Currently using my android phone but it's not ideal due to bulk and battery life. I'd like to record all my running and cycling this year so I figure a watch is the way to go.
Any recommendations appreciated, thanks!
Had a FitBit Surge for a little over a year, whilst functionally it has been okay - the wrist rot has been bloody horrible to the extent it stopped working yesterday and I celebrated!
Next go is the Garmin Vivoactive HR which has had good press. It was between that and the Polar M600... or a Fenix HR, but that was scary expensive!!!!
Budget?
Garmin 235 is good. 230 a bit cheaper if you don't want optical hrm
Very happy with my Garmin vivoactive hr. Nice and easy to use but not overly function laden. Which suits me.
Ive a Garmin Forerunner 920XT since October. Its very accurate and links into any ANT+ devices like HRM and Speed/cadence for the bike. I'd prefer the HRM was picked up through the wrist but c'est la vie.
Nice big screen and does multi-sport - I had bought it to do triathlons.
Just bought a Tom Tom Adventurer - has optical HR monitor (no chest strap) GPS plus 3GB music capacity and Bluetooth for wireless headphones - should work well with my cordless, bone conducting headphones! Mainly bought for trail running and back-up to my Garmin Oregon for an arctic ultra.
Oops, forgot budget; I'd probably be prepared to spend up to £200 for the right piece of kit. I wouldn't bother with any accessories like external HRM or cadence (no roadie) but I think I'd find HR data interesting if I can get that built in.
Thanks for the suggestions, I'll have a browse. One thing i'm interested in is how easy it is to upload to garmin connect/strava; are they all USB or do some use wifi or bluetooth to connect to phone/laptop?
Cheers
Very Happy with my Suunto Ambit 3 Peak.
Use it for running, cycling, hiking, splitboarding, expeditions, navigating etc c/w a HRM
Strava can be updated automatically via MovesCount (Suunto's own App.)
Hardly ever use Strava now though as MovesCount has so much more useful info (apart from segments ... which may or may not matter to you!)
Battery life is excellent and can be optimised by reducing GPS recording interval/accuracy giving you 200hrs battery life.
There are also 3rd party apps available - including one that tells you how many beers you've burned off! 😉
Oops ... sorry - only just seen you post about £200 limit.
I guess these are now 'older' models, but I've had a good experience for a year or so with one of these:
I just bought a wrist strap mount for my Garmin Edge 25. Does the job admirably.
Wasn't sure about cycling abilities of watch, so I bought the 735 rather than 235. Very pleased with it (apart from ohr whilst playing squash). I had the 305&310 previously so 735 seemed like good choice.
Garmin vivoactiv HR, brilliant, running, cycling, swimming, walking, heart rate etc etc
The Vivoactive HR is a very good watch for a lot of fitness activities.
Sony Smar****ch 3 for ~£75.
Another vote for vivo active HR. Wouldn't go back to wearing a HR chest strap again.
The tom tom offering gets some good reviews too and is cheaper.
Edit. Pretty much all of them Bluetooth to your phone and upload to strava etc automatically.
Thanks all, I shall look into the various suggestions. Vivioactiv HR looks like a good choice at 180.
I've been after one of these myself, quite fancy one of the tomtom spark/runner 3 models from the research I've done.
They come in a couple of different flavours. One basic, one with Bluetooth music/storage, another with heart rate and the top dog with the lot. Well reviewed too.