Tell me about smart watches….

Not exactly an early adopter. Know very little about them but want one that does GPS and HRM at a minimum. Music might be nice. Must be very robust and if it can be small and light so much the better, but not a deal breaker. What is considered a good battery life? Only really looked at Garmin offerings so far. Any reason to look at others. Budget? As little as possible, as much as necessary.
Cheers for any input. WF

They’re not really smart and they’re bloody expensive.

I’m assuming things have improved but apple watches appear to need charged daily, which defeats the purpose for me. These are watches that can do lots of smart things with some tracking and fitness included.
Garmin’s tend to be fitness and tracking with a few extra smart things added.
Battery life will depend on what it is used for, but from the slightly limited research I did about 18 months ago, Garmin did seem to have one of the best battery life’s for the price.
That probably hasn’t helped but suspect Garmin, Sunto and Polar are likely to do a suitable watch for a primarily fitness, tracking aspect.

Polar Vantage M2

But for a more nuanced discussion:
https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2020/11/sports-technology-buyers-recommendations-guide-2020-2021.html/

Garmin instinct solar does everything you want except music. Original instinct is the same with a worse battery

Apple Watch is not expensive for earlier gen models or SE model, and is a jack of all trades master of none and if you have an iPhone, integration is seamless and offers some really useful features. Battery life not an issue if you don’t wear a watch in bed, just charge it then. Lower battery life means a less bulky watch on the wrist, but later and more expensive models have much better battery life, but still not as good as other brands less feature filled watches with duller screens/more efficient screens. It’s just a simple trade. You decide where you make the compromises.

I Like my Apple Watch. Mate got a garmin Fenix. It’s nice but bulky and v expensive and has a fraction of the features, but enough to have some decent usefulness. He says he prefers it over an Apple Watch mainly because of battery life and aesthetics. Battery life isn’t an issue for me as I just charge at night and if i were to spend that much on a watch I’d want something a bit more dressy and traditional. These things don’t last as long due to relentless technological progress and inevitable obsolescence, so wouldn’t want to spend too much on a smart watch. No more that a few hundred quid. I’m still on a series 2 Apple Watch and still going strong but starting to get a bit laggy and not compatible with latest operating systems so time is limited but not bad for a sub £300 watch. But for fenix money i’d expect it to last forever.

I got a vivoactive 3 off a PSA on hear a year or so back. Was using my phone for recording until that. Generally works well but is definitely more of a fitness tracker as phone integration, calls, messages, music control, is limited.

I use mine for recording running, walking and cycling and wear it all the time. Will last about 4 days if I don’t record any activities, 2-3 days recording a couple of hours of activities. I’m happy with it.

They’re not really smart and they’re bloody expensive.

Not this.

Incredible amounts of functionality these days, and compared to a bike specific GPS that only gets used on the bike, they work out pretty well price wise.

I’ve had a viviactive, a 3, then a 4, and now instinct solar.

Fantastic things.

Garmin instinct solar does everything you want except music. Original instinct is the same with a worse battery

For clarity, the battery is the same. But the charge isn’t topped up on the original non solar version, yet you still get a month out of a single charge. The Instinct solar will extend that duration assuming it’s not kept in the dark.

For clarity, the battery is the same.

for clarity, whilst the battery may be the same (garmin don’t actually list it afaik), battery life (regardless of solar) is not. The instinct solar uses a different GPS chip which allows 24+ hours of GPS recording, whereas the original solar is limited to ~10 (both when new, obviously they drop over time as with any battery device).

a proper ‘smart watch’ by comparison will really suck – I think the apple watch will only do 4-6 hours. Depending on what/where you ride, this might not be an issue..

Also, for clarity, the instinct can control your music when connected to your phone, it just won’t store it.
I rather like my instinct, does nearly all I want it to without the bulk and cost of something smarter. I’d love garmin pay to work on it (and the range of banks offered much larger!)

These things don’t last as long due to relentless technological progress and inevitable obsolescence, so wouldn’t want to spend too much on a smart watch.

Kinda weird to say that in favour of an Apple Watch over a Fenix.

Sure, the lower end Apple watches are cheaper than the higher end Fenix’s – but you can pick Fenix models to be pretty comparatively priced.

ive had a few garmin vivioactive, cheapo ones, galaxy ones and in currently on a fenix 6.

the 6 is all i wanted the others to be. the main thing is that the battery lasts several gps trips out.

If you want something to look cool and mess about with get a galaxy style watch. If you want something to record the odd run or ride then a garmin is a much better option. If you want something to work with a specific bit of software check it out first.

one thing to note is that not all garmins work with all sensors – for example the instinct will work with cadence sensors and heart rate sensors, but not power meters.

likewise, not all garmins will record all sports correctly – I got the instinct solar surf as I think its the only instinct that has surf as a sport (and the companion app can track waves etc) – likewise my wifes 45 (good otherwise) can’t add an activity for tennis, which is what she likes to spend time doing. You can still record what you’re doing, but it’ll just be under some generic thing like ‘cardio’.

I’ve a Garmin fenix 5s bought from sportspursuit a couple of months ago. It’s fine, the battery lasts around 6 days including one GPS record of around 3hrs. Not used the music function yet. I’ve one gripe, which is quite large, it tends to crash every now and then…. Goes from 90% charge down to registering 0%. So it’s not something I’d want to rely on solely if I work bike packing.

Its got maps and I’ve used it a couple of times – they are good for route following, turn by turn stuff, but again  won’t out perform my larger Garmin bike GPS.

The pay by phone function is also annoyingly incompatible with my bank.

Tbh I don’t think the tech is quite there yet, maybe in another 5yrs or so. If it hadn’t been a birthday gift I prob wouldn’t have it as I can make do with a edge 25 on the bike and standard watch. But if your riding daily and want all the stats, heart rate etc, then it makes sense.

I’ve got a Galaxy 3. Useful for the calendar (children’s swimming schedules especially) and weather but the HRM is rubbish, despite being “repaired” by Samsung. The Samsung website has all sorts of rubbish about skin colour and sweat affecting the HRM. Strangely, my old Mio Fuse just works.

I’ll never buy another Samsung product.

I’ve a Fenix 6 Pro, bought when Amazon had them for £375 a month or so ago. I wanted the pro for the navigation and I think it does a decent job of that but every other function I’ve used so far is available on lesser models. I’m happy with it at the price I paid but I’m not enough of a user of it to have paid more.

I do think the battery life is notable though. I have had it tracking me on GPS for 10 hours riding using 50% of the battery, so there’s no ride I’d do that would run the battery out and it’ll be very rare that it hasn’t got enough charge in it that I can’t just head straight out at the drop of a hat. Even with a good new phone I’ve needed to make sure it’s pretty much fully charged to use it to track a ride, so in reality I’ve run out often. Also the Garmin charges in no time.

I’ve had an Apple Watch, Vivoactive 3, Fenix 5X and now have the Fenix 6Pro. The 6Pro is the best out of all of them for me. The OS and display looks and feels premium compared to the older Garmins. I’ve used it for navigation on quite a few occasions and it works well as it vibrates and pings when approaching a turn so you can glance at your wrist. It doesn’t do the smart stuff as well as an apple watch as you can’t reply to messages (I rarely used that anyway) but it displays a preview of the notification and you can answer or discard incoming calls. I’ve also set up Garmin pay through a Revolut account which has been surprisingly handy especially when having face masks on and FaceID not working on my phone. It can store music and you can control the music player on your phone from the watch.
I get 10 days usage with around 3-4 rides in and I can use it for swimming and it’s had plenty of knocks and impacts from crashes and still looks brand new. They aren’t cheap but IMO it’s certainly worth the money.

I’ve had a few Garmins, Apple watch and back to Garmin. I am now a person who keeps notifications from my phone away from my watch.

Having the apple watch was a pain, it was a bad sports watch and become another thing to look at, when a group chat got busy was pointless, replying to messages which werent iMessages was painful and the screen was made of cheese.

Picked up a Garmin 735XT which has GPS and built in HRM, has done everything I’ve asked of it covering running outside and on a treadmill, road rides, MTB rides, sea swimming and pool swimming. I got it second hand for £80 over a year ago and really like it, only bug bear it the lack of barometer.

My experience with them is that they are a nice but not actually that useful thing to have for quite a lot of money. The biggest downside I found was that they seem to go obsolete very quickly – mine (a Sony) stopped working with a lot of apps after about 2 years, and now it won’t connect to my phone at all. It worked for about 2.5 years, so about a quarter of the time a normal watch would stay just fashionable, let alone working, for.

I’ll not get another.

I have a Garmin Forerunner 35, bought last year for £100ish. It tells the time, tells me how fast I’m going, and (afterwards) it’ll tell me where I’ve been, my heart rate, and my cadence. Battery is 12ish hours. That’s all I need, and I quite like it. Nice to know how you’re doing on a run without needing to carry a phone. It talks to Garmin Connect on my Android phone, and I’ve had no bother.

check out hukd, for any bargain prices, alot of the garmin watchers get listed, and some can be had for the £100 mark, non on at the moment though, but it’ll give you a good idea of the low price.

https://www.hotukdeals.com/search?q=garmin%20watch

functional wise i use a vivoactive 3 music, paid about £130 a year ago, battery lasts about a week, or 6-8 hours on gps.

record on the watch, which syncs to garminconnect and then link to strava if so desired, simple and straightforward 99% of the time

the fenix are much better but i’ve warrantied 2 as the altimetre has broken on fenix 5s twice.

Apple Watch 3 has been great. I don’t do phone notifications. The Strava app is good for walking and gentle rides. It’s a phone controller rather than music device. Battery life is 36 hours, which is depressing. Pinging your phone (mine is always on silent) is very useful. I like it and it has earned its place on my wrist for three years. Previously I did not wear a watch at all. DCR recommends it for watch with extras, but it does not do all the fancy split thing you might want for serious training.

I’ve got a Galaxy 3. Useful for the calendar (children’s swimming schedules especially) and weather but the HRM is rubbish, despite being “repaired” by Samsung. The Samsung website has all sorts of rubbish about skin colour and sweat affecting the HRM. Strangely, my old Mio Fuse just works.

I’ll never buy another Samsung product.

So if you were buying (for eg) a new TV, and for the money the Samsung one was far and away the best option on the market you would refuse to buy it because the optical HR sensor (which are shit regardless, compared to a proper HR strap) on a watch you had years before was a bit crap?!

I once had a fairly bland sandwich from Tesco, but I still buy my toilet cleaner from there…

You can reply to messages on Garmin, just the options for the replies are rather limited. Quick glance to see the start of the message, you then click a button (top right one) and read the message, top right again and you can reply and it lists a few responses you can select from.

I’m a Garmin user, I’m not needing a Smartwatch to do all the smart things as my phone does them, but I do like the watch to be tracking fitness things and activities – it does this very well. So things like responding to messages, checking calendars, etc. aren’t of interest to me (if so, I’d be considering an Apple watch or a Samsung thing). For my needs I suspect Garmin, Suunto and the other outdoor watch companies are probably the better option.

Battery life is 14 days if I don’t use it for tracking, but I get about 10 days between charges with 5 or 6 activities tracked – ranging from 1 to 4 hours.

I’ve got Garmin pay set with Starling and I use it as an emergency payment in case I need to buy something whilst out and about without my bank card.

Seems to connect to my sensors – HRM, cadence, speed and power.

It is bulky, but you very quickly get used to the size. For dressier occasions, I can change the watch face and make it look like an analogue watch, but to be fair, I don’t get invited to or tend to go to dressier things, so it isn’ something I worry about too much.

I bought a fenix5 about 6 years ago. I’ve stopped wearing it everyday now as the charging became a chore. It does last the best part of a week if you just use it as a watch but once you start using GPS there is much more drain.

Mine was an early-ish one and it did have to go back under warranty as it developed an issue with GPS signal, the replacement one is more consistent and but far from perfect (weirdly the original was great until something happened, an update maybe, and then zero connection – i never got to the bottom of it). If you google fenix gps connectivity issues you will see i was not alone. My wife also has a garmin forerunner and she has lots of bugs in her watch.

In short – Garmin watches are great when they work I have had some good use out of mine, they dont always work and they have bugs. Crazy that they are the leading brand given how common i think these issues are.

Few functions i really like on my garmin is the stress function which is based on heart rate variability and highlights alot of details of factors in life including diet and also body battery. Think these functions are only available on a few devices.

Fenix sale on here….

My experience with them is that they are a nice but not actually that useful thing to have for quite a lot of money. The biggest downside I found was that they seem to go obsolete very quickly – mine (a Sony) stopped working with a lot of apps after about 2 years, and now it won’t connect to my phone at all. It worked for about 2.5 years, so about a quarter of the time a normal watch would stay just fashionable, let alone working, for.

I’ll not get another.

In my experience, Garmin would’ve sorted you out, despite being over the 2 year warranty, buying a Sony watch is a bit like buying one of those BMW MTBs tbh.

It worked for about 2.5 years, so about a quarter of the time a normal watch would stay just fashionable, let alone working, for.

I have a mechanical watch, needs winding every day, looks just as ‘fashionable’ as when I bought it for £50 just over fifty years ago. Cost £460 a few years back to get it fixed and serviced, (mainspring broke), a couple like mine recently sold for around £4000.
Ten years, you say, for a ‘normal’ watch? And the rest.
My phone has all the ‘smarts’ I need, I don’t require another thing I have to charge every night – I have my iPad, a tablet for work, and my work radio that all need charging, bugger the bloody watch!
Actually my daily watch cost me about £120, winds itself, is tough as heck, and will almost certainly outlast me!

I’m with some of the others here, that most of the functions of a smart watch just replicates things other devices already do for me … so unless i can get a smart watch that navigates as well as a Wahoo which i would then sell, I can’t really see much point in them.

Are there any that work similarly? ie – can load up a gpx to it, attach to handlebars and ride?

My Garmin watch doesn’t have navigation but you can load routes to follow and run it on your bars, but obvs the built in HRM doesn’t work then (I use a strap)

I think one with navigation and maps would do the job better, but obvs the screen is on the small side

I too was a late adopter. I bought a second hand Fenix 3 on eBay from recommendations from this parish and have been really pleased with it. Solid, functional, week’s worth of battery, and all of the heart rate and gps and music control I want. I turn messages off. C£80 on eBay and having faffed for about 5 years am really pleased with it.

I bought a fenix5 about 6 years ago. I’ve stopped wearing it everyday now as the charging became a chore. It does last the best part of a week if you just use it as a watch but once you start using GPS there is much more drain.

Mine’s about 4 years old now (I think – it might be 3) and it’s fine. Battery lasts well over a week, including at least 3 or 4 running sessions and a couple of (GPS-free) indoor swims. (I use an Edge 530 on the bike). Apart from the activity stuff, I like the 24/7 health monitoring, the notifications are handy, and I quite like the style. It was a bit chunky at first, but I soon got used to it. The only thing I really miss on it compared to more recent models is the music, sometimes it’d be quite nice to have a bit of Spotify for company when I’m out running.

I have a mechanical watch, needs winding every day, looks just as ‘fashionable’ as when I bought it for £50 just over fifty years ago. Cost £460 a few years back to get it fixed and serviced, (mainspring broke), a couple like mine recently sold for around £4000.
Ten years, you say, for a ‘normal’ watch? And the rest.
My phone has all the ‘smarts’ I need, I don’t require another thing I have to charge every night – I have my iPad, a tablet for work, and my work radio that all need charging, bugger the bloody watch!
Actually my daily watch cost me about £120, winds itself, is tough as heck, and will almost certainly outlast me!

Which doesn’t have any smart funcionality, so is like pointless on this thread. My primary use, and pretty much the only reason I have a Garmin, is for the GPS. If your watch doesn’t have that, then it’s not of interest to me tbh.

My phone and my watch (once a week at worst) are the only things I charge.

Are there any that work similarly? ie – can load up a gpx to it, attach to handlebars and ride?

If you really need mapping, Fenix etc will do that, instinct will give you turn by turn, but tbh I never really use it that way, but then I never used any bike specific garmin type thing to do that either, I kinda know where I’m going on most rides.

My phone has all the ‘smarts’ I need, I don’t require another thing

Doesn’t the phone have a clock on it making your mechanical watch ‘another thing’ that you don’t require?

I’m firmly in the ‘meh’ category for smart watches.
I’ve got a Forerunner 235 which I bought specifically for tracking my runs when training for a half-marathon. It was a very good price when purchased at the same time as some new running shoes, so I decided to give it a try.

It’s fine, battery life is good etc. but I just don’t really ‘get’ or feel the need for the smart features.
I hardly every check my sleep patterns or HR. Steps – yeah, I know I don’t do enough. Notifications from my phone – I turned them off after a week or so.

It’s good as a training tool, but I’m perhaps not the best candidate for a smart watch.
If it stored music, it would be more useful but the music options always seem like quite a jump in price.

but of a piggyback post but does anyone have any experience of Suunto stuff they look nice,….. I’m also smart watch curious but not big budget, so forerunner 45/55 suunto 3/5 polar etc? £100-200 arena?

I have a mechanical watch, needs winding every day, looks just as ‘fashionable’ as when I bought it for £50 just over fifty years ago. Cost £460 a few years back to get it fixed and serviced, (mainspring broke), a couple like mine recently sold for around £4000.
Ten years, you say, for a ‘normal’ watch? And the rest.
My phone has all the ‘smarts’ I need, I don’t require another thing I have to charge every night – I have my iPad, a tablet for work, and my work radio that all need charging, bugger the bloody watch!
Actually my daily watch cost me about £120, winds itself, is tough as heck, and will almost certainly outlast me!

My ‘rough service’ Casio digital cost £70 about 4 years ago, is solar powered and radio controlled, so in theory, will never need a battery/winding, and will always tell the correct time to the nanosecond. So what? Anything else is just male jewellery. A smart watch however, offers a lot more functions than simply telling the time. Mine records swimming data for example, which is pretty useful as I always forget how many lengths I’ve done, and a whole host of other things. Enjoy your fancy bracelet.