(03-09-2014, 02:04 AM)winky Wrote: ...
--Do the manufacturers try to make it difficult for owner/users to retrieve data from their machines?
No, not really. It's a couple of buttons to see summaries on the screen, or the removal and reading of the data in your computer to see the full story.
(03-09-2014, 02:04 AM)winky Wrote: --How is data retrieved?
Push a couple of buttons to see the most recent sleep session summary data, but much better its to move the SDCard (it's available externally just pull it) to your computer and read the detail data every day or every few days.
(03-09-2014, 02:04 AM)winky Wrote: --Once retrieved, is the data easy to read and understand?
With a small amount of practice and asking questions here.
It gets much easier when it is YOUR data and you are accustomed to viewing it in comparison to your own previous days.
It's no harder to read than Road Signs while driving.
Most people forget they spent a bit of time figuring out what all but the most obvious road signs meant when they were children or even later when learning to drive.
[Or when moving from continent to continent and having to learn new sets of signs.]
You can see most of it with a little guidance RIGHT AWAY, but you will learn to pick up subtle distinctions and to read the whole thing better and faster with practice.
Also, a bit of it depends on how familiar you are with reading statistical data and charts. Someone with that experience will see almost everything in the first couple of views while someone who is not comfortable with statistics, charting, math etc. might take a week or two to get comfortable.
We'll help.
(03-09-2014, 02:04 AM)winky Wrote: --Is it equally easy to do with Macintosh and Windows?
Pretty much.
Despite the never ending arguments about superiority, they both have easy to use graphical interfaces and the programs and charts are pretty much the same (or at least similar) anyway.
More importantly: Which do YOU use?
There is usually more choice with Windows and many find the Mac easier to use by a little bit.
Everything works great for me on Windows -- others use the Mac (and the Mac can run a Windows instance if you wish.)