Whats out there? I want something I can jump in a pool with, but don’t need the Garmin like exercise capability. I’d like it to tell me the time, weather, HR and battery level on the face and be tough enough for me to wear without worry on the bike. Android.

?

how smart?

i know its a garmin, but my 235 lets me see notifications although not respond, does 24/7 HR, 10 hrs GPS tracking on a charge and ~1 week of activity tracking between charges. is light, robust and lives on my wrist.

Sounds good – just seeing notifications is ok. Short reply’s would be perfect – my current Huawei 2 has a list of predetermined responses which would be fine.

I’d rather a “watch” / G shock type design rather than the Forerunner though. I’d like the Nixon Mission until I saw how huge and expensive it was:

http://www.nixon.com/uk/en/mission-ss/A1216.html?dwvar_size=00&dwvar_color=000&gclid=Cj0KCQiAs9zSBRC5ARIsAFMtUXGbuvD_MS2mFo25ZZVtGwRCDkL9o99GOgbdbPXhxOylZy0VsV3CRYYaAr5CEALw_wcB

another Garmin here – My VivoActive3 has been excellent since I first had it – very rarely take it off and it goes swimming every week along with MTBing, cross country walks, the works.

Without using the GPS it’ll last quite a while without charging (went from Xmas Eve to New Years Day before it’s next charge) and has a claimed 16hr life with GPS on.

It also has a built in default short reply function for SMS messages but not for other message notifications, e.g. email, WhatsApp, etc, all of which can be viewed on it.

Only had it since the end of October but I’d now be lost without it.

I went from an Apple watch to a Garmin Fenix 5 recently and it’s been excellent.

I wear it for pretty much everything and it doesn’t seem to be wearing too badly at the moment. I swapped the black silicone strap for a brown leather to wear most of the time and then if I’m going to get very muddy or wet I swap back.

Casio Protek http://www.techradar.com/reviews/casio-wsd-f20

I would recommend a Fenix (Garmin) but have seen Samsung have released a Gear sport which looks good. Decent WR properties. Might be worth a look. £299.

Time = watch
Weather = look
Heart rate = you can feel how hard you’re working
Battery life = eh?

🙂

Hmmm the Samsung looked good until i read you have to put it into swim mode before you get in the pool else the screen goes mad. I domt want that, i want to get off my sun lounger and dip in the pool without having to remember to arse about with my watch.

Casio Protek http://www.techradar.com/reviews/casio-wsd-f20

I looked at those, but they are absolutely huge.

I’m looking for the same thing Kryton is and the favourite at the moment is the Garmin Vivoactive 3.

Hadn’t seen that!!

That Vivoactive 3 looks good, of course the most expensive one is the one i’d want – slate grey!

I’ve discovered my Huawei is IP68 – theoretically 30 mins at 1.5m. Its probably going to cost me £100 in the difference between sale & purchase though, hmmm….

I’m still using an original Fenix. It was a good watch for tracking rides and even navigating, but then they added a lot of the smart features in an update & made it even better.
I assume they keep improving the new ones, so would buy again when this one eventually dies.

The choice here seems to be:

a) Massive, chunky, expensive
b) Vivoactive 3 + £100
c) Keep what I have an take it off for an extended paddle on hols / don’t wear it MTBing.

Anything I’ve missed?

Garmin Vivoactive HR here and its taken a battering on the bike (and my baby son who loves playing smack the floor with it!) and tracks GPS, HR etc etc for loads of training types (bike, swim, run etc)