If you use a Pivo for live tracking remote lessons, do you have any tips/tricks for improving the experience? If you use something to boost your wifi signal or cellular, what do you use? How does it work with jumping?
I’m of no help. Hopefully there are upgrades to it now but I got frustrated and found my phone alone took better quality videos, just minus any tracking. My pivo would get distracted so easily, even in the day time and I didn’t have the patience to figure out what would work best. And then more and more people kept riding when I was trying to video which made pivo even more distracted. I never tried it for live remote lessons but have thought about it for sure. I still think I’d just set up my phone in a good spot and not use Pivo. I hate to say that, I had high hopes! :o(
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Not related to the wifi aspect but for tracking I find when you are alone it works great (with a few caveats). When with other people in the arena you need to make sure it sees you. I usually do this with a 20m circle around it to grab it back to me. I have had it successfully track me throughout an entire lesson with 2 other people riding in the arena. That being said it is also a pain to have to keep an eye on it while also getting instruction.
I use an iPhone 14 Pro with my Pivo Pod X. I have the settings as such:
On screen position: Center
Tracking Speed: Frenzy
Predictive Follow: On (this one can suck at times with jumping though depending on what type of course you are doing)
Tracking Exposure: On (this can help with really sunny days or shady parts of the arena. It keeps the exposure steady so it can better keep track of you
Auto Zoom: On
That being said I just turned it on last week for a lesson and I was the only one in the arena and it just failed completely to track at all. I think it might have overheated a little in the SoCal sun. Using the Pivo takes a little more monitoring than I’d like at times but totally can work if you have patience. Also make sure to set it up in the middle of the arena or somewhere where it won’t get blocked. I used to put it on a fence post and it rarely got anything of me since it needs a clear 360 of the arena.
One last thing, use high contrast saddle pads. For the most part on my gray I use black or dark colored pads to help with the tracking. I hope that helps!
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Sorry to hear you had such a frustrating experience!
Thank you so much! This is incredibly helpful. The user manual said to only use predictive follow when you’re riding in a straight line, but it sounds like you may have had success using that setting otherwise? Also, do you use the Pivo remote mic? I had a hard time pairing the remote mic and eventually just gave up and used my air pods.
If you are using it in lesson mode, the instructor can control the Pivo to track you.
Mine does.
Now riding in a group, that I can’t figure out. It constantly looses me
I use a Pivo for occasional remote lessons. I tried the tracking thing twice I think before I gave up and put it in the corner of my arena. I just have to be cautious about riding too close to it or my horse’s feet will get cut off or we go out of screen for a few seconds. My coach joins the video call on her computer and the screen is big enough for her to see everything she needs to see at this stage. If I truck into her farm she sits in the same corner of the ring so it’s a similar set up.
I could never get the tracking to pick me back up once it lost me, which was usually our first go across the long diagonal if the pivo was in the center of the ring. My coach found manually moving the Pivo distracting for herself. My friend who helped me learn the settings on the Pivo said not to use auto zoom or it would lose you. Overall I like the tripod but I don’t find it particularly great at tracking and picking you up, but I also haven’t played with it that much. I should also experiment with the remote because it’s hard to set up and play with it once you’re on the horse.
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I havent had any issues with Predictive Follow unless Im doing rollbacks or something that requires a quick change in direction. Otherwise it works fine for me
I have seen issues with tracking when the phone is too heavy ie. still in a protective case, or when the base isn’t level and the pod works too hard to rotate. I also don’t think it tracks as well when the battery of phone or pod are low, or if it’s really windy. Couple of more obvious points: use airplane mode on phone and AI:horse mode in Pivo. It can’t differentiate between you and any other horse, so no paddocks or other riders in the background or you might be disappointed.
I don’t know if it’s still active, but there is a Pivo FB group for riders that is/was really helpful.
