Row Estimate — Split & Distance, No Erg Needed
· v1.1.1
About
ROW ESTIMATE — indoor rowing metrics when your erg can't talk to your watch.
Rowing on a basic gym machine with no ANT+ or Bluetooth? Garmin's Indoor Rowing activity gives you stroke rate and heart rate — but no distance, no split. Row Estimate fills that gap using only your watch's sensors. No erg connection needed.
WHAT YOU GET — LIVE WHILE YOU ROW
- Estimated split /500m
- Estimated distance
- Distance per stroke when Garmin exposes cadence
- Estimated distance recorded as Connect IQ developer data so Garmin Connect can show its chart and estimated total. Without a connected erg, Garmin's separate native Distance line may stay blank.
HOW IT WORKS
Your watch estimates energy burn. Row Estimate inverts the well-known Concept2 calorie and power-pace formulas to turn that burn rate into watts, pace and distance. It is an ESTIMATE — not a power meter — designed for repeatable personal tracking after calibration.
Garmin exposes cumulative calories, live energy and cadence independently. Row Estimate uses the calorie window first, then FirstBeat live energy when available, and finally a cadence-based estimate. Split and distance do not depend on cadence when Garmin provides energy. Distance per stroke stays unavailable rather than inventing strokes.
Direct distance calibration from 50 to 300 percent lets you match a trusted machine. For example, 200 percent doubles estimated distance and halves estimated split time. Default 100 percent is unchanged.
SETUP
1. Add "Row Estimate" to your Indoor Rowing data screens from Activity Settings, then Data Screens.
2. Row. The estimate appears after about 20-30 seconds of data.
No login, no phone needed during the workout. No data collected.
FREE, forever. If it helps your training, an honest Connect IQ review helps other rowers find it.
WANT A SPECIFIC APP BUILT? Send the idea through https://smartwatch.nexooperativo.com/request/ — feature and device requests are welcome.
Optional support helps maintain this free app and build new ones; it never unlocks features: https://patreon.com/ProWatchs
What's new
Fixes two real-world issues reported by users. Split and distance now work from Garmin energy even when both live and average cadence are missing. Adds FirstBeat live energy as a fallback and detects stalled cumulative calories before using cadence. Distance per stroke remains unavailable when Garmin supplies no cadence rather than inventing strokes. Calibration now scales distance and split directly from 50 to 300 percent; 100 percent remains unchanged. No new permissions or data collection.