Watch for running.

_Jimlad_

_Jimlad_

_Jimlad_

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Joined
5 Jun 2005
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Southampton
Been using a cheap mi band for far to long and have really got into running since lock down. Doing 3 runs each week. Been harassed to get Strava and also need something a bit more accurate to track my runs.

Happy to spend upto £250 as I see this as a good investment in my health

Needs to hook in with Strava and be android compatible, I quite like the idea of a music sync so I don't always have to have my phone on me.

Any thoughts ?
 
SPG said:
Garmin Forerunner series.
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Yep.

Have a look at dc rainmaker reviews. But generally garmin is the best for fitness. oriented watches. 245 music should be in your price bracket. £170 I've seen it go for a few times.

Though the coros pace gets amazing reviews, but iirc it has no music.
 
Yeah, I'm waiting for the 255 to upgrade from my 235. I've loved this watch. For years I've never worn one but I can't be without it now. You can keep your Rolexs and whathaveyou!

But if mine broke today, I'd have no qualms about getting the Garmin Forerunner 55 tomorrow. I think it even tracks walking as an activity now which is a bonus for me.
 
A mate is gonna give me his fenix 3, I am guessing even though it's a few years old that will tide me over until the 255.

I am sure the 245 would be fine. But if a new one is due in the next few months I may as well hold fire
 
whitecrook said:
Quick q sorry to butt in—- what does the garmin do/benefits for running over an apple watch (s5) if any?
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I found GPS accuracy to be higher. I had an Apple watch 3, and then 5 cellular and switched to a Fenix 6x pro. I could run the same route and my Apple watch could vary by around 10% on distance whereas my Garmin is pretty much bang on every time. These are standard routes on a road too, nothing on trails/remote.

Other benefits would be that i can load a map into my Garmin and follow a route, i think you can do that with Apple using Komoot now, but it's nice to have it all in one place.

Battery is another, my Garmin can last for around 60hrs in battery saving mode whilst tracking. Not a factor for a lot of people, but once you get past marathon distance i found that the Apple battery would die after ~5hrs of running.

The touchscreen also annoyed me, the number of times i'd run in the rain and get home to find the rain had somehow pressed the screen in and stopped tracking. I know you could lock it, but sometimes that seemed to fail too.

I forgot some others now as it's ~18 months since i had the Apple watch, but i recall there being a couple of other things that really annoyed me too.
 
Martynt74 said:
I found GPS accuracy to be higher. I had an Apple watch 3, and then 5 cellular and switched to a Fenix 6x pro. I could run the same route and my Apple watch could vary by around 10% on distance whereas my Garmin is pretty much bang on every time. These are standard routes on a road too, nothing on trails/remote.

Other benefits would be that i can load a map into my Garmin and follow a route, i think you can do that with Apple using Komoot now, but it's nice to have it all in one place.

Battery is another, my Garmin can last for around 60hrs in battery saving mode whilst tracking. Not a factor for a lot of people, but once you get past marathon distance i found that the Apple battery would die after ~5hrs of running.

The touchscreen also annoyed me, the number of times i'd run in the rain and get home to find the rain had somehow pressed the screen in and stopped tracking. I know you could lock it, but sometimes that seemed to fail too.

I forgot some others now as it's ~18 months since i had the Apple watch, but i recall there being a couple of other things that really annoyed me too.
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Thanks. Makes sense!
 
A follow up to @Martynt74's post about loading a map into his Garmin. Maybe it's a Fenix thing, I wouldn't know the first thing about how to do it on a Forerunner. How does the watch guide you along the map route? Does it speak and give you directional arrows like a bog standard GPS device? :confused:

Do any of the watches have the ability to guide you back home again? It's one of my worries about running in strange places, if I just go out willy nilly, how can you find your way back to your hotel or whatever? It would be good if you could set a start location and then when you're ready to head back, you can activate "return to start" mode and it will tell you how to get there.

EDIT: After having a quick Google, it seems Garmin added so many more features to the Forerunner 245 and it makes me 235 seem positively ancient and useless! Courses are not available on my watch but they are on the 245.
 
Do any of the watches have the ability to guide you back home again? It's one of my worries about running in strange places, if I just go out willy nilly, how can you find your way back to your hotel or whatever? It would be good if you could set a start location and then when you're ready to head back, you can activate "return to start" mode and it will tell you how to get there.
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Yes even my long in the tooth (in terms of tech) Fenix 5 plus has that, in fact I had to use it when I got completely lost in a huge suburban area in Chicago, I just put the breadcrumb trail on and it put me back on track before my wife put out a search party :)

I think it has a few variations on a "base camp" you can also direct to various things like points of interest on it's map.
 
I’ve got a stand-alone GPS for hill walking, it doesn’t give you a read out like it would if you’re driving.

you have to constantly look at it to follow the path. If you deviate off route for more than 50m it will make a noise.

It’s good to be honest, I think it’d be easier with a watch though. The Fenix 6 solar would be my ideal choice but defeats the purpose somewhat with me already having a 66i
 
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