What wearable do you use to track your health/fitness/workouts?

wonko · 12 Apr 2022 at 10:26

Martynt74 said:
Out of curiosity, when you guys with the Fenix 6 say insane battery life, how long are you talking?

I have the 6X Pro, which is supposed to have a bigger battery vs the 6/6S and whilst it is insane during activity and can handle a run of about 60 hours if needed. I still find myself charging it maybe every 4/5 days. Obviously that's still a lot better than most watches and i do use it for ~1hr workout a day on average (Using a HR strap, no music), but i always read about people not charging theirs for 2 weeks and curious if that's actually genuine in regular use or just for people who turn everything off and don't track exercise.

It's a bit of a guess but my fenix 6 non-pro gets a charge every 7-10 days. That's with around 15 activity hours per week (using GPS) and with the pulse oximeter turned off (everything else is default I think).

doggs · 12 Apr 2022 at 12:14

Been debating if I should get a Forerunner 245 Music which can now be had for £180, or a Fenix 6s Pro for £360. Also seen new rumours of a Forerunner 255, so may wait for that.

drakulton · 12 Apr 2022 at 12:16

a bacon sandwich.

planty · 12 Apr 2022 at 14:54

Martynt74 said:
Out of curiosity, when you guys with the Fenix 6 say insane battery life, how long are you talking?

FYI I have a fenix 5 and the battery lasts for about 10-14 days, with approx. 5 hours GPS activity (running) per week.

Martynt74 · 12 Apr 2022 at 15:07

Weird, maybe i just have a dodgy battery then!

I will say i have absolutely everything turned on, and it's certainly not an issue for me to charge it as often as i do, just seemed at odds with other reports

Spleen Sauce · 12 Apr 2022 at 15:33

Martynt74 said:
Weird, maybe i just have a dodgy battery then!

I will say i have absolutely everything turned on, and it's certainly not an issue for me to charge it as often as i do, just seemed at odds with other reports

Do you have pulse ox monitoring set to 'all day'? If so, switch that off. Makes a big difference.

Martynt74 · 12 Apr 2022 at 16:02

Yeah i do. Will give that a go.

Spleen Sauce · 12 Apr 2022 at 16:15

Martynt74 said:
Yeah i do. Will give that a go.

Probably find that you’ll double your battery life…

Shadowness · 12 Apr 2022 at 16:20

Considering how inaccurate OHR reading can be, I would never get a Whoop or any tracker solely based on OHR. It could massively under read an activity and say I'm more rested than I actually am, or opposite.

I never do any activity without a proper chest HRM, but interested to hear how people wearing Whoops etc cope with them.

AndyCr15 · 12 Apr 2022 at 16:28

Yeah, DC Rainmakers big point was why don't they let you connect chest straps for activities...

Mind you, he also said that version 4.0 is a lot more accurate and I don't think it was far off chest strap results?

john_smith · 12 Apr 2022 at 16:29

Garmin Fenix 7SS here, this thread prompted me to see how my battery lasts.

100% on Saturday 2nd at 18:00 when I charged it, we're now 10 days later.
I wear it full time, 24/7 HR. The Pulse OX is off.
I have done...

4h20m of swimming (pool, no GPS)
7h3m of cycling
1h:49m of running
9 mins of transition

so 9h01m of GPS and a total of 13:21 including the swimming.

I have it on multiband GPS, I understand this burns through the battery quite significantly. I've got 9% left

Spleen Sauce · 12 Apr 2022 at 19:27

john_smith said:
100% on Saturday 2nd at 18:00 when I charged it, we're now 10 days later.

Super impressive I think.

robj20 · 12 Apr 2022 at 20:00

Shadowness said:
Considering how inaccurate OHR reading can be, I would never get a Whoop or any tracker solely based on OHR. It could massively under read an activity and say I'm more rested than I actually am, or opposite.

I never do any activity without a proper chest HRM, but interested to hear how people wearing Whoops etc cope with them.

The OHR on my 7X is as accurate as my chest strap it's just not as fast reacting.

jpaul · 12 Apr 2022 at 20:50

Fenix5 within 10bpm of the true chest strap value 85% of the time V ,
equally experiment by overlaying the raw data in a polar strap with that reported by fenix native you'll taste the difference, there's an earlier post where I did that.

jpaul said:
a more recent article on optical hrm's accuracy
http://fellrnr.com/wiki/Optical_Heart_Rate_Monitoring#Optical_Heart_Rate_Monitors_In_The_Warm
it's obvious - but had not appreciated that skin tone / sun tan might impact their functionality

Martynt74 · 12 Apr 2022 at 21:56

I’ve always found optical sensors read very similar to my chest strap most of the time.

The only times I notice a difference is during sprints/hill reps where I find the optical sensors don’t react quickly enough.

ultralaser · 12 Apr 2022 at 22:20

What wearable do you use? Fitbit Charge 5 / Garmin Forerunner 45
What do you use it for? (workouts, health monitoring, sleep tracking, nav when hiking, etc) Sleep, steps, running, cycling, swimming, readiness, mindfulness
What do you like about it? So the FitBit I love how simple it is and how many features it has, for the Garmin i find the accuracy (GPS) for running is better (basically it's a running watch).
What do you dislike or would change about it? I think the FitBit with the Garmin's running features would be amazing.
Do you think it makes a tangible difference to your health and fitness? Yes, it turns my fitness activities into tech thing.

Spleen Sauce · 13 Apr 2022 at 07:15

robj20 said:
The OHR on my 7X is as accurate as my chest strap it's just not as fast reacting.

The latest Garmin OHR sensor is waaaaay better than the previous gen that was on the 6. I’ve got an Epix 2 which is a world better than the sensor I had on my Fenix 6.

lemonkettaz · 13 Apr 2022 at 07:54

Garmin Fenix 6 Pro
Mainly running, but extends to general gym, walking, navigation occasionally.
Design, battery life as previously mentioned on these it's pretty impressive. Music storage, using Spotify with I think 2000 songs potentially. GPS is quite good on these for navigation, using it for grid references etc.
One major downside for me was the bluetooth connectivity with Jaybird Vista 1 headphones, as in there is no connectivity. This is apparently a well known issue between the two products that as far as I know, is not resolved. Therefore I had to get a cheap pair of bluetooth headphones for running. Not sure on the Vista 2 regarding connectivity, but considering the Jaybirds are not cheap and obviously the watch wasn't cheap, it's a big negative.
In terms of a tangible difference to fitness, not really. You either want to train or you don't. Maybe having a watch to record such things gives you that bit extra push to go and do something active maybe, I guess the people purchasing a Fenix are generally into fitness and being outdoors anyways.

Trifid · 13 Apr 2022 at 10:19

Spleen Sauce said:
The latest Garmin OHR sensor is waaaaay better than the previous gen that was on the 6. I’ve got an Epix 2 which is a world better than the sensor I had on my Fenix 6.

I too have been surprised how much better the sensor in the 7 is. I will always wear a strap for serious exercise but day to day and adhoc exercise, it picks up HR increases very quickly.

jpaul · 13 Apr 2022 at 10:37

good overlay analyis between strap/f7/epix2 , for outdoor cycling - pity he hasn't done running , which is probably between weighlifting and cycling, especially fartlek.
Garmin Epix 2: A Scientist’s Review.