Learn me about GPS/Bluetooth Watches.

[rlb]

Unless you shits are trolling, I'm surprised how many people here don't use their phone to record. I throw mine in the jersey pocket and forget about it, works great.

For recording rides? Goddamn the phone is preposterously inaccurate. Might as well just use a tape measure.

In the woods OK, but a garmin on the bars is not going to be exponentially greater. Have you ever overlaid all of your CR rides on a single map?

On the road the phone is damn close enough, I don't see any difference there between my garmin.

Newer watches do Ant+ along with BLE. Older ones much less so. Although I'm not sure what device doesn't actually transmit Ant+ but it's nice to have BLE available.

There's no app to log this on your phone?

 

[Santapez]

There's no app to log this on your phone?

Maybe. I know it's not Strava as they killed external sensor support in their garbage app. I know there's MapmyRide, Ride w/ GPS, etc etc that I'm sure I could figure out and make work with some of my sensors.

I guess I could use my phone for tracking my rides, but I could supposedly also cook fish in my dishwasher. Doesn't mean I should.

I've been using an external gps since my Garmin 705. Back then there wasn't the ability to track anything on my flip phone at the time.

All my rides are in Garmin since that time. Since Strava became popular, they've been in there also. So if I need to go back it's easy.

I don't have to deal with some app on my phone killing the battery while I ride. I don't have to worry about sweat killing my phone. I don't have to worry about my phone sitting on my handlebar waiting to get destroyed in a crash.

Also, the newer devices work REALLY well for workouts. I do HR workouts when running. Buzz on the wrist to let me know if my HR is too high or too low, intervals. Sound through my bluetooth headphones connected either to my phone or directly to the watch. Similar with the head units, you can push workouts directly from TrainingPeaks or TrainerRoad directly to the head unit off your training calendar, ready to go when going outside riding.

If all you care about is saving the Strava ride, I'm sure using the phone is OK. There's lots of different use cases.

 

[Pearl]

Unless you shits are trolling, I'm surprised how many people here don't use their phone to record. I throw mine in the jersey pocket and forget about it, works great.

Not trollin, I've had mixed results with throwing my garmin in my pocket, most of the time it works fine.

Maybe. I know it's not Strava as they killed external sensor support in their garbage app. I know there's MapmyRide, Ride w/ GPS, etc etc that I'm sure I could figure out and make work with some of my sensors.

I guess I could use my phone for tracking my rides, but I could supposedly also cook fish in my dishwasher. Doesn't mean I should.

I've been using an external gps since my Garmin 705. Back then there wasn't the ability to track anything on my flip phone at the time.

All my rides are in Garmin since that time. Since Strava became popular, they've been in there also. So if I need to go back it's easy.

I don't have to deal with some app on my phone killing the battery while I ride. I don't have to worry about sweat killing my phone. I don't have to worry about my phone sitting on my handlebar waiting to get destroyed in a crash.

Also, the newer devices work REALLY well for workouts. I do HR workouts when running. Buzz on the wrist to let me know if my HR is too high or too low, intervals. Sound through my bluetooth headphones connected either to my phone or directly to the watch. Similar with the head units, you can push workouts directly from TrainingPeaks or TrainerRoad directly to the head unit off your training calendar, ready to go when going outside riding.

If all you care about is saving the Strava ride, I'm sure using the phone is OK. There's lots of different use cases.

Kind of echos my feeling, I don't know of an app on my phone that would record bluetooth power/HR (strava did but canned it IIRC) and not kill my battery. The watch seems like a feasible compromise of recording the data but not using the garmin unit on my barz

 

[Turbotrix]

I use a Suunto Ambit 3 for all my activities. I had the Garmix Fenix but returned it due to it taking too long to acquire the satellites and, I found it to be too inaccurate in the woods. No complaints with the Suunto. It's super easy to configure for different activities (number of screens, sampling rates, etc).

 

[Pearl]

I thought the Garmin Instinct was going to be a winner, but no power meter support

Garmin Instinct GPS Watch In-Depth Review

When it comes to looks, you’re either going to love or hate the new Garmin Instinct watch. There’s not likely to be much middle ground. If you like the looks of Casio watches, you’ll probably be pretty excited about this

www.dcrainmaker.com

seems that Suunto 5 does doe

 

[knobbyhead]

I have a fitbit charge3 , I like it that uses the phones gps. Other fitbits dont

 

[trener1]

I have a fitbit charge3 , I like it that uses the phones gps. Other fitbits dont

I'd get a Garmin Fenix 5 for what you are looking for. you can pick up a refurbished 5 with a full 1 year warranty for $199, ot if you want one with built in maps Best Buy has the Fenix 5x on sale for $389 which is a pretty awesome price.

 

[Pearl]

$199 sounds like a good price.

 

[trener1]

$199 is a good price, I am tempted to pick one up even though I don't really need it.

 

[Santapez]

Also look at the Coros. Pretty sure their new $200 option has basically all the features. I forgot about it, but I think DC Rainmaker did a review on it recently. It even has running power support...

Those watches seem to be gaining a lot of traction and have EXCELLENT battery life. With GPS or without GPS.

 

[one piece crank]

The Suunto Ambit3 recommended above is on sale at $159 (from $499). And it’s not a Garmin.

 

[Pearl]

Coros pace 2 seems to check all my boxes, curious how it looks/feels IRL

 

[Blair]

I have a fenix 5. It’s way better than an Apple Watch for recording rides.
It’s basically a garmin 520 strapped to your wrist. Minus the ability to use it to navigate.
But it also tracks sleep and other stuff you may like to look at.
if I didn’t wear an Apple Watch for work, I would wear the Garmin all the time instead.

You mentioned the sleep tracking, the specs also mention things like stress tracking, heart rate, pulse ox sensor, training status and load, body battery, VO2 max, recovery time, rest days, blah blah.... sounds great but is any of that close to worthwhile or just a bunch of marketing BS?

 

[jShort]

You mentioned the sleep tracking, the specs also mention things like stress tracking, heart rate, pulse ox sensor, training status and load, body battery, VO2 max, recovery time, rest days, blah blah.... sounds great but is any of that close to worthwhile or just a bunch of marketing BS?

it does do all that. The accuracy of those data points is questionable. DC Rainmaker is the guy/site to look at watch reviews.

 

[Santapez]

You mentioned the sleep tracking, the specs also mention things like stress tracking, heart rate, pulse ox sensor, training status and load, body battery, VO2 max, recovery time, rest days, blah blah.... sounds great but is any of that close to worthwhile or just a bunch of marketing BS?

Pulse ox seems to be garbage and that's what everyone online seems to also think. I believe it comes down to the LED placement and such will never be reliable. It's also a huge drain on the battery.

Honestly most of the metrics are in the INTERESTING column, not so much USEFUL column. For instance, VO2 max. What does the # really tell you besides if you suck or don't suck?

Also, and this may change (or have changed) since they purchased FirstBeat, but most of the metrics are done on the watch, so if you use a Garmin Edge for bike riding and not the watch, the metrics aren't reflected necessarily between the devices. I actually like the steps & intensity minutes as a way to track that I'm doing at least the bare minimum on a daily/weekly basis for movement. For the intensity minutes it doesn't care if I do a ride and track it with my Edge, I need to turn on a ride event on the watch. I don't need to save it however.

If you like looking at #s and find them interesting, it's great. But I haven't seen a way to use most of the data in a productive way. It's cool to see my heart rate while I sleep and during the day, but what can I realistically do with that data?

 

[Patrick]

It's cool to see my heart rate while I sleep during the day,

fixed.

----

I'm in the "trend" boat. are things trending correctly towards the goal?
It doesn't really matter if the HR is off, as long as it is consistently off.
Same with Sp02 or or V02. if they are wildly different than expected,
it is probably a sampling error - but if they are consistent and trending, well.
(except for covid - fatigue and drop in Sp02)

Consider the venerable bathroom scale - what if it was off by 1lb?
if ya weigh in at 145 that is almost 0.7% - does it matter?

the next level would be coordinating the readings with results.
take the sleep numbers - leading up to a race, did getting 5(3? 2?) nights of good sleep
going in lead to a better result? did 1 restless night mess it up?
Or even just going into an FTP test (since more objective number than race results)

the pointy end of the pointy end is doing all sorts of telemetry to get it all dialed -
so a bit more to stay up (or get to the) front can't hurt.

 

[stb222]

Honestly most of the metrics are in the INTERESTING column, not so much USEFUL column.

I think this really sums up @Patrick post's very well.

 

[JPark]

A note on the Phenix 5. It comes in 3 sizes and the smallest size has a very short battery life. My wife had to recharge hers almost every day (she had all the monitoring features on). I understand the larger versions last longer. I have since bought her the Phenix 6 Solar and that one can last about a week in the small size.

 

[mattybfat]

I'm glad I ride my bike for fun

 

[Over the Bars]

I love my Garmin Instinct! Only thing it's missing in my mind is the topo maps but i haven't had any hiccups with it at all and have had it over a year now.