Garmin sports watch or similar
Discussion
Since selling most of my watches, I haven't got a watch to wear to the gym / for exercise. I did have an Apple watch but hated it.
I want mainly HRM, timer, speed, pace, type stuff.
If it were to have a battery life of a year I would be delighted.
Given that I am a middle-aged bloke who doesn't compete in triathlons etc I'd also like something good value. If I get on with it I may upgrade later.
Any pointers from anyone who knows about these things would be appreciated.
I want mainly HRM, timer, speed, pace, type stuff.
If it were to have a battery life of a year I would be delighted.
Given that I am a middle-aged bloke who doesn't compete in triathlons etc I'd also like something good value. If I get on with it I may upgrade later.
Any pointers from anyone who knows about these things would be appreciated.
Louis Balfour said:
Since selling most of my watches, I haven't got a watch to wear to the gym / for exercise. I did have an Apple watch but hated it.
I want mainly HRM, timer, speed, pace, type stuff.
If it were to have a battery life of a year I would be delighted.
Given that I am a middle-aged bloke who doesn't compete in triathlons etc I'd also like something good value. If I get on with it I may upgrade later.
Any pointers from anyone who knows about these things would be appreciated.
Depends what you want. I have had lots of Garmin watches but recently bought the Marq11. It does all the things you want but also is an excellent looking watch if a bit expensive. And the battery life is incredible. At least two weeks at a timeI want mainly HRM, timer, speed, pace, type stuff.
If it were to have a battery life of a year I would be delighted.
Given that I am a middle-aged bloke who doesn't compete in triathlons etc I'd also like something good value. If I get on with it I may upgrade later.
Any pointers from anyone who knows about these things would be appreciated.
I've got a Tactix Delta (pretty much a Fenix 5).
Probably a bit much for what you're after though.
But fantastic battery life, tracks everything you can think of. I use it for cycling, running, rowing and general cardio and have never had any issues.
I've also found it's very tough and has survived everything I've thrown at it.
Probably some decent deals out there now as the Echo has since come out.
It's the way forward though.
Out with the old and all that
Probably a bit much for what you're after though.
But fantastic battery life, tracks everything you can think of. I use it for cycling, running, rowing and general cardio and have never had any issues.
I've also found it's very tough and has survived everything I've thrown at it.
Probably some decent deals out there now as the Echo has since come out.
It's the way forward though.
Out with the old and all that
Terminator X said:
Worst look how low my heart rate is post ever
TX.
Is that low? TX.
Garmin is the brand of choice for tracking performance and health metrics.
I track heart rate, recovery time, distance and time. I can calculate the rest I need from these.
I also think the HRM on watches do a fairly good job when compared with strapped on heart monitors. They perform almost identically.
Terminator X said:
Garmin Fenix 5 here, must have had it for 5 years plus. Still going strong and does way more than I need.
TX.
Same here, Fenix 5 does everything I need, battery will last 2 weeks just ticking over, if you start doing exercise/activities (without GPS) it'll last about a week, leaving GPS running will offer a claimed 24 hours.TX.
Fenix 7 here. Bit of a lump but I bought it for the maps/outdoor stuff. 2 week battery life with normal use is pretty good too. I have the solar sapphire - solar is useless in this country but extra scratch resistance is nice and the titanium makes it lighter - especially useful for my puny wrists.
In your shoes I'd be looking at a Forerunner 265. Everything you'll ever need (except maps) and with a gorgeous oled screen
In your shoes I'd be looking at a Forerunner 265. Everything you'll ever need (except maps) and with a gorgeous oled screen
Used to have a Garmin Vivoactive and it was a great bit of kit. Unfortunately a defending player ran into me when I was refereeing and it snapped the shoulder off so I can no longer fit a strap to it
On a budget, I bought the Amazfit T-Rex Pro for about £130. The app is not as intuitive as the Garmin stuff but the watch itself does a decent job on a budget and battery life is decent
On a budget, I bought the Amazfit T-Rex Pro for about £130. The app is not as intuitive as the Garmin stuff but the watch itself does a decent job on a budget and battery life is decent
Gren said:
In your shoes I'd be looking at a Forerunner 265. Everything you'll ever need (except maps) and with a gorgeous oled screen
Agreed for this use case.I just bought an EPIX instead of the new 965 as I preferred the look and general feel but the new 265/965 are very impressive and, as you say, Garmin has moved the game on with the delicious oled screens. Love them.
I've had a Garmin Fenix 5 Sapphire for a while. Use for everything from Swimming, Weights sessions, Skiing, Running and step tracking. Battery life fell of a cliff but I replaced the battery and its close to where it should be.
Treated myself to an Epix 2, can get 16 days out of it with swims etc.
But really, a Fenix is all you need
Treated myself to an Epix 2, can get 16 days out of it with swims etc.
But really, a Fenix is all you need
Louis Balfour said:
Since selling most of my watches, I haven't got a watch to wear to the gym / for exercise. I did have an Apple watch but hated it.
I want mainly HRM, timer, speed, pace, type stuff.
If it were to have a battery life of a year I would be delighted.
Given that I am a middle-aged bloke who doesn't compete in triathlons etc I'd also like something good value. If I get on with it I may upgrade later.
Any pointers from anyone who knows about these things would be appreciated.
I’ve got a Garmin Fenix 7X solar. Incredibly reliable watch. It’s over a year old now, battery life still a good 3-4 weeks, with lots of running and cycling each week. Large screen is great for navigating while trail running or MTB, and means you can have more on screen data for running dynamics without swapping pages.I want mainly HRM, timer, speed, pace, type stuff.
If it were to have a battery life of a year I would be delighted.
Given that I am a middle-aged bloke who doesn't compete in triathlons etc I'd also like something good value. If I get on with it I may upgrade later.
Any pointers from anyone who knows about these things would be appreciated.
Creating a route to navigate is easy if you create the route in Strava, and then send it direct to the watch.
The Garmin app is great too, if you use a Garmin HRM, then it opens up the ability to record and analyse stride length, ground contact time and lots more activity metrics.
My kids have got Forerunner 245s, and they use a very similar user interface. Battery life on those is around a week with normal use. The downsides are the GPS fix takes a bit longer to get, and you don’t have access to as many activity types.
Replacement time has arrived for my Garmin Forerunner 910XT
The power on/off button fell out. I can't recall exactly how long I've had it, and it was bought from ebay second-hand anyway. Used daily, pretty much, so that's a lot of button presses, but a wee bit surprised that it was the power button that failed first. The watch still works, as the button actually only partly fell out - the waterproof "skin" over it was still hanging on by a thread. It's held in place by some thin electrical tape for now, but I've given in and ordered a brand new watch.
A Garmin Instinct 2 Solar (in the graphite colour) should be on it's way to me sometime next week. £280 direct from Garmin in their 'Birthday Sale'.
I'm crossing my fingers hoping I haven't made a mistake now, after procrastinating for days and ordering it only an hour and a half before the end of the promotion on the Garmin site. It might prompt me into a new smartphone too, if it needs a phone app to pair with, and set up the screens.
I've used the 910XT for walking, running, and cycling, and I might add a bit of swimming and kayaking to that with this new watch. Anyone else have an Instinct 2 Solar? I saw a couple of reviews of it which were good, although one reviewer said the Solar was unnecessary and to save the extra money it cost over the non-solar model. Trouble was the delivery time for the £200 Instinct 2 was weeks away, whereas for the £280 Instinct 2 Solar it was just a few days.
I suppose I'd better start scoping out a new, but simple/reasonably priced smartphone now, to ensure I get the best out of the new watch?
The power on/off button fell out. I can't recall exactly how long I've had it, and it was bought from ebay second-hand anyway. Used daily, pretty much, so that's a lot of button presses, but a wee bit surprised that it was the power button that failed first. The watch still works, as the button actually only partly fell out - the waterproof "skin" over it was still hanging on by a thread. It's held in place by some thin electrical tape for now, but I've given in and ordered a brand new watch.
A Garmin Instinct 2 Solar (in the graphite colour) should be on it's way to me sometime next week. £280 direct from Garmin in their 'Birthday Sale'.
I'm crossing my fingers hoping I haven't made a mistake now, after procrastinating for days and ordering it only an hour and a half before the end of the promotion on the Garmin site. It might prompt me into a new smartphone too, if it needs a phone app to pair with, and set up the screens.
I've used the 910XT for walking, running, and cycling, and I might add a bit of swimming and kayaking to that with this new watch. Anyone else have an Instinct 2 Solar? I saw a couple of reviews of it which were good, although one reviewer said the Solar was unnecessary and to save the extra money it cost over the non-solar model. Trouble was the delivery time for the £200 Instinct 2 was weeks away, whereas for the £280 Instinct 2 Solar it was just a few days.
I suppose I'd better start scoping out a new, but simple/reasonably priced smartphone now, to ensure I get the best out of the new watch?
Pieman68 said:
Used to have a Garmin Vivoactive and it was a great bit of kit. Unfortunately a defending player ran into me when I was refereeing and it snapped the shoulder off so I can no longer fit a strap to it
On a budget, I bought the Amazfit T-Rex Pro for about £130. The app is not as intuitive as the Garmin stuff but the watch itself does a decent job on a budget and battery life is decent
Just wanted to share a good service story for Garmin. I actually contacted them to see if the watch was repairable as I was looking for a watch for my golf and thought it was worth a try before I spent the money.On a budget, I bought the Amazfit T-Rex Pro for about £130. The app is not as intuitive as the Garmin stuff but the watch itself does a decent job on a budget and battery life is decent
Unfortunately not, but they said I could have a swap out if I sent it back and paid £60 + VAT
Bearing in mind the Vivocative 3 music was about £300 I thought this was decent service (it was about 4 years old as well)
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