Discovery Vitality in 2016

C

creeper

Executive Member
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Nov 18, 2010
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Rant

So. Let me understand this correctly. Discovery provides rewards. Realise that their implementation is flawed. Instead of gunning for the cheaters, they decide to screw over the masses, by limiting the awards to a set of devices and APIs. Because they didn't put in checks and balances. In other words.

Discovery: we screwed up and are losing money. So let's punish the majority.

Seriously. Provide a service. Then take it away from a large group of people that pay the same fees as those with the now limited set of devices?

/rant
 
K

krycor

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kripstoe said:
I'm not that surprised about these changes. The number of people getting rewards for not doing that much actual exercise was quite obvious. That said, I think the changes are harsh on those of us who do attend the gym regularly. Discovery has now swung too far in the wrong direction.
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What sucks is not so much the gym activity stuff but the timed races*. If you do the Argus / 94.7 etc instead of getting 5000 points this year you now get 500 points +/- 300 with hr. Now to me.. it seems like I will be cancelling my Team Vitality package as taking part in races no longer mean i will get to my Vitality goals for the year (i.e. I was maxing out my fitness points easily).

I do agree that the points for timed events was too much but maybe reducing to 50% would have been 'ok'.. harsh but bearable.. reducing it to 10% is just shocking. So instead of timed races I might as well do my own cycling and just get HR points. as it works out cheaper. <-- guess their actuaries didnt factor in that hey.
 
W

WesleyR

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Also, the fitter you are, the quicker your heart rate recovers... so keeping it at over 80% is really difficult. I'm relatively fit and this is going to be a bit steep.
 
K

krycor

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xcaliber said:
Thats ****ing impossible. I am a fit person but to get above 130 continuous for over 30 min. ****
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You must eat more discovery approved cheese burgers.. then your heart rate will take a longer time to slow hahahaha. sadly for them it just means i will game their system where previously i just did my usual routines. They will have issues this year with people gaming the system more than ever before i can promise you that.. this happens in most game systems where there is a too harsh correction.
 
A

Alacrity

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Jul 3, 2005
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655
kripstoe said:
Not quite. 80% of max heart rate for at least 30 minutes. That's quite rough for reasonably fit people.
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I exercise for an hour so now I have to keep my HR at over 80% for an hour!

And my form training (almost like boot camp) which I do once a week which is quite tough and is about 80 min long does not get me any points! ZERO, thus train very hard and get 0 points!
 
V

Verde

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Aug 16, 2006
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1,592
creeper said:
Rant

So. Let me understand this correctly. Discovery provides rewards. Realise that their implementation is flawed. Instead of gunning for the cheaters, they decide to screw over the masses, by limiting the awards to a set of devices and APIs. Because they didn't put in checks and balances. In other words.

Discovery: we screwed up and are losing money. So let's punish the majority.

Seriously. Provide a service. Then take it away from a large group of people that pay the same fees as those with the now limited set of devices?

/rant
Click to expand...

Discovery did not screw up -they have been following this strategy for years:
- promise incredible benefits
-deliver on this promise for a while
-sign up new vitality members, sell partner products in process
-radically change terms and conditions when buzz created reaches optimum point
-deal with backlash by ignoring it
-end up with more net members with stuff they don't need when it all dies down.
 
W

web

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Feb 24, 2005
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5,327
Just checked the last 10 MTB rides I did average time was 2:08 at an average HR of 164.8 :D at 47 years of age I will be fine.

I actually did a test on Monday night I "ran" 2.2km in 30mins with a average HR of 140 and i got points, this was manually added onto strava. So the system was floored with these manual workouts. To easy to cheat.
 
K

krycor

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Joined
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Messages
18,546
Verde said:
Discovery did not screw up -they have been following this strategy for years:
- promise incredible benefits
-deliver on this promise for a while
-sign up new vitality members, sell partner products in process
-radically change terms and conditions when buzz created reaches optimum point
-deal with backlash by ignoring it
-end up with more net members with stuff they don't need when it all dies down.
Click to expand...

you forgot one point..

-create rule or combination of rules which gets abused like hell for a year
-harsh correction of the above rule, add new rules which creates above.

And this is what happens every so often except it seems to me that the number of people giving up and learning to game the system grows with each harsh correction.
 
Napalm2880

Napalm2880

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web said:
I actually did a test on Monday night I "ran" 2.2km in 30mins with a average HR of 140 and i got points, this was manually added onto strava. So the system was floored with these manual workouts. To easy to cheat.
Click to expand...

What they should have done is exclude 'manual' workouts when they sync with apps like Strava, MapMyFitness. I've tested and they exclude manual data points from Apple Health.
 
X

xcaliber

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Apr 18, 2013
Messages
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Napalm2880 said:
You're giving away your age here :D
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Lets see. 29, 1.82 m, 10eish bf. I struggle to get above 110 HR for more than 60 min. Which means I am ****ed. And I really push myself at they gym. During the work out it goes to 140 and above but it comes to rest very quickly.

krycor said:
You must eat more discovery approved cheese burgers.. then your heart rate will take a longer time to slow �� hahahaha. sadly for them it just means i will game their system where previously i just did my usual routines. They will have issues this year with people gaming the system more than ever before i can promise you that.. this happens in most game systems where there is a too harsh correction.
Click to expand...

Its messed up. Looks like I need to eat more junk and be unhealthy
 
Tinuva

Tinuva

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Joined
Feb 10, 2005
Messages
12,475
xcaliber said:
So which HR device is advised from now on?
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Good question.

Polar loop + Polar H7 can for example work. R3000.
Garmin Vivofit + Garmin compatible HR ANT+ belt. Probably R3000.
Garmin Vivosmart HR. Probably R4500.
Apple Watch with Iphone. *#$&*#$&#* expensive.

Garmin Multisports watch? dno.

I actually want to know, if the Polar look, is compatible with the Muvit HRM10 that I have. Polar loop can use Bluetooth BLE belt like the H7, just not sure if it will work with non-polar belts.
 
X

xcaliber

Expert Member
Joined
Apr 18, 2013
Messages
1,576
Tinuva said:
Good question.

Polar loop + Polar H7 can for example work. R3000.
Garmin Vivofit + Garmin compatible HR ANT+ belt. Probably R3000.
Garmin Vivosmart HR. Probably R4500.
Apple Watch with Iphone. *#$&*#$&#* expensive.

Garmin Multisports watch? dno.

I actually want to know, if the Polar look, is compatible with the Muvit HRM10 that I have. Polar loop can use Bluetooth BLE belt like the H7, just not sure if it will work with non-polar belts.
Click to expand...

So what happens to everyone that bought a HR strap and synced it to those apps. Will they now lose out?

Need just a HR belt since they still dont support the Fitbit Charge HR
 
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