Discovery Health - Vitality & Team Vitality plus everything else you need to know

[Thor Buttox]

Oh, it bites me too. Don't get me wrong - I don't LIKE the change, and if it changes any more it may affect how we do business wrt Discovery & vitality and the in-house testing etc. But I am confident that it will be changing for the better in the future. Overall though, I understand why they did it, and perhaps that tempers my irritation somewhat.

 

Haha, bud, so do I. But I have an angry bear (still) to deal with thanks to Disco taking the honey from the hive. Edited April 28, 2016 by Thor Buttox

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

I hear you Myles, but there are others who bought into the vitality system, the points and the motivation... and not even the apple watch.

 

They however went the tomtom multi sports watch, yet vitality do not and will not recognise the watch as a legitimate recording device and there is no platform for uploading to vitality.

 

The only option was tapriik which is now closed and no amount of corresponding with vitality seems to be able to resolve this... how do you propose to help these with legitimate devices and no way to get the benefits?

 

Vitality changed the goals and have seemingly abandonded them!

 

 

They're talking to TomTom for a direct link a la Garmin Connect. And tbh I reckon the other guys will come to the party with verifiability as well. 

 

But tbh dude - the points shoudl be a by-product of the activity - not the cause thereof. 

[shaper]

They're talking to TomTom for a direct link a la Garmin Connect. And tbh I reckon the other guys will come to the party with verifiability as well. 

 

But tbh dude - the points shoudl be a by-product of the activity - not the cause thereof.

 

The points motivate... if should be as clear as a sunny day that the points motivate... hence all the moaning about achieving points

 

Vitality set points, people target and do workouts to achieve the points... it is no longer a by-product... it is the product for many of the 80%..like running that extra km to get more points... or doing just one more workout to get the points... the by-product is they are getting healthier lol

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

The points motivate... if should be as clear as a sunny day that the points motivate... hence all the moaning about achieving points

 

Vitality set points, people target and do workouts to achieve the points... it is no longer a by-product... it is the product for many of the 80%..like running that extra km to get more points... or doing just one more workout to get the points... the by-product is they are getting healthier lol

yeah, true. The points are the by-product and the goals are the motivator. 

[eccc whippet]

I achieve my goal 500 points in 2 cadence sessions...the 3 rd one I don't upload to GC...I also ride on Saturday and Sunday...an avg of 230 km per week...which are recorded using strava on my iPhone...which could total around 1800 points...however as of next week...my cadence session end...so no more points for me...unless I spend more money buying more devices.

 

One thing I have learnt in life...there is no such thing as a free ride...somebody has to pay...how much depends on how smart you are.

 

At the moment it cost me R900 + vitality cost R269....a total of R1169 to get R120 worth of coffee per month...as I don't use any of the other services offered....once cadence finishes...to continue to earn points once cadence comes to an end...I will need to outlay a couple thousand to invest in a device to to continue to get R120 worth of free coffee

 

My point...it is not vitality's fault I am an idiot...you need to way up the pros and cons and decide how you can benefit from the offer...or dump it .

[BarHugger]

yeah, true. The points are the by-product and the goals are the motivator. 

The client is the by-product.....the goal is $$$$$$$$$ for Discovery.......

[Christian van Zyl]

The client is the by-product.....the goal is $$$$$$$$$ for Discovery.......

Absolutely... Healthier people will simply cost insurance companies less "risk". 

[Thor Buttox]

I achieve my goal 500 points in 2 cadence sessions...the 3 rd one I don't upload to GC...I also ride on Saturday and Sunday...an avg of 230 km per week...which are recorded using strava on my iPhone...which could total around 1800 points...however as of next week...my cadence session end...so no more points for me...unless I spend more money buying more devices.

 

One thing I have learnt in life...there is no such thing as a free ride...somebody has to pay...how much depends on how smart you are.

 

At the moment it cost me R900 + vitality cost R269....a total of R1169 to get R120 worth of coffee per month...as I don't use any of the other services offered....once cadence finishes...to continue to earn points once cadence comes to an end...I will need to outlay a couple thousand to invest in a device to to continue to get R120 worth of free coffee

 

My point...it is not vitality's fault I am an idiot...you need to way up the pros and cons and decide how you can benefit from the offer...or dump it .

But here's the main point: if you spend thousands and then Disco cuts off that upload path, how will you feel? Or if those R000's no longer get you the points you need as their are random alterations of the scale, or because other people are cheating the system.

[BarHugger]

But here's the main point: if you spend thousands and then Disco cuts off that upload path, how will you feel? Or if those R000's no longer get you the points you need as their are random alterations of the scale, or because other people are cheating the system.

They really stuffed up there......and still people wax lyrically about their awesomeness.....the mind boggles.....reminds me of the old days when your mom took you to the doctor and he gave you a free sucker so you could love him......

[shaper]

I achieve my goal 500 points in 2 cadence sessions...the 3 rd one I don't upload to GC...I also ride on Saturday and Sunday...an avg of 230 km per week...which are recorded using strava on my iPhone...which could total around 1800 points...however as of next week...my cadence session end...so no more points for me...unless I spend more money buying more devices.

 

One thing I have learnt in life...there is no such thing as a free ride...somebody has to pay...how much depends on how smart you are.

 

At the moment it cost me R900 + vitality cost R269....a total of R1169 to get R120 worth of coffee per month...as I don't use any of the other services offered....once cadence finishes...to continue to earn points once cadence comes to an end...I will need to outlay a couple thousand to invest in a device to to continue to get R120 worth of free coffee

 

My point...it is not vitality's fault I am an idiot...you need to way up the pros and cons and decide how you can benefit from the offer...or dump it .

Replace your cadence sessions with gym sessions on the wattbikes, you can record all the data on your devices when you pair them with the wattbike and you would have had emails of the sessions you will be doing at cadence each week... you can replicate and repeat on the wattbike as well as take regular FTP test.

 

So can utilise the gym membership you would have signed up for and collect the points for doing sessions on the wattbikes rather than at cadence.

 

You therefore do not have to buy anything further, in fact save money on the cadence classes, use the wattbikes for free and get the points.  The only real differences is that you drive to the gym rather than to cadence classes and your workouts are not structured by someone telling you what to do... but instead printing the email of what you should be doing at a previous cadence workout and following it yourself as you spin on the wattbike.  

 

The metrics for watts, cadence etc are there to be seen on the LCD screen on the wattbike and you will know what your tempo, threshold, VO2max etc are from your time at cadence.

 

There are many solutions to a problem

[Harryn]

I have a Garmin 510, and an old Polar. The polar does not pick up heart rate properly in the pool. Can anyone recommend a "Bottom of the line" device, just for swimming use. Obviously a device that Discovery will recognize for heart rate points.

[Cyclewizz]

 

They however went the tomtom multi sports watch, yet vitality do not and will not recognise the watch as a legitimate recording device and there is no platform for uploading to vitality.

 

 

 

You can upload from A TomTom Watch to MapMyFitness and then link that to Discovery - it works.

Discovery sent an email at the end of March saying that they recognise this until the end of June when there'll be another way of doing it.

[Lands250]

I have a Garmin 510, and an old Polar. The polar does not pick up heart rate properly in the pool. Can anyone recommend a "Bottom of the line" device, just for swimming use. Obviously a device that Discovery will recognize for heart rate points.

As far as I am aware most heart rate sensors are waterproof in that they can be submerged, but due to the water they stop monitoring heart rate. I am led to believe Wahoo's TickrX is just about the only unit that can record heart rate under water due to its being able to record workouts for up to 16hrs with its built in memory so it does not have to try communicate to a watch. But I don't think there is any app where the onboard data gets offloaded that Discovery recognizes at this point.

[shaper]

You can upload from A TomTom Watch to MapMyFitness and then link that to Discovery - it works.

Discovery sent an email at the end of March saying that they recognise this until the end of June when there'll be another way of doing it.

Thanks, will pass on the info

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

I have a Garmin 510, and an old Polar. The polar does not pick up heart rate properly in the pool. Can anyone recommend a "Bottom of the line" device, just for swimming use. Obviously a device that Discovery will recognize for heart rate points.

Garmin HRM Swim and a waterproof container for the Garmin?

[jcza]

I have a Garmin 510, and an old Polar. The polar does not pick up heart rate properly in the pool. Can anyone recommend a "Bottom of the line" device, just for swimming use. Obviously a device that Discovery will recognize for heart rate points.

 

Slip the Garmin in your speedo and go swimming