Lap Button: an ergonomic oversight. Return it to the RHS!
Answered
Since software update 1.187.987.12 (12/02/2021), the lap and the pause button have been swapped over: the lap button is now the lower left "B" button, and pause is now the lower right "D" button.
I feel that whoever decided to implement that change failed to take into account ergonomics and the design of the hardware when making this change. It is quite easy to notice that the hardware designer built the stem to extend out to the left side of the device, which obstructs the "B" button, making it hard to bump. The "D" button on the other side is free from obstruction and is easy to push while riding on the rivet, or with thick gloves. Using the stem of the mount to obstruct the "B" button is a good example of passive protection of a button you don't want to bump. It was a good design.
To me, it feels like someone was trying to solve a problem (probably "accidental ending of rides") but instead, have made it easier to pause the ride, effectively ending the ride.
I would like to know the justification for swapping the buttons in that update, and I would like to hear a good case for keeping it this way in spite of the hardware design.
Solution
To remedy this problem, I would suggest returning the "pause" button to the left (B) and the "lap" button to the right (D). That way the pause button is passively protected by the mount, as was originally designed
Because there is always *that person* (who likes wobbly coffee cups, cutting toward their fingers and removing safety guards) who prefers the "pause/stop recording" button to be exposed to everything that can bump it, there should be a toggle switch to reverse the roles of these buttons. This way everyone would be happy.
Figure to illustrate how easy the "D" button is to press.
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Hi Steve, the reason for to change was the majority of the riders wishes to see the same buttons to start and pause the rides. We also wanted to make it accidentally deleting a ride - as too many users would accidentally delete them. We are very open to your thoughts and suggestions and our product team is always looking forward to speaking with our community.
You would see a "Schedule a chat" button on each release email to book a time on Will Tribble's calendar if ever you feel the need to speak directly with us.
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Hi Ali,
But by making this change, you've inadvertently made the Lap button hard to press: as mentioned before, the mount's stem appears to have been designed to obstruct bumping the B button. It makes it much harder to hit the lap button while doing intervals or other high exertion rides. It makes absolute sense to have the B button as pause: you only press it when you're stopped or steadying up, and largely only press it once per ride. When you need to press the lap button, you're usually riding hard, and can't precisely press the occluded B button. Why bother having a lap feature if it's hard to use?
Again, the solution would be to make buttons mappable. From recent comments on the GD forum, I am sure there are people out there would would love to set the C button to be "off" and the D button to be return to home.
How do i access this schedule a chat?
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I don't have any trouble with the lap button where it is currently on the B button. I am a big fan of start, stop, and pause being in the same place rather than moving around like they did before. I also wouldn't object to swapping the positions of lap and start/stop either. BTW. I doubt that the mount was designed specifically to protect the B button. I think that is just a side effect of having the clamp on the left.
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I like to do everything with one button. the only problem i have with this mechanism is in the map mode. 50% of trying to double click the button leads to a zoom in or out of the map and not starting a lap. With gloves it is much more difficult to do that and in this cases a two button variant is much more reliable.
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