Humon today announced that they are closing their doors – I’ll cover the impact on HEX users in a minute. For those who want it, the full communique from Humon is shown further below.
Background
The Humon Hex is a muscle oxygen sensor, delivering athlete-metrics along a very similar vein to the existing Moxy product which you may have heard of. There was also a similar BSX Insight product that bit the dust in October 2017.
I reviewed the Hex back in October 2018 and the founders had been around for some time before that, working on the Hex since 2015. It’s a good product, it’s one of those sensors that ‘just works’.
In talking with Humon in late 2018/early 2019 it was clear that they had cash to invest in the product offering. They chose to invest the cash in developing the software ecosystem around Muscle Oxygen (SmO2). Luckily there is already native ANT+ support for Muscle oxygen and that’s supported by Wahoo, Garmin and maybe others too. So the Humon Hex sensor ‘just works’ with those products…and will continue to do so.
However, Humon’s investment in the software also included
- iOS/Android apps for standalone usage and analysis,
- Beefing up the competency of their web portal to provide some analysis of SmO2 zones and estimations of threshold efforts (I covered the additions Humon made with an up-to-date Review, below)
- Developing Garmin CIQ apps for added functionality – such as for SmO2 Zones.
I think that this was all a sensible investment in the infrastructure of the product and I have no criticisms there per se.
Humon had somewhat grandiose ideas that SmO2 could take off as a key training metric, even to guide beginner athletes through their efforts rather than using heart rate. Whilst that was a plausible and physiologically sensible idea, I did seriously doubt the commercial reality of that at the time. Indeed, it seems to have turned out that SmO2 still lies exclusively in the realms of the pro’s and sports labs…as well as sporty data geeks – and I include myself in that last category!
I probably last used Hex a couple of weeks ago. It really is a nice product and it’s sitting on my desk as I write this in the pile of ‘actively used sensors’ – which currently includes Whoop (Review), Polar H9, Polar OH1+, STRYD and, well, …that’s about it.
Finally, Humon were HIGHLY HONOURABLE and paid out commissions to affiliates who they owed money to. Given the financial constraints they have, I hope that signals that they will treat existing customers as best they can.
What this means to existing owners
Actually, it’s not too bad. The sensor will just keep working and, because there is an ANT+ profile, it should continue to work forever on the devices that support that profile….mostly Wahoo and top-end Garmin Forerunners/Edges.
However, if you use the Hex with the Humon app then you’ll probably be stuffed at some point if you change your phone. (I believe it’s possible to port an app to a new phone using an apk??) Even if that turns out to be the case, at least someone might want to buy your Hex as it will still work in several scenarios or you might want to use Hex instead with a supported watch/bike computer.
Garmin CIQ fields are another matter. Yes, they will continue to work but I suspect that existing data fields will not necessarily work on new Garmin devices. This was the case with the Edge 530/830 and Forerunner 945 which each required tweaks to the existing data fields from earlier Garmins. To be clear – even you techies who know how to side-load PRG files may not be able to use that technique successfully on future products.
Don’t worry too much about the rapid demise of BSX, that product functioned in a different way and relied on services being maintained on the net. Hex will keep on working in most scenarios, as described here.
Thoughts
I’m a little bit sad about this as, for once, it’s some tech I use myself and quite like. I wouldn’t say I was especially surprised either but I hope that some sort of phoenix will arise from these smouldering embers.
One of the more positive aspects of this sad event is that the effect on existing owners should be much less than might be the case with the financial collapse of some of the other sports tech we use – especially risky are those that rely on a web-based platform which has an inherent cost with maintaining it. No money. No maintenance. No web-based platform.
Remember also that although customers might have lost a couple of hundred dollars, the founders will probably have lost considerably more in terms of several years of their life, earning forgone and maybe personal and family investments too. #Capitalism…it was ever thus.
Futures
Despite all of the above, I am reasonably sure that the Hex sensor WILL work with Moxy’s Garmin CIQ data fields. I’ve have tried that before and everything seemed to work at the time.
Notwithstanding the info further below, Garmin CIQ apps may well get de-listed from the CIQ store. You could probably ask people like me for an old PRG file to side-load if you get stuck. But as I said above, this technique will likely not work on newer Garmins (Note, I’ve already been contacted by a fellow user who is asking Humon if they will make the code available so it can be maintained as freeware – that would be nice)
Wahoo users who own a Hex will be oblivious to Humon’s non-existence. In fact, someone like Wahoo should buy Humon and just keep it ticking over…in my opinion. Chip?
Perhaps Moxy will be sneaky and offer Humon users a trade-in as they did with the Insight [Read More: dcrainmaker.com (October 2017) ] Edit: they have…HERE
Full Official Transcript
Dear Humon Athlete,
I’m reaching out with an important update about the future of Humon.
We started Humon in 2015 with the mission of empowering people with the body insights that they need to become their better selves. After years of research and development, we released our first product, the Hex, in 2018. In the years that followed, we were lucky to count amongst our customers some of the most talented athletes, professional teams, gyms, medical centres and academic researchers in the world. These people were able to leverage the Hex and Humon’s software and algorithms to improve their performance, reduce injury and push the world of research forward. To this day we remain convinced that muscle oxygen is the best metric of exertion that exists.
That said, it is still a new and somewhat misunderstood metric that requires sustained levels of market education to exist. Sadly, Humon will no longer be able to further develop this technology and make muscle oxygen available and understandable to the world.
As of February 13th, 2020 we regrettably have no choice but to shut down most of the Humon service. Our iOS and Android mobile application will no longer be available for new downloads on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, our cloud backend and web platform will be shut down, and our support channels closed. That said, you’ll still continue to be able to use your Hex with your Garmin data field that will remain available to download on the Connect IQ Store.
We understand that this comes as a major disappointment to those of you who do not use Garmin products but it is the necessary path forward today. It is also why we stopped selling the Hex in early January, as we began to realize that this would be the case.
This is not an uncommon story in the world of startups, but it is also how innovations can flourish and end up benefiting millions in the long run. On behalf of the Humon team we wanted to thank you all for you trust, support, and help in bringing this product to market. Together, we’ve written a chapter in the history of muscle oxygen.
Best,
Humon
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Whilst not a product I ever tried it’s a shame to loose something like this.
And a sober reminder to the likes of Stryd how important making their product more accessible is.
This is sad. I’m happy owner of a Hex unit and find it generally more useful than HR. That being said, I never managed to get a meaningful training structure based on HR. With Humon, I was able to tailor my intervals based on its zones.
Also, there was a bit of magic to really see 1) when I was fully warmed up, and 2) when it was time to stop training as the recovery was failing and there was no point to continue. It worked far better than ‘an intuitive feeling and years of experience’.
‘a bit of magic’…i like that. Well said.
i’ve never really looked at point 2. closely. i’m going to have a protest weak and use the Hex more than normal…should have used it for that purpose on today’s 3 hour ride.
Oh well…. there goes my rationale for explaining why I had to move from Polar Vantage to Garmin 6…. Serves me right for not doing it as soon as the 6 became available I guess ?? I’m going to need a new drawer for muscle oxygenation sensors that no longer work… BSX Insight already in there.
it’ll still work. just maybe not when you buy your f6 plus/super-pro later this year
Garmin connect does not show the color zones.. but you can see it live in a data field on the edge device, which is mostly what I use it for. As I already have a BSX in the drawer and money tied up on their rip-off kickstarter watch thingymajig… I guess I get to add the Humon to the list. I hope someone does something with it in the. future.
ps. LVL have started to give refunds. I got mine a few days ago.
On that topic there was an interesting comment in a dcr article. The comment supposesly left by a former lvl colleague casts doubt on dcr accuracy.
I think they did never marked it to beginners the right way.
Im also a data nerd, running with footpad, HRM-Run and tempe connected to my FR945 für 25km/week 😀 at this point, but never did see a benefit for me in muscle oxygen.
I also have a SHFT in my drawer and wonder how they survive because it doesnt even make sense to sell it used on eBay because nobody wants it.
Hex supported natively as ANT+ profile is a good thing. Even if the CIQ data fields are not compiled anymore for newer devices, somebody else can rework them.
I still think SHFT has its place but that the market for such devices is limited. Each year there seems to be a new entrant trying to do the same thing either with a body-worn pod or a footpod.
Have been using the Hex for several months now – life-changing for me. Using it for a metabolic disease that puts me into anaerobic metabolism with laughably little activity.
IMO this company – utterly brilliant in so many ways – dropped the ball with marketing and ease-of-use. IMO, marketing so heavily to elites misses the juggernaut application of weekend warriors and wannabe athletes. Everybody’s busy. Who doesn’t want to optimize their training so they are beautifully warmed-up, and know precisely when to stop when further pain isn’t worth it? Look at the performance breakthroughs with the Hex. A guy who was at the 20th percentile 2 years ago, winning the global 2019 indoor erg rowing championship? A neophyte in Spartan Races, clobbering the competition. I can totally see how this allows athletes to go “all in” – because they know now how to elegantly skirt away from non-functional overload, or overtraining syndrome.
When I get into conversations with recreational athletes, they are simply buzzed when they hear about the Hex (I wear it everywhere to know when to rest, etc). Indeed, they are so enthused, that they tell their girlfriends, and are wanting to know where to buy one, next time I see them. When you see the performance increments that people have achieved (the ones who slavishly follow the training zones), IMO muscle 02 sat is a must-have adjunct to HR training. HR varies with temperature, humidity, hydration, etc. Ratings of Perceived Effort are shite. Real-time Sm02 is our best answer right now.
What this product needs is a dialed-in salesforce, targeted to mainstream weekend athletes. Don’t sell this as a competitor to HR monitoring – sell it as an adjunct (“Would you like fries with that?”). Any store that sells HR watches IMO should be also selling Hexes for the ‘ultimate” fitness hack. I truly believe the market would eat it up, because EVERY recreational athlete I’ve spoken to about it has been gobsmacked by the potential, the efficiency, the beauty of this thing. This device allows one to begin to think of evaluating say, the efficacy of HVMN Ketone Esters on your performance; or beet juice; or other supplement regimens. I’ve even used it to evaluate medications that my doctors are trying. The Hex allows me to objectively and longitudinally gauge whether we are moving the needle on my disease.
What would be meaningful for me? A reduction in the % of time I spend daily in red and orange; an uptick in my minimum, average, and max Sm02. I’ve used Hex graphs to educate my doctors on how much time I’m spending anaerobic. When a chunk of your life is spent generating 2 molecules of ATP/molecule of glucose instead of 30-36, you take a huge hit on quality of life. So yeah, I watch the Hex output closely, and in real-time.
And the pricepoint is sufficiently accessible to facilitate uptake, tho with volume, this could get even better.
Big sports chains – are you listening?!!!!! Someone needs to market the heck out of this fabulous device!
And that doesn’t even touch the benefits of using this for, say, post-cardiac-surgery rehab. I believe insurance companies would be dying to have their patients use these routinely, so they stay safe, and accelerate their rehab safely. May even be far better than a Holter Monitor – recognizing the metrics are different – because the patient can be trained quickly about the colored zones. Much better compliance, when you understand what’s going on with Sm02. Don’t get me wrong, we still need physios (I am one). But you can train a lot more patients safely if they all have a Hex on – oh yeah – and appropriate, customizable alarms. For me – an alarm that tells me when I’m about to go anaerobic, and a friendly ping when I can resume life? Would be fabulous.
Somebody – PLEASE – buy what remains of this company, make it even more user-friendly, sell some of these already paired with a basic HR watch; and take it to the next level! Just a matter of time… I sincerely hope!
excellent points, well made
Sad … might have picked up a few for some experiments if they had reduced their price.
Started using the Moxy before either BSX nor Humon were available. First bought just one, saw its potential to measure what is happening inside the body, but also its limitations, like getting different readings in different muscles or even different locations of the same muscle. Added two more, which I never regretted and still think of one of my best investments in cycling as it made me understand how complicated human physiology is.
Equipped with three SmO2 sensors and seeing the differences in their readings, it was obvious that the initial expectations, like making judgments about completed warmup or FTP from just one sensor was way too simplistic, but now, the differences started to be the really interesting pieces of information. Learned to be cautious of simplified ideas like thresholds or zones to reliably characterize something as complex as the human body which is obviously made of many parts that each have different limits. Followed Humon’s idea of coloring their SmO2 graph with interest as I had previously spent some thoughts about that – of course with the difference that from my data I had to reject that idea as not tenable.
Concerning accuracy of SmO2 sensors, I once compared Moxy and BSX and believe they measure different “things”, at least for my skin color and body composition. Even attempted occlusion tests stopping blood flow to understand more about the range of SmO2 values. Started reading Humon’s sponsored validation study but stopped at their claim of “strong linear relationship” when the figure was showing anything but.
The next step up for me is probably something like the PNOE in order to accurately measure the continuously changing ratio between aerobic and anaerobic – a simple threshold it wouldn’t need to be in order to be interesting and useful.
I have a basically new one for sale if your interested 🙂
Hey , I am looking to have one. Let me know please if you still have it.
I am really sad that this company is no longer in business. I am a Challenged Athlete, also with cardio respiratory issues. I used the Humon Hex for a year riding my ICE Vortex recumbent trike, preparing for the Challenged Athlete Foundation Million Dollar Challenge ride down the California coast. (the MDC is 600 miles in 6 days, with 2500-7500 ft of climbing per day)
I normally used heart zones and watts for my training and competition – usually sprint tri to 70.3 events. But I wanted to use the Hex as an additional training tool for the much more ambitious MDC. As it turned out, the HEX rapidly became my most important training tool, and I came to rely on muscle oxygen much more than watts or heart rate for pacing myself in this endurance ride.
On cross-training days, I used the HEX at cardiopulmonary rehab sessions at the hospital: Running on a treadmill, the app display was so sensitive that I could see a slight dip in the graph with each muscle contraction during a stride. It even showed the effect of pursed lip breathing during sustained exercise, as the Oxygen levels in the muscle modestly improved, despite continuing at the same intensity on the treadmill. The medical staff were so impressed that they ordered several HEX units.
While riding, the Hex completely changed the way I trained. It showed me that I needed 10 minutes more than the 15 minute rule-of-thumb warm up I had been using. The device let me know when I was pushing too hard on a long climb, or when I needed a day off from training. On a long ride with many steep hills, I would see the approach of lactate threshold well before I could feel any muscle burn. Over the course of 4368 miles of training, I learned a lot, and gradually found myself using muscle oxygen more than heart rate for endurance rides: The heart strap and watt meter showed me what was happening, but the Hex showed me what was ABOUT to happen, and let me adjust my pace.
During the MDC I was able to use the Oxygen muscle displays and convenient color backgrounds to help pace myself: I tend to start off in sprint mode, even after 50 years of riding, and the Hex provided the ‘adult supervision’ I needed to complete the ride. Any time I was on a long climb, or on a long flat tempting section of coast, the oxygen data kept me on track and well paced. If it started to drift into the orange or red zones, I knew it was time to back off, especially if there was another 30 miles ahead. I mostly ignored much of the heart and watt data during the event, except for average/peak heart rate, average/max power, and IF. I also ignored speed and time metrics – my goal was just to finish. I really don’t think I would have been adequately prepared for this event if I had just followed my usual interval/hill-repeat/endurance 70.3 training program, with heart zones and watts as the only training metrics.
I was recently advised by my physicians that sprint tri events should be avoided, but endurance events were still OK – if I keep using the HEX! Going from a leather helmet and wool jersey to watts meters and muscle oxygen – what a ride it has been, and now that Humon is out of business, I hope my HEX will last the rest of the course! Thank you, Humon!
I haven’t figured out how to connect Hex to my Fenix 6 natively. I see that you can add a muscle oxygen field and that you can pair a muscle oxygen sensor, but the watch can’t seem to find the Humon as a native sensor. The Humon data field finds the sensor no problem.
hmmm.
in my 945 i tried to find a muscle oxygen sensor to pair. i couldn’t either.
as you know the humon data field DOES NOT require formal pairing. it does it on the sly, so to speak. so my 945 does work already with the hex data field
my wahoo clearly picks up ant+ ID 1337.
then i tried to pair it again to my 945 but this time i just told it to search all sensors rather than muscle oxygen ones..and it DOES find “Muscle O2″ – 1337”
i searched again for the muscle oxygen specific class of sensors and it DID find it (again) after 10 seconds or so.
From Moxy:
Humon Trade-In
On February 12, Humon announced that they were shutting “down most of the Humon service.” We don’t know precisely what this means for functionality of the installed base of hex sensors. I have reached out to Humon to see if there’s anything Moxy can do to help support current Hex users but I haven’t heard anything back yet.
We’d really like to see Humon customers continue to participate in the advancement of Muscle Oxygen monitoring. Therefore, we are offering a trade-in for Humon Hex owners like we did for BSX. You can get $150 off of a Moxy purchase for trading in your Hex. For purchases on the Moxy Store, click on the link below to add the trade-in product to your cart. The trade-in value will show on the checkout page with your order.
https://www.moxymonitor.com/product/humon-trade-in/
thank you !
https://the5krunner.com/2020/02/26/moxy-offers-sneaky-humon-hex-trade-in-moxymonitor/
Great news!
https://apps.garmin.com/en-US/apps/ad4ee6b7-a1c0-4cb0-b29d-2e04eca7731c
There is a developer for this device. Just discovered it today.
I will keep an eye out for the Android and iPhone app 🙂
Please donate to them somehow to keep the project to keep them going, I know I will when the developer gets back to me 🙂
looks nice. the developer can post here if s/he wants to. #relevant
Hi,
I contacted the developer to find out about the development of an IOS app and to find out if they are also willing to develop an app for Apple Watch which for me and I hope for many others is very useful to monitor workouts more immediately than the app for cell phone. This is the Spanish translation of his answer:
“We are already testing the app for IOS / ADROID. At the moment there will be no application for IOS watches, but we already have one for GARMIN. The new application will show more data and information than Humon had and you can also see and analyze them on the web. Regarding the APP there are three plans.
1. BASIC. Annual subscription
It will allow the client to connect the following tools.
· A Humon device or a MOXY
· Access to all types of training, running, cycling, rowing and other
· Access to interval exercise, resistance and threshold test
· It will allow to connect GPS.
· Download CSV FILE to see the activity in Excel on the same day that the EXERCISE was carried out.
· Connect HRM.
Pairing WTS meter is excluded.
2. ADVANCED.
It will allow the client to connect the following tools
· Several Humon devices or a MOXY
· Access to all types of training, running, cycling, rowing and other
· Access to interval exercise, resistance and threshold test
· It will allow to connect GPS.
· Connect HRM.
· Allows to pair WTS meter.
· Different muscle groups
· Download CSV FILE to see the activity in Excel on the same day that the EXERCISE was carried out.
· Voice messages indicating SmO2 values, RACE PACE AND ZONE COLOR.
· Set voice message time or distance as the previous APP.
· Share training with other users
3. PROFESSIONAL.
It will allow the client to connect the following tools.
· Several Humon devices or a MOXY
· Access to all types of training, running, cycling, rowing and other
· Access to interval exercise, resistance and threshold test
· It will allow to connect GPS.
· Connect HRM.
· Allows to pair WTS meter.
· Different muscle groups
· Download CSV FILE to see the activity in Excel on the same day that the EXERCISE was carried out.
· Voice messages indicating SmO2 values, RACE PACE AND ZONE COLOR.
· Set voice message time or distance as the previous APP.
· Share training with other users
· REAL TIME training with remote connection so that coaches can see it.
· MORE…..”
I also asked for the Apple Watch app and that’s the answer:
“We have our doubts about Apple Watch, most athletes use GARMIN and we do not believe that developing an app for these devices is profitable. If we manage to have about 25 requests with a purchase commitment, we will start it.”
I’m curious to know if there are among us or among people we know at least 25 interested people. Anyone who wants can contact me to see if we can get the minimum number to start the development.
I am happy to forward emails to you via in**@th*********.com
these guys?: https://moxzones.net/ , https://humon.es
I will be surprised if there is interest for apple watch + humon. just as the developer says, most use garmin
Yes, they are.
I don’t see my answer in the thread is normal?
sometimes replies are delayed by tens of seconds. if it’s not here now it’s not normal
For some reason, recent posts don’t appear to show up unless you are logged in….
i disabled caching for commenters.
does that make a difference
caching IS STILL enabled for those logged in. i can change that globally for all users but it will make your pageload slower.
I can’t replicate this.
I have tried an in-private session when not logged in and it all looks correct to me including @marathonman’s comment above.
There might be a delay in it appear, that definitely does happen and i don’t know why. it could be that akismet is clearing it for sp*m or just some kind of cache delay.
Now I can see.
Hello,
The 1337 is a number that directly assigns the humon device to all its equipment.
The moxzones app searches for the device ID and reflects it in the ID numbers to connect it to your garmin device.
The MOXZONES team has managed to direct this information and that the humon works the same as before and even better, since now you also have a graph in real time.
If you have more information, the email is in**@mo******.net.
Regarding the Android / ios application, it will be available from July 15.
Is the Humon Hex still available for sale in Europe? A web site in Spain at https://humon.es/en/ lists the Hex for sale, and promotes the MoxZones data fields. The site has Spanish language cookie disclaimer pop ups, and the site lets a new Hex be added to the shopping cart. But the price is in Euros, and the USA is not listed on the places where it can be shipped. So…???
i saw that 2 weeks ago and thought the exact same as you.
i think if you try to buy Hex it doesn’t work.
yet they are active with the MoxZones (and using one of my images on their site without asking!!!…I don’t mind in this case too much)
Hello,
The sale of the HUMON device and the application for garmin are now available in the HUMON.ES store
moxzones.net y https://humon.es/en/
do you know where the stock comes from please
I don’t understand why this information is important to you?
Can you explain it to me?
I want to know who is manufacturing Hex
or if old stock is being cleared from a warehouse. (Which I assume to be true until told the contrary)
I want to know what the relationship of the Spanish company is to Humon is the USA and/or to any other parent company
I’m interested to know who actually owns the IP for Hex.
I’m interested to know if/when the IP is sold,
I believe that there are or were negotiations. is that right?
I’m intrigued to know more about your CIQ app (although Moxy’s CIQ app also works with HEx IIRC)
I’d like to know how you mathematically derive the colour coding. Humon in the US specifically would not give me that info, so i’d be interested to know how you got it or derived it and if it’s the same as what they used,
do you have the same smo2 zones that you write to a fit file…like humon
does your ciq app require a smartphone
Am happy for you to tell us about your CIQ field..it seems useful and relevant to the audience: https://apps.garmin.com/es-ES/apps/ad4ee6b7-a1c0-4cb0-b29d-2e04eca7731c, what’s not to like?
(En: https://apps.garmin.com/en-US/apps/ad4ee6b7-a1c0-4cb0-b29d-2e04eca7731c)
what is the benefit over the colour coded humon ciq fields? is it just the graph view?
Looking forward to the clarifications. Still enjoying using my Hex
HUMON.ES has been marketing humon devices for 3 years, they have stcok and they are selling devices they bought at humon.io.
They have created an app for garmin and another for adroid / ios that they will market in the moxzones.net store together with a web platform that will serve all humon devices and is also compatible with moxy devices.
You have all this information on their social networks humon.es.
With the rest of the questions they will not be answered, but I have searched for their email and I think you can contact them directly at in**@hu***.es or in**@mo******.net.
thank you, i understand
can i edit your comments to say you are the CEO of Humon and Owner of Moxzones?
https://www.linkedin.com/in/miguel-angel-fandi%C3%B1o-galera-55144916a/
(not a problem, I just like people to disclose companies they work for if they are commenting in a capacity relating to those companies)
We are writing to you from MOXZONES to inform you that we have developed an application for both GARMIN and Android compatible with HUMON devices. (SOON ALSO FOR iOS)
The moxzones Android application allows you to see up to 6 devices simultaneously in real time as well as all the functions that the HUMON.IO platform had. https://moxzones.com/subscriptions
We have also developed a MOXXONES App that can be found in the Garmin store, in addition to the absolute value of SmO2 it has a graph with the colors. https://moxzones.net/la-app-para-garmin/
We hope that this information is of interest to you and your subscribers / clients, that it helps to give support to the clients to whom this technology was sold and to sell the devices that are on the market, without fear and with better support than what had HUMON.
We are at your disposal for any questions you want to ask us.
Regars
They seem to have them in an Australia / NZ store still for $299 AUD?
https://storeanz.humon.io/collections/humon-hex-wearable-muscle-ox-sensor/products/humon-hex
I’m pretty reluctant to hand over $300 for something that might not work with my Garmin 935 and probably wont work with any new Garmins I get. But then I’m pretty reluctant to job my finger for my blood lactate monitor too 🙂
Where is it all at now we’re in September?
hi i didn’t know they were still sold there. I would guess it’s their last remaining stock
it’ll work with your 935 (you can side load the ciq app in the worst case scenario and smo2 is in the ant+ profile in any case and supported by wahoo and garmin)
however the humon ciq datafield may well not work on future models.
i’m hoping someone will buy them out as it’s a sweet product (i still use it say once every 1-2 weeks, it’s on my desk in front of me)
Hi guys,
We have a brand new connected lactate analysis solution that we expect to disrupt the athlete sports landscape. We truly hope it will become the new standard for both athletes and top practitioners.It is currently running through demonstrating testing before market entry (2021).
Still I found that even though our tech is better (real-time, low-cost and high-perf), many commercial features of Humon were quite promising. I’d like to learn more about their story and what happened.
Anyone with more insights into the key factors that led humon to stop its business?
Feel free to get in touch !
Thanks and all the best,
Pedro
vice versa: in**@th*********.com
I simply suspect humon didn’t sell enough. why? probably an unusual market concept, so a lack of education/understanding of target market would be an underlying reason. at the start Humon hoped that SmO2 woudl become a more widespread metric than HR for judging effort. From a ‘correctness’ point of view let’s say they were right but understanding what 68% SmO2 means is not easy, unlike 164bpm.
they got vc funding a while back, i guess they burned through it all making a great app that supported a pretty good product
lactate analysis: unless you have an actual sensor then i suspect there will be a lot of scepticism around an algorithmic method. after all, you can probably infer lactate state already (with assumptions) even then you’d have to have 3rd party studies that validate it for it to catch on in sport labs. just my 2c
As a connected lactate threshold solution one should probably try to learn from the failure of BSX, not Humon? That said, Humon was probably an attempt to learn from BSX and shift from the once-per-month (or whatever) usage cycle of lactate tests and the high price setting in the region of lactate tests to everyday usage and a more realistic price closer to that of HR sensors. As a user of Moxy and BSX, some experience in lab tests and having tried the Humon app, without (1) an integration into training plan and feedback and not just outputting a number, (2) enough dedication in time etc by the user that he/her can actually measure progress and not stagnation, and (3) scientific evidence (this where I think Humon was lacking), it would seem difficult to me to succeed.
I am looking for a SmO2 sensor. I see that apparently the Humon HEX is still available in Spain. Do you still considered a solid option or should I go for a Moxy? Thanks for your help.
i have no idea what the situation is with the people in Spain.
my HEX still works, although some features were only in the app but it works fine as a sensor and if you can get the garmin data fields for your device (might have probs on super new garmins…not tested)
HEX should work with moxy data fields
Moxy is great for a lab but quite big to wear in normal usage. hex is fine for the latter
as to the accuracy of the two, IDK. both claim to be accurate
i preferred HEX
read the bad info here: https://apps.garmin.com/en-US/apps/ad4ee6b7-a1c0-4cb0-b29d-2e04eca7731c
Thanks for the info.
I have no Garmin. Do you know if the HEX works with the VO2Master app?
Dou you plan to test the train.red sensor?
well.
i think that’s the first time I’ve been asked two very good questions so succinctly.
1. i don’t know. I’ve asked. i doubt it. that said if the app somehow communicates over ant+then hex will work.
2. no plans. but i’d never heard of them. i have now. I’ve just pinged them
thank you for the double-heads-up!
Alright! I will wait a bit. Hopefully they will provide you a unit to test.
Cheers!