Currently using an edge 500 and a forerunner 300 to track my rides and runs.

The forerunners been getting flakier and flakier on connection to Garmin connect. And my edge has had the plastic tabs break off the back now.

While I’m going to do a raceware direct job on the edge 500 I’ve been looking at watches to replace the forerunner anyway…. If one device could do both and not be as massive as the forerunner that would be spiffing.

Ergo looking at the watches where do I start. I want running and cycling + hr strap and cadence (I already have the ant+ sensors) I’ll probably never need power , I don’t swim to the degree I’ll benifit from tracking it.

Also —- long do the batteries in these watch devices typically last in the real world ?

I use an FR235 it was a pain to set up to begin with because it’s a watch, but it does everything you need, mines set up to shove everything onto strava, so I don’t even use the woeful garmin connect.

Battery lasts 10-12 days if you just use it as a watch, but even with my slack exercise routine, it needs recharging at 5 days if you record stuff

Wouldn’t buy another, it’s a cheap plastic looking watch and very basic.

I love my Fenix 5, and use it as a daily activity tracker as well as for sports. The battery lasts about a week doing maybe 7-8hrs of GPS enabled sport (+ a few indoor sessions, swimming or spinning etc). I don’t usually bother with a HR strap, while it would definitly be more accurate the inbuilt sensor is good enough for what I want.

One thing to consider is that a watch isn’t as visible on a bike as an Edge unit – the screen’s smaller, and if it’s on your wrist it’s not that convenient to look at as you have to take your hand off the bars. Obviously here a HR strap and a mount on the bars will solve this problem, but the size would still be an issue.

Garmin Fenix5 will do everything you want.

Fully customisable and still looks like a normal watch.

^ still looks like a rather sizeable watch…. 🙂

i have a forerunner 935. as reported about the fenix 5 above i get about 7-10 days out of a charge, riding 2-3 times/week, but i normally stick it on for 3/4s of an hour when i have tea and a shower, so it doesn’t often get charged to 100%. i’ve been really pleased with it. can’t say i’ve been doing analysis of my numbers to the ‘n’th degree but i’ve found it useful for giving me those little nudges i need to encourage me.

i’m not sure why garmin connect gets such a bad rap, it just seems to work for me.

you can get a ‘quick release’ strap for mine which will allow you put it on a bar mount if you want.

Vivoactive 3 or the new music? It does multisport, activity tracker and smaller than the Fenix. Not a bad price either.

If you’re looking at the fenix 5, be aware that there is a newer model out.

They’ve just released a fenix 5 plus.

It’s got a few small software upgrades and music storage added, but the big difference is improved internal hardware that’s supposed to fix some of the accuracy issues with the HR, GPS, and external sensor connectivity. Apparently the usual fix of software updates couldn’t do it so they’ve had to go to a 5 plus with different internals.

But, that does mean the price is diving on the non plus version

my 235 lasts about a 4-5 days between charges, but then it’ll charge in the car on my commute to work. its two years old now and the battery is starting to degrade a bit i think. it’ll do more if you turn off the 24/7 HR tracking and bluetooth notifications.

when this dies I probably get a fenix 5s, i don’t have manly enough wrists for a full size fenix…

still looks like a rather sizeable watch….

Yeah, it’s not that small. But at the same time it’s not so huge (at least on my wrist) that it scares small children and animals. Although I do work in IT and a geeky watch is probably more acceptable than in other circles…

Lol just seen price of fenix 5 and 5 plus.

Yeah probably not gonna bother with that. Cost more than my bike.

The forerunner 735xt looks much more palatable….although I can’t see if it does ant+ hr strap or is wrist pulse only ?

I will be selling a fenix 5 next month, when I upgrade to the music version 😉

Any of the newer Garmin watches with multi modes will be fine. One thing to consider is if you use your Edge500 on your roadie, is how to mount the watch to the roadie as being on the wrist isnt great. Also if you do mount the watch to the bike, if it has wrist HR this wont function, also some of the watch mounts are nice and some are god awful, have a look before buying.

Forerunner 235 looks cheap plastic, but still works fine, seems tough enough. For running, I’d rather have as lightweight watch as possible.

Not sure if there’s much advantage for the 735, unless you are doing swimming/triathlon?

Ive just ordered that PSA Lezyne watch.

Does more than the Edge 500 for £50!

Happy Vivoactive 3 user here.

Cheaper and smaller than a Fenix so might by of interest.

I have a vivoactive HR. Does runs, swims and rides. Works with cadence and wheel speed sensors. Only negative is for mountain biking you need a HR strap as the wrist sensor does not like the vibrations.

Have you seen the TomTom adventurer watch? Similar spec to the garmin, but cheaper.

When using tracking I’ve always found it better to use a 3rd party, ie Strava as if you use Garmin connect you have to stay within their eco system or lose your data should you change brands.

Keep using the 500 and buy something innocuous like a Forerunner 35 for the running/timepiece role?

When using tracking I’ve always found it better to use a 3rd party, ie Strava as if you use Garmin connect you have to stay within their eco system or lose your data should you change brands.

All my Garmin Connect data uploads automatically to Strava.

Happy Garmin Fenix 3 HR owner here…great watch, week long battery life.  A bit big but not too big. I wear it all the time as my main watch.   I went for the Fenix due to superior navigation smarts:

1. ability out of the box to convert lat/long to a 10 digit  OS grid reference, or the equivalent in many other countries.  Use this in conjunction with map to get your position down to 1 sq metre.

2. altimeter (although like all altimeters this needs frequent calibration at known heights)

This is more useful for annual hillwalking trips to Scotland to bag Munros than biking but it would definitely come in handy on more remote rides in actual mountains. Most of my local rides I know where im going so don’t need it.

You might be able to add apps to the other watches in the Garmin range to achieve the same thing.

Otherwise it does all the usual activity tracking and steps / floors etc.

If you aren’t a navigation nerd like me, the other Garmin watches will be fine.

I actually like Garmin Connect these days and have an autofeed to Strava from it

Use this in conjunction with map to get your position down to 1 sq metre.

if you are a navigation nerd then you should know that precision ≠ accuracy 😉

if you are a navigation nerd then you should know that precision ≠ accuracy 😉

Oh I agree. 10 digit grid ref is completely OTT.  You’d only ever give some a 6 digit grid anyway so I’m usually rounding digits up or down as required.  I’m very happy with its accuracy to a 100 metre square

Very happy with my 235 but I can’t make it do cadence alarms which I would find quite handy it does others but not cadence.  it tracks cadence so why it can’t alert like the higher end models is beyond me must be in the software somewhere

I use a Vivoactive with HR and GPS. I’m not that fond of the Garmin Connect software, but you just set it to upload everything to Strava automatically and your activity will be on Strava in a minute or two after you stop.

plus note I said “in conjunction with a map”.  GPS for me is backup / confirmation for map and compass.   This probably seems very old school to a lot of people these days who go to the hills with map, GPS, compass all contained on their phone

still not going to get to 1m accuracy though are you. 1mm square on a 25k OS explorer map is a 25m square on the ground….

I can hook you up with some RTK kit that will get you to ~0.15m but you won’t fit it in a watch 😉

still not going to get to 1m accuracy though are you. 1mm square on a 25k OS explorer map is a 25m square on the ground….

If a 6 digit grid ref gets you to within a 100 x 100 square , an 8 digit gets you to a 10x10m square, then a 10 digit gets you to a 1x1m square (on the ground).  Map scale not relevant.

Or have I got that wrong?

still not going to get to 1m accuracy though are you. 1mm square on a 25k OS explorer map is a 25m square on the ground….

sorry Jambo if you point is the impracticality of 1 sq meter accuracy on a map then I agree! (unless very large scale)

exactly. its a meaningless number. its way beyond the accuracy of a watch GPS, and its way beyond anything you could accurately mark on a paper map.

and even then, its a reference system that attempts to map a curving 3d surface onto a flat plane to make paper mapping easier. there is error pretty much everywhere. accuracy is almost a meaningless term…

but back on topic.

i get pretty reliable HR data from my wrist HRM on my 235. i think it works better than the fenix because its half the weight and bounces around less. despite being a bit plasticy its survived pretty well.

and even then, its a reference system that attempts to map a curving 3d surface onto a flat plane to make paper mapping easier. there is error pretty much everywhere. accuracy is almost a meaningless term…

OK yeah fine but accurate enough for practical purposes 😀

Got a like new vivoactive HR with a couple of spare straps going if you’re interested in it Terry?

Replaced a 310XT with an FR235 (not for daily wearing, that was the Timex cheapy) and have say I am surprised at how good it is.

It tracks runs, rides and other stuff well enough, tells the time, is light and relatively small. If it breaks, I still have the Timex and the 310XT, but I might go for the 935XT or the Fenix, but they are really big watches.