Artengo Personal Coach Pod and Watch REVIEW
Introduction
Artengo is a brand that makes clothes and equipment for almost every racquet sport. In 2014 their Personal Tennis Coach Pod (tennis sensor) and the Watch were approved by ITF. The Artengo sensor is mounted by two strips right above the handle on the frame (on the neck of the tennis racquet). Artengo is a French brand and all of its products are sold through Decathlon including the tennis sensor and the watch.
Written by Martin Poboril (4/16/2015)
opening the box
If you bought the Artegno Tennis Watch and the Artengo Personal Coach Pod together you will receive two separate boxes. On the left is the box with the watches and on the right is the box with the pod (sensor).
The Artengo Tennis Watch box includes: a watch, a quick user guide, and a general information sheet.
The Artengo Personal Coach Pod box includes: a Pod (sensor), two pairs of strips (yellow pair and blue pair), a USB cable, a general information sheet, and the quick user guide.
Pictures of the sensor.
weight and size
According to my scale the Artengo Personal Coach Pod alone weighs 22.8g (picture on the left) and with the straps 24.7g (picture on the right).
The watches weights 67.2 grams.
The size comparison of the Artengo Personal Coach Pod with a pen.
The size comparison of the Artengo Tennis Watch with a pen.
My tennis racquet weighs 347.7g (picture on the left) and with the Artengo Personal Coach Pod it weighs 372.5g (picture on the right).
technical specifications
Artengo Personal Coach Pod
CONNECTION
Artengo Pod (sensor) and the Tennis Watch are connected through ANT+ Protocol (2.4 GHZ)
Range: less than 10 meters
COMPATIBILITY
Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7
Mac 10.6 (snow Leopard), Mac 10.7 (Lion), Mac 10.8 (Mountain Lion)
SENSOR
–
MEMORY
Up to 10 hours of data
BATTERY
Around 6 hours battery life time
Around 3 hours full charge cycle
Artengo Tennis Watch
BATTERY LIFE
3 hours per week = 2 years
1 hour per week = 3 years
BATTERY TYPE
CR 2032
tracking
The Artengo Personal Coach Pod (sensor) works in two main modes: life mode and offline mode. To use the life mode we need to own the Artengo Tennis Watch. The life mode is divided into three modes:
– Training (record all the played shots – we can see the sum and speed of serves, and the sum, sweet spot of backhands, forehands, and serves on the watch during the training session)
– Match (record all the played shots plus the score of the match – we can see the score on the watch and who is serving)
– Challenge (compare the serve speed with the hitting partner – the watch displays our opponent’s and our speed of the serve).
For the offline mode we do not need the Artengo Tennis Watch, all the data is saved into the Artengo Pod (sensor), and we can analyze the data after the game on our computer.
Artengo Personal Coach Pod + Tennis Watch
FOREHAND
Number of forehands per session
Sweet spot
BACKHAND
Number of backhands per session
Sweet spot
SERVE
Number of serves per session
Sweet spot
Speed of the serve
1st and 2nd serve
OTHER
Training time and match time
Number of shots per minute
Opponent, club, surface, mindset score
Comparing charts
Heart rate, KCAL burned, running speed, running area covered
Score of the match
Who is serving in the match
Total number of shots per selected period of time
Number of sessions
Total time played
Number of matches and number of training sessions
Shot type just before a winning point and losing point
Trophies section
Comparison between number of shots during the match and training
List of all sessions per selected period of time
MATCH
Total number of games
Points won/points lost
Break points won
Maximum number of consecutive points won
1st serves in play
Points won on 1st and 2nd serve
Average time for a game
user guide
Quick user guides are available for both devices (Artengo Personal Coach Pod and Artengo Tennis Watch) in the box. The full user guide is available only on the Artengo website, and it has 31 pages. The full user guide describes very well all the possible settings and modes of both devices, but it does not describe well the technical specifications of the Pod or the Watch. Also, there are a couple of things missing which I will describe in section “Weird.”
artengo tennis application
We can explore our data after the practice/match either on the Artengo Tennis Watch or at home on our computer.
Exploring One of My Session - Training
After we finish our practice we can explore our data on the Artengo Tennis Watch. To see what the above screens do: Press “OK” on the watch (to wake up the watch if the screen is off) -> Press “OK” again -> go down the list to “Statistics”, press “OK” -> Select “Training” by pressing “OK” -> Select the first training on the list to explore the last one by pressing “OK.”
Pictures in the first row (from left to right):
– In the first picture we see the percentage of the sweet spot from the serve (54%).
– The second picture shows the maximum speed of the serve (189 km/h).
– The third picture shows average speed of the serve (138 km\h).
– And the fourth picture shows the sweet spot from forehands (79%).
Pictures in the second row (from left to right):
– The first picture shows the sweet spot from backhands (72%).
– And the last picture shows the sum of all the shots played during the training session (57 serves, 238 backhands, 371 forehands).
Let's explore the same session in the web browser
First we have to connect the Artengo Tennis Pod to our computer by USB and download the data from the pod through ONconnect (ONconnect is a software program which downloads the data from the pod to our computer).
– Run the ONconnect software and wait until it recognizes your Artengo Personal Coach Pod.
– After that it asks you if you want to associate the data on the Pod with the e-mail shown on the screen. If yes, click on “Yes” (no screen shot).
– The software will start to download the data from the pod (screen shot on the left).
– Whenever all the data from the pod is downloaded you get following message: “Your device has been successfully synchronized.” To access your data click “Access my account” it will direct you to the web browser (screen shot on the right).
At the top in the gray bar we can see:
– the type of session (training)
– the date of the session (15-04-2015)
– the time of the session – when it started and when it ended (from 02:20:39 to 03:18:32)
– the duration of the session (00:57:53)
– and by clicking on the recycle bin we can delete the session.
Below the gray bar we can insert:
– Opponent – to insert the opponent’s name, our opponent has to have an Artengo account and be our friend in the Artengo community
– Surface – carpet, green set, quick
– Club – we can choose from the clubs which we either entered or said that we play at in our profile
– Mindset score – 1 is the worst mindset and 5 is the best mindset
Number of shots section:
– On the left we can see the graph showing us the distribution of the shots in percentage from the selected section (61% forehands, 39% backhands)
– To the right of this graph we can see the sums of the shots from the session (371 forehands, 238 backhands, and 57 serves)
Centering section:
– On the graph we can see the percentage of all shots hit in the center of the racquet – sweet spot (74% of all shots were hit in the center of the racquet)
Also, we can see the sweet spot from separate shots (from left to right):
– 79% forehand
– 72% backhand
– 54% serve
Trophies section:
– In this section we can see what trophies we earned during a selected session. In this session I did not earned any trophies.
Speed of serve section:
– On the graph we can see the maximum speed of the serve from the session (189 km/h), and the average speed of the serve from the session (138 km/h)
– To the right of the graph we can see our progress in terms of the speed of the serve from the last session. I improved my maximum speed from the last session by 190 km/h and average speed by 139 km/h
In the last section of the web aplication we can see the overview tables which are diveded into three tabs: statistics, charts, and health
When we click on the “FOREHANDS/BACKHANDS” link we can see again what we have already seen above:
– Number of forehands (371)
– Forehand sweet spot (79%)
– Number of backhands (238)
– Backhand sweet spot (72%)
SERVES
– Number of serves (57)
– Serve sweet spot (54%)
– Maximum speed of the serve 189 km/h
– Average speed of the serve 138 km/h
GENERAL POINTS OF THE TRAINING SESSION
– Training time (57 minutes)
– Average number of shots per minute (12)
– Under the “Charts” tab we can compare our data in the graphs
– In this example, I am comparing the centering of the serve (yellow bars) and the average serve speed (gray bars)
The “Health” tab
– Since I do not own the compatible heart belt and pedometer with the Artengo Tennis Watch the only data I can see is how many calories I burned during the session (493 Kcal)
Exploring One of My Sessions - Match
The only new picture here is the one with the score from the match (the first picture). The rest are the same from the training session. In this case, I played only one set (6/3).
Exploring the Match in the Web Application
In this section I will only be showing the extra things which we were not able to see in the “Training”mode.
Under the score section we can see the score from the match. I lost the set (3/6).
Section “SHOT TYPE JUST BEFORE”
A winning point (screen shot on the left) – here we can see the graph of the shots before the winning point:
– 21% – 1st serve
– 7% – 2nd serve
– 36% – backhand
– 36% – forehand
A lost point (screen shot on the right) – the graph with the shots before the lost point:
– 3% – 1st serve
– 3% – 2nd serve
– 36% – backhand
– 58% – forehand
In the match mode the “SERVES” tab is divided into two sections – first and second serve:
First serve:
– Number of 1st serves – 22
– 1st serve sweet spot – 54%
– Maximum speed of 1st serve – 184 km/h
– Average speed of 1st serve – 170 km/h
Second serve:
– Number of 2nd serves – 11
– 2nd serve sweet spot – 45%
– Maximum speed of 2nd serve – 189 km/h
– Average speed of 2nd serve – 133 km/h
Under the “GENERAL POINTS OF THE MATCH” there so much more information than in the training mode:
– Match time – 53 minutes
– Total number of games – 9
– Points won/lost – 29/34
– Break points won – 1/3
– Maximum number of consecutive points won – 6
– 1st serves in play (%) – 50%
– Points won on 1st serve – 6
– Points won on 2nd serve 7
– Average time for a game – 5 minutes 57 seconds
I actually do not know what this tab is displaying.
Exploring the Rest of the Application - Homepage
Whenever we login into our account the screen above will show up.
Exploring the Rest of the Application - All my sessions
Under the link “All my sessions” we can see all our sessions all together and explore every one of them. Again, I am only going to show the screens which were not available in earlier sections.
On the screen above we can see the sums from all my sessions (February 2015 to May 2015). Also, we can change the period of time which we want to explore by moving the end points on the time line (the yellow line on the top of the screen).
What we can see on this page:
– Total number of sessions – 22
– Total time – 11 hours
– Graph distribution between matches and trainings – 1 match and 21 training sessions
– Graph distribution between total number of forehands and backhands in % – 58% of forehands and 42% of backhands
– Total number of forehands – 2929
– Total number of backhands – 2119
– Graphs with shot type just before won or lost point
– Centering of the shots – all types of shots, forehands, backhands, and serves
– Maximum and average speed of the serve
– Number of won and lost matches
– Sum of our trophies
Statistics for all forehands and backhands:
Forehands:
– Sum of all forehands – 2929
– Forehand sweet spot – 78%
– Number of forehands played during match – 97
– Forehand sweet spot during the match – 73%
– Number of forehands played during training – 2832
– Forehand sweet spot during the training – 78%
Backhands:
– Sum of all backhands – 2119
– Backhand sweet spot – 76%
– Number of backhands played during match – 83
– Backhand sweet spot during the match – 74%
– Number of backhands played during training – 2036
– Backhand sweet spot during the training – 76%
Statistics for all serves:
Overall:
– Number of serves – 406
– Serve sweet spot 52%
– Maximum speed of the serve – 219 km/h
Average speed of the serve – 144 km/h
Match:
– Number of serves – 33
– Serve sweet spot 51%
– Maximum speed of the serve – 189 km/h
– Average speed of the serve – 157 km/h
Training:
– Number of serves – 373
– Serve sweet spot 52%
– Maximum speed of the serve – 219 km/h
– Average speed of the serve – 142 km/h
Under the “LOG” tab we can see all of our sessions.
Exploring the Rest of the Application - My Trophies
On this screen we can see all the trophies which we earned, and the date when we earned them. So far I earned the following trophies:
– Pro serve 200 km/h earned on 18/3/2015
– 1000 backhands earned on 18/3/2015
– 1000 forehands earned on 18/3/2015
– Pro serve 150 km/h earned on 4/3/2015
– Purist earned on 4/3/2015
– Pro serve 100 km/h earned on 25/2/2015
– Beginner earned on 25/2/2015
Trophies yet to be won:
– Birthday
– The killer
– 5000 forehands
– 10 000 forehands
– 5000 backhands
– 10 000 backhands
– 500 serves
– 1000 serves
Exploring the Rest of the Application - Partners
Artengo has its own community of people who is either playing with the Artnego Personal Coach or not. Whenever we are looking for a hitting partner we can find one in the Artengo community. In this community we can do the following:
– Search for players by user name or by name
– Search for players by sport (so far just tennis)
– Search for players by country, city, postal code
– We can see the list of our hitting partners
– Also, we can see the list of all Artengo members
artengo personal coach pod on different racquets
Babolat
Volki
Tecnifibre
Yonex
Head
Wilson
Dunlop
balance of the racquet with and without the artengo pod
Screen shot from the Artengo website:
The balance of my tennis racquet without the Artengo Personal Coach Pod is 32.2 cm.
The balance of my tennis racquet with the Artengo Pod is 31.7 cm.
I know that the numbers on the scale are not visible in the pictures above. It was really difficult to take a picture of that. I hope you will trust me on this one.
PROS and cons
PROS
CONS
Approved by ITF
No calibration of the sensor is needed
Rain resistant
Battery life around 6 hours
Web application is not finished (it often does not work well)
Watches are too big
Sensor is heavy for the tennis racquet
Sensor is mounted in the neck of the tennis racquet; it is where most of the players like to put their second hand
Watches only show last five sessions
In order to install ONconnect software we have to create GEONAUTE account
tips
Sometimes some things take me longer to figure out than usual. Whenever I had to mount the Artengo Personal Coach Pod to my tennis racquet for the first time, I could not do it because I did not know which way to put the straps through the holes on the pod. Even in the user guide it does not show how to do it in detail.
The trick is putting the straps through the holes on the pod the rough part facing up, and the rest is easy.
Try not to push the yellow USB cover all the way down. It is hard to take it out afterwards, especially if you do not have long nails.
playing with the sensor
Every session I played ten shots.
10 Forehands:
– The application recorded 10 forehands.
10 Backhands:
– The application recorded 10 backhands.
10 Serves:
– The application recorded 10 serves.
video of the accuracy
Since the Artengo Pod (sensor) does not recognize any type of spin, in the video I am showing 10 shots of forehands, backhands, and serves. During those shots I was mixing the spin to see if it influences the recognition of single shot.
Accuracy of the artengo sensor from the practice
I was recording myself on video camera during part of my practice while I was playing with the Artengo Personal Coach Pod. After the practice I took the data from the sensor and the recorded data from the video and I compared them. In this case, I am only focusing on the number of forehands, backhands, and serves recorded by the sensor and what was actually played.
Session 1 (April 16, 2015)
–
Type of Shot
Data Recorded
Artengo Recorded
Difference in %
Total Difference in %
Forehands
230
233
0.65%
Backhands
167
147
6.37%
Serve
1
10
81.82%
Total
398
390
1.02%
22.46%
Forehand Volley
2
–
–
Backhand Volley
1
–
–
Smash
0
–
–
Notes:
In this session I played 2 forehand volleys (I counted them as forehands) and one backhand high volley (I counted it as a serve).
facts about the artengo personal coach pod
– The Artengo Personal Coach Pod is not for juniors racquets.
– If we want to buy new straps we have to contact support the team.
– Serves, smashes, and high volleys are recorded by the pod as serves.
– In order to use the ONconnect software we have to create a Geonaute account.
– On the Artengo Tennis Watch we can only see the last five sessions from every mode.
weird
Whenever I go to HELP -> FAQ and start to explore these questions I always get this error after clicking on the button “continue reading” under every answer in this section.
Very often I get all the above errors while exploring my sessions. To get rid of those screens I keep reloading them.
Whenever this screen shows up and it does not change after a couple of seconds I know it is not going to load at all.
Even though I have a minimum of 20 sessions loaded under my account sometimes I get this message.
The link is not clickable.
Whenever we are using the Artengo Tennis Watch with the Pod during the practice/match and we go away from the Pod approximately more than 30 meters the connection is lost. When we reconnect the watch with the pod a new session starts automatically and it does not start from where we left off.
price
If you buy the Personal Coach Pod and Tennis Watch together it costs 84 Euros.
The Artengo Personal Coach Pod alone costs 60 Euros.
The Artengo Tennis Watch alone costs 45 Euros.
my thoughts on artengo tennis sensor
In my opinion, Artengo Personal Coach is for amateurs who like to compare their data with others and if they are playing other sports. It is great that we can use the Watch outside of the tennis court for running using the heart rate belt and the pedometer. The Pod (sensor) is heavy for tennis racquet and in my case it bothers me during hitting because I like to put my left hand on the neck of the racquet where the pod is mounted between the shots. Even though the mounting is not great the sensor gives pretty accurate data. The software for the pod is unfinished, and very often it does not work right. Sometimes I would get frustrated because my sessions would not load, and I was getting every possible error.