Activity / running watch

[Longsidebovril]

Has anyone used the Fitbit or garmin trackers?
Looking to swap my 3 year old Apple Watch. Budget about £200.
Looking at series 3 Apple Watch... but have no experience with the other brands.
Need it to basically track running, splits and map ideally. As well as be a decent day to day watch / step counter.

Any advice appreciated.

[Bosscat]

Carry one of these with you and make sure its a big one... carrying it will be a good work out

sensory-sand.png (29.63 KiB) Viewed 812 times

Also good for the environment as its made from natural materials....

[HB Claret]

I have had a Fitbit for just over 5 years now - currently have the Ionic. It is a good tool for recording steps, floors climbed and heart rate and sleep patterns. I try to do 12,000 steps a day and it does make me more aware of levels of activity etc. Don’t use it to its full potential but then I don’t do running or keep fit etc but I do check my main targets on a daily basis. Get some strange results at times - recently did a transatlantic cruise and a normal 20 minute waking session on a flat deck showed I had done over 100 floors as sea was quite rough !

[Longsidebovril]

Cheers for that. Maybe I’ll see what Black Friday offers come up.

[TsarBomba]

I’ve had a Garmin for 3/4 years now.

My first one had a built in heart rate monitor but got nicked, so bought a second Garmin without the heart rate monitor which was cheaper.

I’ve never had a FitBit so can’t comment, but the Garmin Forerunners are fantastic. Download the Garmin App to your phone, and sync your watch and phone to view your running data afterwards. There’s maps of your run, charts, split times, and you can enter into weekly competitions with other runners. There’s more than enough to keep you interested.

[Tricky Trevor]

I have a cheapo version fitbit and would suggest that anything on gps has to be better than a step counter. Our cheapos actually add steps when we travel in the car.

[FactualFrank]

If you can run with your phone in your pocket, I'd go with that. Runkeeper keeps track of your route, via GPS, along with distance, calories etc. I use it for walks, but it'll obviously work for running too, hence the name. It keeps track of your records and you can share with friends.

[dpinsussex]

Polar M430 with built in gps. No need to carry your phone with you either.

[Moorite]

I have the Fitbit charge 3. It's waterproof, does my heart rate (I tend not to look at heart rate when watching us play, tends to be 150bpm+), and contactless. Also can read my messages plus loads of other stuff I don't really use. As a overall fitness watch it's great.