on your wrist !?
Most most unfortunate.
Pascal
Pascal I experience the same. I don’t do Tri’s anymore but do OWSwimming a lot and run once in a while.
Running profile is pretty accurate, I would say on par with my old dying 910xt.
Is open water is always off by 10 to 15%, It doesn’t matter where its used. I always use mine under the cap. cos I need to be aware of the swim distances. On the wrist its almost useless.
By turning ON the [Auto Stop] feature on the Swim Profile the distance tracking become better, closer to the garmin ones and to the “plan” I always make on google earth. But the pace averages end up too good to be true. As I value more the distance tracking I can live with this.
Overall, I like de compactness of the watch. The simplicity of the navigation buttons, the apps are ok, sometimes they sync, sometime they take a lot of time.
Like the fact the GPS is only turned on right before an workout starts.
The swim side odds are a big turn off. Still have to test it in a swimming pool, someday in the future when they become available again.
– Don’t like the fact we cannot turn the device off. Maybe its because it was designed to also be an everyday activity tracker and not only a sport specific watch.
– Would like the alerts vibration were louder and stronger like the garmins. A use the alerts a lot and sometimes I could barely “sense” them.
– Battery life is also quite “short” in GPS mode.
Well, I own one! and have to live with it. For running, biking (also tried that profile and was ok) or hiking is a very well priced watch. But, I wouldn’t buy it again or recommend to anyone who are more into the Triathlon thing. Garmin 735Xt is just a bit more expensive but IMHO offers much more value and in open water is quite reliable even when used on the wrist.
Good afternoon. Sigma iD.TRI watch. Version 1.67.
Problems with training in the pool. Instead of 1700 meters, the clock has counted 2750 meters. I always have a steady pace of 2: 05–2: 15/100 meters, and Sigma iD.TRI counted the pace of 1:26 / 100 meters. Pool length 50 m. Swimming style is always crawling, it is clearly defined by my old fifth group.
What could be the problem? Attached are screenshots of the profile settings and training schedule.
And how to turn off continuous heart rate monitoring (not during training, but simply when wearing the watch)? Didn’t find a solution anywhere.
Thanks!
I solved the problem with calculating statistics in the pool – the length of the pool needs to be set in quick settings directly in the clock. After that, everything is considered perfect even in the 25 m pool.
After using the watch for a month, I was satisfied. Although there were some minor bugs when exporting to Strava. The diode indication was very helpful.
I would like a larger font and highlight when raising your hand.
Have only just purchased this id.tri. Really happy so far with pool swim and running. However, I don’t seem to be able to get it to work on the stationary training bike (cadence, speed etc).
Some hands on experience: It does not work well in pool swims. You cannot rely on it to count laps. Maybe it’s because I am slow at turns, but I was so frustrated with its poor performance in the pool that I bought one of the last 735s
Would like to know the same.
Looks like the baby was abandoned after its birth.
Yeah, there was an update to the Sigma Data Center desktop app recently, but the watch’s firmware has not seen any update almost since it’s introduction.
answer from sigma just a few days ago: thank you for your message. Thank you for the hint that we have passed on to our product development department. This will probably be taken into account in the upcoming update.
let’s see if it will become reality or not…
Hello, “upcoming update”…. i would like to believe that but the latest update was in Apr-2020.
Only 2 firmware update since its launch in Sep-2019
First and last sigma watch for me
Regards, Pascal
Also my last sigma watch. Besides everything I was unlucky.
After 8 months of use it had a problem and got 100% blocked. I sent it for warranty but a proper technical report was not sent on the return by the seller and I was charged by customs $100 (60% of the purchase price) in tax to receive the equipment back. Now, four months later, it is in trouble again. Training time is counting wrong (slower than stopwatch) for workouts without GPS.
What means, I am not able to get the correct time, pace, calories, TSS, speed, etc, for indoor bike and pool swimming,… 🙁
Nothing, no firmware, not a single line from Sigma to this day.
Revisting this review, and quite amazed at the features for the price – although availability is poor. Just checking the product website in Sep 2021 however, and note that the product page has no mention whatsoever of the device’s battery life. Quite bizarre. Bit pointless having such a great device if it’s endurance is so poor they don’t want to mention it. Maybe Sigma should partner with Amazfit and access their battery know-how in exchange for…..
link to sigmasport.com
Ive had the ID TRI for a couple of years. Great watch as far as user friendly , all the info I want.
however I’ve always had trouble with battery life. On GPS I never got more than three hours and now it’s only twenty minutes if I’m lucky . So it’s useless making it the most expensive watch on the market.
David
For what it’s worth: I experience fast battery drain when the watch has an unstable bluetooth connection to my phone. The watch shows the BT icon, but there is no connection with the phone. Somehow this results in a very fast battery drain.
The BT connection is by far the biggest issue I have with this watch.
Sometimes it will drop connection for no apparent reason, other times it will just fail to connect at all and I need to reboot the phone and/or remove and reconnect the phone within the watch.
It is possible to customize the order of the activities on the training menu? For example, if I wan biking to be the one on the top left corner/the first one highlighted, will that be possible?
Hi. How do I clear space from the watch while keeping the records on DataCenter?
Is that even possible?
ps: no chance of paying for cloud storage.
In case anyone is interested, with your device connected you get a square with your device’s info and a trash icon. It eliminates the content in your watch/device but not on your computer.
Hello guys
My ID.TRI started to have two problems: the top left button stopped working and the “training time” is running 2x slower in case of a workout without GPS (indoor bike and pool, e.g.). Does anyone know if there is technical assistance (other than in Germany)? I could ship it to Brazil or Paris (France).
I’ve written to Sigma support but they don’t respond and Sigma’s technical assistance in my city doesn’t know the watch! Thanks!
Hey community, do you happen to have the same problem and did you manage to solve it? My Id.Free stopped showing the altitdue graph in tracks – they only show a flat line, although the altitude values are in hundreds of meters. The problem started sometime in the fall of 2021, when tracks uploaded via bluetooth from the Sigma Link App were displayed this way. From the spring of 2022, tracks recorded via cable from the Sigma DataCenter also began to be displayed in this way. I also communicated directly with Sigma, reinstalling applications and factory reset and formatting the watch (multiple times) did not help, the problem persists even after changing the watch. Tracks are correct in my Sigma Rox11.
joojiinoo, it seems that we are left to our own devices. If regret for buying this watch could kill, I would already be dead and buried, as we say around here.
Hello.
Is there a possibility to disconnect the heart rate sensor?
If you are trying to get rid of the annoying flashing lights all day, go to settings, device, tracking and turn it off. You will loose the step-counting thing and other stuff but, in my case, after a few months I am not interested in that anymore.
If you want to unpair a HR sensor/strap, then go to settings, connection, sensors, paired sensors, look for the sensor you want to delete.
Don’t buy this shit!
after 4 years looks that battery is gone. I can do just one bike ride cca 3 hours and getting notification that battery is 20% but after that I know it i going to shutdown 🙁
I did not find replacement battery. If anybody knows where to buy and how to replace then I thank for links.
My understanding is that the battery cannot be replaced.
After less than a year my id.free became useless. The Start button stopped working after I dropped it when taking off the bike. Not a big hit at all. It was replaced by a Garmin Fenix 6 Pro and, in short, I can say that the short life of the id.free is its biggest flaw. IME its heart rate reading (even when swimming) and gps is more precise, and the crash function is much more accurate than Garmin’s. It’s a great watch that is built to fail VERY quickly.