Not sure if this has asked before but which wearable sports fitness 'watch'/band is the most value for money or has the best battery life? E.g. Fitbit, Garmin, Samsung Gear watches, microsoft, or even Apple watch? Prices seem to be quite steady over the last year or so but is dropping a bit. So I'm seriously considering buying one for exercising or running out of breath to catch the early train to work… LOL Also considered those cheap heart rate monitor watches or U8 smart watches but it seems a bit too cheap and 'plasticky'. Battery life is doubtful too…What are your opinions on this?
Which Fitness Watch Is Worth Getting - Fitbit, Garmin or Other?
LYRICALRAVER on 04/09/2016 - 21:24
Comments
Hi mate, can you please explain further on what you meant by that last sentence there: " The cheaper models have lower battery lives but even they're higher than the competitors."?? and I would never buy these devices at RRP. Totally so markup its not funny.
As in the Vivoactive has 8 days battery life, the other models have less but they're even better than those from say FitBit or Jawbone at comparable prices.
I'm seriously considering buying one for exercising or running out of breath
So your not exercising at the moment and you believe a watch with a computer in it will do something?
Whilst I understand your logic in your comment, I did little to no exercise prior to getting my Garmin device. It helped me set targets, show me the evidence of when I did and was a constant reminder that I should move more often. I was a skeptic but it did help implant some positive behaviors and I like being about to track how far I ran and monitor the zones for my heart rate when doing so.
I do more steps when I am counting them.
If i need to go to the shop and it is the car or walk, I am much more likely to walk now.
Humans aren't always logical.
depend on how sophisticated the functions you want to get.
there are once you use to replace a watch; some are more accurate; some with better display, colours and charts on activities.
For myself, I lam satisfied with the runtastic app on my phone and want to wear my business watches daily. The Fitbit is just for fun.
Then you may consider a basic Fitbit flex for free from here.
Wife is enjoying the course.I really agree with this. I have the cheapest, non-rechargeable jawbone Up that runs for months from a coin battery. No need to fuss around with chargers, and no risk that you leave it behind because it was charging. Fitbit make a similar model called the zip. You don't need to wear them as a watch if you have a nice watch otherwise.
If you don't need heart rate monitoring these are cheap and good.
as someone who has a fitbit, a fitness watch is more about telling people you're staying fit, than the actual usefulness of the device.
buy a set of scales.
That's fitbit in a nutshell. Not so for a lot of proper fitness watch brands.
I use my Garmin watch to track nearly all of my exercise and it helps me train / recover. It ensures I don't get lost on trail runs, tells me what my cadence is on my bike rides for maximum efficiency and helps me try to improve my (very average) swimming form.
Proper fitness watches are fantastic. Fitbits are for people who want to tell you they're wearing a Fitbit.
Which Garmin are you using and how do you find the swim tracking?
I've had a few of them. Currently I'm on the Fenix 3 HR. It does well for both indoor/laps and open water swimming. The optical HR doesn't work under water and I'm not a solid enough swimmer to bother getting a dedicated HRM that works in water (the HRM Swim I think it's called) but all the other metrics work well.
I've also had a Vivoactive (they go pretty cheap now) and it did an okay job - was pretty accurate at tracking laps and giving some okay-ish metrics. But it wasn't great in open water.
I have a Fenix 3 HR as well and think its great. While the pricing isn't for everyone, it has set a new standard for what it is. I stopped wearing watches when mobile phones could tell you the time and only wore HR/watches when out exercising, now I wear my Fenix 3 24 hours and only take it off to charge, update or install a new app or watch face.
I still dont see the effectiveness tbh. When i was training seriously, i didnt need a device to tell me I was buggered.
Depends how you use them. If you're looking to train for efficiency the more training data you have the better. Also for injury management you can see precisely where you overloaded your training. Also helps to make the most of your training by ensuring you're putting in the right amount of effort (more isn't always good).
If you want to train with no data obviously it still works. Train until you feel flogged. But if you want to train to compete (even as a semi decent amateur) you're going to be up against people who train and work out programs against individual data. Put it this way, it has been the only method that has kept me on the continual improve whilst properly managing injuries and niggles.
But I'm a data guy by trade, so this method just works for my brain. I also have an appalling sense of direction and would've got lost on a heap of 50km trail runs if I didn't have a gps with maps to make sure I'm on the right track. So there's that too!
But yeah, Fitbits are plastic fashion rubbish.
Out of the list you gave there's only one brand that has a decent history in the fitness/GPS area. Garmin.
Fitbit are all marketing. I have met zero people who take any kind of fitness/exercise seriously who use one.
The rest are smart watches first, and activity/fitness trackers second. Unless you want to be tethered to a computer/outlet whilst you charge after every bit of exercise it's best to steer clear of these if you're after a fitness watch primarily.
Check out the reviews here: http://www.dcrainmaker.com/
He reviews every single fitness monitor/device/watch with incredible functional detail and a complete lack of bias (he even sends the demo units he gets back and only keeps gear he pays for himself).
Personally I've always gone with Garmins or Suuntos. But it really does depend on a few factors:
1) Do you want fitness features (GPS, heart rate, cadence etc) above all else?
2) Do you want long battery life?
3) Do you want only basic smart watch features (email/call/sms alerts) but not much more?If you tick the boxes above, then go for a solid fitness brand. If you prefer flashy apps, trendy design, or want to be able to run lots of Android Wear or IOS apps, then you're better off getting a smart watch and using the very basic fitness features they offer.
Pokemon Go
As long as you don't mind lugging around 3-plus battery packs.
Gotta catch em all!
Think of them as exercise weights
the way you're talking about 'FitBit' is comparable to the way people buy Iphones just to show others they have an 'iphone'. so Laughable how sheepish people can be. Always about the Marketing, keeping up with the Joneses' LOL
My partner and I purchased the Garmin vivofit II last year just before Christmas. I chose it over the others because I did not feel the need to monitor my heart, I wanted something that would prompt me to get up and move, It has a battery that is replaceable and is supposed to last a year before needing replaced, and the price was decent.
Since having it we have found it encouraging us to track our steps and the beep reminds us to move. The online interface (garmin connect) offers lots of challenges for daily and weekly steps against others at similar levels. You have to sync it to see your details and it includes weight tracking and sleep tracking.
NEGATIVES: Sometimes after about 6 months the Garmin can be finicky about syncing and my partner did have to replace his battery after 8 months (though mine is still working). He actually got a message to replace the battery when he trying to sync it at one point.
Harvey Norman has them for 96.00 and we ordered batteries (cr1632) online for about 3.29 dollars for 5 of them through ebay.
for me Fitbit is the best option, particularly "Fitbit Blaze".
I got a Garmin vivofit for Christmas in 2014. It's advertised as having a battery life of one year, but it's not coming up to two year and still going.
I would never have considered a Garmin if I didn't receive it as a gift, but the battery life is stupendous.
Fitbit has a better app though and probably actually other people using it that you can challenge.
Garmin has people challenges too!
I got an original Vivofit. Battery life coming up to 2 years too. I use it as a watch and to reach my step goal each day. Doesn't have a lot of features that other bands have but battery life was and still is my priority. My main complaint is the band itself - why can't they just have a normal watch band clasp arghhh!
Haha, yeah it is a pain to take off and put on, I gave up and only take it off once in a while to clean the band.
yes i don't take it off either. luckily don't need to charge it ;)
hey what do you guys think of this one?
http://www.expansys.com.au/mobile-action-i-gotu-q-band-xq-62…
If you want a fit band that also acts to inform you of your phone ringing in your pocket and want to have to charge it from time to time then it might be OK but it is an off brand so not many of us may have tried it. Look it up on whirlpool, maybe they can advise?
I don't see any mention of Life Trk. I am particuliary interested in the C400 model since it's only about $65 and has heart rate without wearing a chest band. I am 30 and go to the gym everyday and play softball and golf and in 2007 I had a stent inserted in my heart so I'm only interested in that function. It seems to be what I'm looking for.
hi, what's a stent inserted in your heart?
A stent is a small mesh tube that's used to treat narrow or weak arteries. Arteries are blood vessels that carry blood away from your heart to other parts of your body.
Garmin! or Samsung Gear fit!
Fairly sure Garmin have a reputation as having the best battery life. I have a Vivoactive HR which was purchased at a discount (partner works in sports retail) and it's great. I'm not sure I'd personally pay for it at RRP but if you have the money to burn then grab one. I plug it in once or twice a week for an hour or two while I'm at my computer desk. The cheaper models have lower battery lives but even they're higher than the competitors.