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Old 04-20-2022, 08:38 AM   #10
jruiz
Large Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: La Verne, CA
Posts: 1,002
Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnMckroidJr View Post
Good points Mitch.



Seeing your trip routes is nice Ben. I like the Forerunner 245 and ordered an unused 245 Music for $150 on Offerup. The seller discovered the battery would not hold a charge so he canceled the sale. Adding a compass to the yak is a good economical option.



Thanks for your input John. Garmin recently came out with the Instinct 2. The instinct has most of the features of Garmin's higher-end watches but at a fraction of the cost and with much better battery life due to having a monochrome screen instead of color. I like the Instinct 2s.

It seems like Garmin has the sports monitoring and GPS aspects of the smart watches well covered, but like many of the brands, the health monitoring features lack accuracy. Still undecided, but leaning towards getting a compass and a Fitbit watch.
A note on the HR accuracy; I had a stress test done last year and from rest up to about 160bpm, the watch matched up well with the hospital's equipment. If you have it loose on your wrist, it will under-read at higher heart rates. Regarding step counting. I have friends with fit bits, apple watches, and garmins. We engage in the same activity and the step counts are all over the place. If i really wanted an accurate step count I would turn on the gps tracking on my watch and track the distance travelled, then divide that by my stride. Whatever you decide, get one with a long battery life. Having to take off the watch every night to charge gets old and you lose the benefit of sleep monitoring.
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