New Spec App?

The screenshots make it look like a reskinned Mission Control. I guess I will try it, even though I already have Mission Control and Ride on my phone. It would be nice if they made one good app instead of multiple apps that each solve part of the problem.
 
Same as Ben, on first quick glance. it does look like they are trying to use better visuals to explain the whole support level/power thing, which is probably an improvement. Also seems like it replaces Mission Control and Ride as well, so let’s give it a try and see how it goes. It picked up this morning’s ride info as soon as I started it up. The Ride visuals are better as well, again at first inspection.
 
I tried the Specialized App (SA) on my older Vado 6.0. There is a lot of capability missing. For example, the diagnostics is a laugh compared to Mission Control. While MC gives a lot of information on the battery, motor or display, the SA tells me almost nothing. It is even impossible to set the Initial Assist Mode!

It looks the SA is focused on the newer (Mastermind) e-bikes. Will give it a try with my Vado SL to see the difference if any.
 
Saratoga Dave said:
Startup assist mode is in the Tuning section
Click to expand...
It does not work for my Vado 6.0, Dave. An empty screen.
What I liked though were the new suggestions for Assist Modes. I tried the "Battery Saving Eco" of 20/80% for my 40 km ride of today. It works like a charm! 1% of my battery per a kilometre but the e-bike is very responsive to the rider's leg input, and it could be a pretty fast ride!
 
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Another good thing about the SA is it shows the true Battery Health (now described as Maximum Capacity*). Now, SA says my "gray" battery has the Maximum Capacity of 90%. If a new battery was indeed 604 Wh, now it should be 543.6 Wh. Is it true? I do not know! Now, customizing the ride data dashboard does not offer the Battery Charge [Wh] option!

Mission Control says the battery full charge is 521 Wh. Is there anything you could trust?!
----------
*) Which is funny as my "black" battery is the weakest I own and its Maximum Capacity is reported as 100% (and MC says the full charge is 545 Wh)...
 
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I just downloaded and recorded a ride with the new app. It does seem to combine the old MC with the Ride app, with improvements. Now the ‘analyze your ride’ tab lets you choose three parameters to view together, a big improvement over the Ride app’s implementation. Now I can scroll through a ride seeing rider power and motor power together, along with whatever else I choose.
 
As a "combo Mission Control + Ride" I see some new features:
  • Lock menu has the option now to autolock the bike whenever the app isn't connected, making your phone sort of like a key.
  • The "tune" menu is more user friendly.
  • Map that displays while recording looks new. I need to take it for a ride to see if it's better
  • Record screen is now split with stats and map instead of that being tabs
  • The configuration of the TCD screen shows you exactly what you'll get on the bike
And some missing features:
  • It doesn't show new records like the ride app (e.g. new longest ride, new 5 min power, etc)
  • It doesn't know your max heartrate or FTP and the heartrate/power ride percentage displays are missing.
  • It doesn't have a dark mode
  • The old app had settings for auto-pausing ride recordings when you stop, keeping the screen always-on, etc. I don't know how that will play out while recording with the new app because I don't see settings for that.
The new graph is a good idea, but the performance is terrible and there's no zooming so it was useless for analyzing a 30 mile ride I did yesterday.

It does not like to coexist with mission control, so don't try to open both (they won't both connect).

It also froze up (seeming to lose connection to the bike) fairly quickly while I was playing with it and I had to force-stop it. I hope it's the weird combination of things I did (playing with the tune, locking and unlocking, etc) but the real test is a full ride record.

If it can record rides okay then I would consider it a 100% replacement for Mission Control (for my Tero X, see other posts above re older bikes) and maybe a 90% replacement for Ride
 
Ben J said:
As a "combo Mission Control + Ride" I see some new features:
  • Lock menu has the option now to autolock the bike whenever the app isn't connected, making your phone sort of like a key.
  • The "tune" menu is more user friendly.
  • Map that displays while recording looks new. I need to take it for a ride to see if it's better
  • Record screen is now split with stats and map instead of that being tabs
  • The configuration of the TCD screen shows you exactly what you'll get on the bike
And some missing features:
  • It doesn't show new records like the ride app (e.g. new longest ride, new 5 min power, etc)
  • It doesn't know your max heartrate or FTP and the heartrate/power ride percentage displays are missing.
  • It doesn't have a dark mode
  • The old app had settings for auto-pausing ride recordings when you stop, keeping the screen always-on, etc. I don't know how that will play out while recording with the new app because I don't see settings for that.
The new graph is a good idea, but the performance is terrible and there's no zooming so it was useless for analyzing a 30 mile ride I did yesterday.

It does not like to coexist with mission control, so don't try to open both (they won't both connect).

It also froze up (seeming to lose connection to the bike) fairly quickly while I was playing with it and I had to force-stop it. I hope it's the weird combination of things I did (playing with the tune, locking and unlocking, etc) but the real test is a full ride record.

If it can record rides okay then I would consider it a 100% replacement for Mission Control (for my Tero X, see other posts above re older bikes) and maybe a 90% replacement for Ride
Click to expand...

ouch, no dark mode, no always on (maybe you haven’t found it yet?) are deal breakers!
 
Another missing feature I just found: Can't link to/export to Komoot, only Strava. And no auto-export setting.

I did find "always on" and "auto stop/start", they're in a separate settings menu only available from the record screen.
 
Ben J said:
I did find "always on" and "auto stop/start", they're in a separate settings menu only available from the record screen.
Click to expand...
Maybe SA developer guys bit from Strava's user interface. It's similar about these 2 features. :）
 
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At Stefan's suggestion I took a look at the latest Specialized app this morning. I never used/heard about "Ride" but did start my journey using Mission Control. I then quickly moved on to BLevo....and though intimidating at first glance....I have grown accustomed to BLevo.

Specialized is confusing the whole "app" thing a bit imo with 3 differing apps for us....it seems convoluted....confusing.

I have not seen/felt much reason/need to purchase a standalone unit (garmin or wahoo etc) for my Vado SL rides given the capabilities of BLevo.
Particularly in combination with my QuadLock mount for my Google Pixel phone...it works great and is rock solid.
I do have some regular routes that I ride for which having the .GPX file is crucial (provides visual mapping of the route for me at a glance). BLevo performs this beautifully and for many of my rides has made Mission Control or this newest 'Specialized' version a very distant second choice.

BLevo's handling of the 'tuning' is more ambiguous and less user friendly.....I seem to change my pre-set tuning(s) in BLevo but occasionally feel like it reverts back to its previous setting(s)?....without saving my changes?.....it can be confusing for me. I am very likely the cause of the problem....but I have trouble figuring preset tunings with BLevo.

I suppose it is great that we all have such options!.....but it would be nice to have ONE perfect option.
 
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mfgrep said:
…
Specialized is confusing the whole "app" thing a bit imo with 3 differing apps for us....it seems convoluted....confusing.

I have not seen/felt much reason/need to purchase a standalone unit (garmin or wahoo etc) for my Vado SL rides given the capabilities of BLevo.
…
Click to expand...

i believe the point of the new app is to get rid of the confusion, and replace two with one. obviously it’s a work in progress!

the ride app was not meant for e-bikes, but then they added features to view e-bike ride data - and did NOT bother to add those same features to mission control, which certainly confused the prior situation.

i find other third party apps are better for my purposes, but perhaps the new specialized app will catch up. unlikely ;)
 
mschwett said:
i believe the point of the new app is to get rid of the confusion, and replace two with one. obviously it’s a work in progress!

the ride app was not meant for e-bikes, but then they added features to view e-bike ride data - and did NOT bother to add those same features to mission control, which certainly confused the prior situation.

i find other third party apps are better for my purposes, but perhaps the new specialized app will catch up. unlikely ;)
Click to expand...

If their app would allow me to import a route via .GPX I would stick with the Specialized app exclusively.
BLevo provides me with a mountain of ride information and data after each ride which is quite interesting. Now that I have used BLevo for several hundred miles worth of rides, however, this data has become less interesting to me.

Having a clean OEM interface....with intuitive tuning ability (which is already there)....and with the ability to import .GPX would sell me 100%.

We are a fickle bunch aren't we! lol. BLevo while perhaps un-refined aesthetically is pretty darn great....and the price is superb.
 
mfgrep said:
At Stefan's suggestion I took a look at the latest Specialized app this morning. I never used/heard about "Ride" but did start my journey using Mission Control. I then quickly moved on to BLevo....and though intimidating at first glance....I have grown accustomed to BLevo.

Specialized is confusing the whole "app" thing a bit imo with 3 differing apps for us....it seems convoluted....confusing.

I have not seen/felt much reason/need to purchase a standalone unit (garmin or wahoo etc) for my Vado SL rides given the capabilities of BLevo.
Particularly in combination with my QuadLock mount for my Google Pixel phone...it works great and is rock solid.
I do have some regular routes that I ride for which having the .GPX file is crucial (provides visual mapping of the route for me at a glance). BLevo performs this beautifully and for many of my rides has made Mission Control or this newest 'Specialized' version a very distant second choice.

BLevo's handling of the 'tuning' is more ambiguous and less user friendly.....I seem to change my pre-set tuning(s) in BLevo but occasionally feel like it reverts back to its previous setting(s)?....without saving my changes?.....it can be confusing for me. I am very likely the cause of the problem....but I have trouble figuring preset tunings with BLevo.

I suppose it is great that we all have such options!.....but it would be nice to have ONE perfect option.
Click to expand...
I agree that Blevo is much better data collector than any of the Specialized apps. I found that if I set my tuning in Blevo and then later open Mission Control, those MC settings have been changed to whatever I set with Blevo.

I only use my Garmin (edge 130 +) while riding, but I run Blevo on my phone, keeping the phone in my pocket for the ride. The Garmin shows me everything I want to see except the motor power, which I can look at later in Blevo, along with its ride map that shows all the data at every point of the ride.
 
Tried the new SA today with my Turbo Vado5 IGH. Compared to MC, it seems to be missing
  • Radar setup
  • Battery charge mode options (I.e. full or 80%)
And all the stuff mentioned by others above.
 
Ben J said:
What kind of radar setup can the Mission Control app do? I'd love it if I could control the Varia without having to stop the bike and hit the button
Click to expand...
FYI. I think this only applies to the 5 with the built-in Varia.
IMG_6465.jpg
 
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