Apple Watch or Fitbit

[woohoo]

I've got a fitbit and it's fine but the stats are a bit lacking. I'm getting back into my running and want something that gives me more information about my health, exercise etc.

I've heard the Apple Watch 3 is quite good now and is particularly good for exercise and reporting on your stats. I also do weights at the gym so is it useful in anyway for that, rep counting etc?

Anyone made the move from Fitbit to the Watch3?

[MrButton]

For running - The Watch 3 is good. But imo only worth it if you are on EE and get the LTE version (doesn’t support other networks) then you can stream music and track your runs with gps and leave your phone at home.

[woohoo]

For running - The Watch 3 is good. But imo only worth it if you are on EE and get the LTE version (doesn’t support other networks) then you can stream music and track your runs with gps and leave your phone at home.

I did go for the watch 3 in the end. It's actually a really good piece of kit.

Some of the third party weight lifting apps are a bit of a faff but everything else is spot on. The stats arent too bad and the option to export them is something I will look into.

[Zigenare]

I did go for the watch 3 in the end. It's actually a really good piece of kit.

Some of the third party weight lifting apps are a bit of a faff but everything else is spot on. The stats arent too bad and the option to export them is something I will look into.

I went for the Watch 3 too. It links well with the Iphone and Mac.

[northernladuk]

I went for the Watch 3 too. It links well with the Iphone and Mac.

It'd be a complete f***up if it didn't really.

[woohoo]

It'd be a complete f***up if it didn't really.

To be fair, it works almost seamlessly with the iphone. I guess that's the point. My fitbit was a sod sometimes when syncing.

But I've made calls on the iwatch (via the phone), answer messages. Used directions on the map etc and it's been near perfect.

[contractorinatractor]

I've got a fitbit and it's fine but the stats are a bit lacking. I'm getting back into my running and want something that gives me more information about my health, exercise etc.

I've heard the Apple Watch 3 is quite good now and is particularly good for exercise and reporting on your stats. I also do weights at the gym so is it useful in anyway for that, rep counting etc?

Anyone made the move from Fitbit to the Watch3?

Neither. Get a Garmin.

You can see clearly from the Garmin forums that the Fenix range is a mess, with a hardware revision of the 5/5S/5X forthcoming which uses a different metal composite, as currently your polyster clothes plus sweat can short the metal - particularly in unhumid environments - resulting in skewed GPS tracks and over/under estimating just how far you have ran.

The 935 is the one to go for - it is also around half the weight of the fenix. Discounts take it down to about £400 now, but it's a solid piece of kit.

I purchased the latest Apple watch, but the battery life is awful, although I understand it to be a smartwatch which is not aimed at sports enthusiastis. The 935 will give you 24 hours of GPS recording in its usual mode. I charge it once every couple of weeks. Can get calendar notifications, messages, call info and it has a reasonable barometer and altimeter too, plus wifi connectivity - something not available in all of the Fenix range. You can still upload breadcrumb trail courses, with route guidance, plus there are lots of useful apps in the Garmin Connect store, most of them free of charge.

If you are into multisports, the Garmin is the one to get. If you are more of a geek who wants a fashion watch with some smartphone-style functionality then the Apple one does a reasonable job and is well supported. I do a lot of sports and it was useless for me, having to charge it every day or two. The runs from the Apple watch had wildly wrong instant pace (useful for training), wrong distance (0.5k+- on a 10Km run is a major issue) plus numerous other drawbacks on the sports front. For sports it simply is not ready yet. People think it's a great sports watch because they haven't checked the road they run on or they run with a phone which does most of the GPS donkey work, which is far more reliable than running freely with just a watch alone.

Just so you are fully informed, the Apple watch offers terrible running stats, because they are inaccurate. It is all well offering lots of stats (which it doesn't) but if the quality of the information itself is questionable then it seems pointless to base training, or satisfaction of your training programme, based upon these stats.

Most people I know with an Apple watch who train seriously also have a Garmin they rely on. I use it when in the wild for the OS coordinates and mountaineering. It works well at this and I've had no problems. You do have to be careful which software version you are using, as some have known bugs - but the forums will help you with that.

If you don't mind reading this guy's methodology then he does some pretty good reviews of watches, most of which support the Stryd footpod - for pace and weight distribution, useful for serious runners, particularly where battery life is important for longer distance fell running, hill walking and road cycling:

Fellrnr.com, Running tips

If you don't want to spend much money, for £50 or so you can get an older version called a Garmin Vivoactive (square) that does quite a lot of the functionality, without the barometer/altitude functions and current software support, second hand for a cheap price.

If you want a heavy and bulky version for the outdoors that does share some of the antenna faults of the Fenix5 (avoidable with knowledge of the issue) then a secondhand Fenix3 (or Fenix3HR for the optical heart rate) isn't a bad purchase. For me, I don't want a bulky watch and, of 7 watches I trialed, settled on the 935.

Specific watch reviews are here:

Best Running Watch, including Garmin, Polar, & Suunto - Fellrnr.com, Running tips

[AtW]

+1

Get Garmin Sapphire Fenix 5

[Zigenare]

To be fair, it works almost seamlessly with the iphone. I guess that's the point. My fitbit was a sod sometimes when syncing.

But I've made calls on the iwatch (via the phone), answer messages. Used directions on the map etc and it's been near perfect.

Did you get the LTE version?
If so, just so long as your phone is switched on it doesn't have to be with you at the time you make/receive a call.

[contractorinatractor]

+1

Get Garmin Sapphire Fenix 5

That watch is heavy if you are average UK height. The GPS tracks are, at times, questionable when compared to the forerunner series, due to the metal antenna. If you prefer it for swimming, navigation and coordinates it does the job fine, but the UK cost is expensive. The 935 performs the exact same functionality - and better - for a couple of hundred pounds less.