Watch

Wayne Plunger
Wayne Plunger Posts: 444
edited April 2019 in Road buying advice
Didn't know if this was the correct place to put this but am sure some on here must use them for cycling.

Apart from cycling I do a fair bit of running and carry phone to record Strava.

Thinking it would be lighter / easier to wear one of these new fangled watches.

Are there any (cheaper the better, not too technical) that I can use with Strava? I don't have a Garmin, just use the phone when cycling so would want it to work as easy as the phone or am I being too simplistic?

Thanks in advance.

Comments

  • mercia_man
    mercia_man Posts: 1,431
    The Garmin Forerunner 35 will do what you want for both running and cycling. Easy to set up and use, links to Strava via Connect app on your phone. Amazon have them for £109 at the moment. My wife has one and loves it. Connect is great for analysing your performance.

    If you are willing to pay more, you can get a better Garmin watch with colour display and more features to analyse your performance, such as the 235, 645 and 935. I’ve got a 645 (non-music model) and it’s totally replaced my phone for recording runs and rides.
  • keef66
    keef66 Posts: 13,123
    Son just got a forerunner 35 and loves it
  • Darius_Jedburgh
    Darius_Jedburgh Posts: 675
    I've got a Garmin Vivoactive HR that does all you want. I've changed my style so it is now surplus to requirements. Yours for £50. A good introduction to the fancy watch system.
  • Wayne Plunger
    Wayne Plunger Posts: 444
    Mercia Man wrote:
    The Garmin Forerunner 35 will do what you want for both running and cycling. Easy to set up and use, links to Strava via Connect app on your phone. Amazon have them for £109 at the moment. My wife has one and loves it. Connect is great for analysing your performance.

    If you are willing to pay more, you can get a better Garmin watch with colour display and more features to analyse your performance, such as the 235, 645 and 935. I’ve got a 645 (non-music model) and it’s totally replaced my phone for recording runs and rides.


    Sorry if being a bit thick Mercia Man, (tech not my strong point) when you say it links via connect app on your phone does that mean I still have to carry the phone?
  • mercia_man
    mercia_man Posts: 1,431
    No you don’t have to carry your phone. When you first get your watch you sync it to your phone, registering with Garmin and entering personal details like age and weight. It may take a few tries before the phone and watch pair up but once that is achieved you then use Garmin Connect as an app on your phone.

    Then you can go for a ride or run, with your watch recording on GPS. When you finish, you save the activity on watch. You can view details on your watch immediately. But you can also sync your watch to phone on Bluetooth and full details of your activity with useful graphs will be available to view on phone. This can be done via phone data or WiFi at home. You can also get the app to send the details automatically to Strava.
  • Wayne Plunger
    Wayne Plunger Posts: 444
    Mercia Man wrote:
    No you don’t have to carry your phone. When you first get your watch you sync it to your phone, registering with Garmin and entering personal details like age and weight. It may take a few tries before the phone and watch pair up but once that is achieved you then use Garmin Connect as an app on your phone.

    Then you can go for a ride or run, with your watch recording on GPS. When you finish, you save the activity on watch. You can view details on your watch immediately. But you can also sync your watch to phone on Bluetooth and full details of your activity with useful graphs will be available to view on phone. This can be done via phone data or WiFi at home. You can also get the app to send the details automatically to Strava.

    Thank you for a clear and informative reply Mercia Man. Will look into getting one.
  • mrb123
    mrb123 Posts: 4,787
    My Vivoactive HR has been excellent so Franco's offer of one for 50 quid must be worth considering for you.
  • Darius_Jedburgh
    Darius_Jedburgh Posts: 675
    MrB123 wrote:
    My Vivoactive HR has been excellent so Franco's offer of one for 50 quid must be worth considering for you.

    Yes, it must have been a good offer because the watch has been snapped up and is now on it's way to a new home.
  • keef66
    keef66 Posts: 13,123
    keef66 wrote:
    Son just got a forerunner 35 and loves it

    And his elder brother was so impressed he bought one too the following week. I should be on commission.
  • mercia_man
    mercia_man Posts: 1,431
    It's not just the smart watch you get with a Garmin Forerunner (and a very good watch it is too) but you also get Garmin Connect which is a fantastic tool for analyzing your health and performance. My wife and I spend hours looking at all the figures, graphs and comparisons. The 35 is a good value entry into the Garmin smart watch world. More recently introduced Garmin models are better than ones which have been around a few years because improvements in the watch line-up are pretty rapid.

    If you have the money, a higher level model such as my 645 gives First Beat advanced training monitoring tools with VO2 Max, stress and recovery levels, performance condition, aerobic and anaerobic training effect, recovery time advice, training load and training status. It also gives you the opportunity to select a range of sport activities and you can download different watch faces, apps and widgets from ConnectIQ using your phone. The 645 is very much like a cheaper version of the Fenix 5 with shorter time between battery charges - mine generally gives me 4-7 days between charges depending on GPS use.

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