Smart watch primarily for cycling
Discussion
Given the increase in time recently meaning i'm doing more exercise than i've done in years, i've been looking at smart watches.
I've been looking at Garmins, but am struggling to see how much difference there is from a cycling perspective.
I've no interest in their (very expense) varia lights, so can't really see how say a Vivoactive 3 differs greatly from a Forerunner 45.
I've put this in Pedal Powered as the main use for it will be road (and occasional offroad) cycling - but I also run and row once a week each.
I'm happy to be corrected in my understanding and accept any suggestions - budget is around £200, as it'll only be worn for exercise.
I've been looking at Garmins, but am struggling to see how much difference there is from a cycling perspective.
I've no interest in their (very expense) varia lights, so can't really see how say a Vivoactive 3 differs greatly from a Forerunner 45.
I've put this in Pedal Powered as the main use for it will be road (and occasional offroad) cycling - but I also run and row once a week each.
I'm happy to be corrected in my understanding and accept any suggestions - budget is around £200, as it'll only be worn for exercise.
Bit of a PH suggestion this, but if you are going to drop that much cash on something just for exercise, what about a proper Garmin bike GPS?
The Edge 530 is about £230. I spent £100 more and bought the Edge 830, but the only difference is that the 830 is touch screen. I don't regret it one bit...the turn by turn, full map satnav is great, and there is more data available than you can shake a stick at, even without the additional sensor kit. Plan a route on Strava on your PC or tablet, upload it to your Edge, get nav the whole way round, and automatically upload your Strava stats afterwards. It gives you data and "motivation" up the hills, and sends a message to a friend if you crash. I've only scratched the surface of it's capabilities so far, but I'm a total convert, great bit of kit.
The Edge 530 is about £230. I spent £100 more and bought the Edge 830, but the only difference is that the 830 is touch screen. I don't regret it one bit...the turn by turn, full map satnav is great, and there is more data available than you can shake a stick at, even without the additional sensor kit. Plan a route on Strava on your PC or tablet, upload it to your Edge, get nav the whole way round, and automatically upload your Strava stats afterwards. It gives you data and "motivation" up the hills, and sends a message to a friend if you crash. I've only scratched the surface of it's capabilities so far, but I'm a total convert, great bit of kit.
I've also been looking for a suitable cycling watch, and always seem to find a reason not to actually buy one. I would have thought my few requirements are fairly common, and yet cannot find something suitable.
All I want is:
1. Built in 4G/LTE so I can activate an esim through vodafone and go out without my phone.
2. Good/accurate Strava logging. Happy to use a native app that then has good strava sync capability.
3. Standalone WhatsApp support because no-one does normal phone calls or text messages these days. Most smartwatch WhatsApp support seems to just be relaying notifications.
The closest I've found is the Ticwatch Pro 4G/LTE which has been sitting in my Amazon wish list for weeks. Point #3 above is the sacrifice.
All I want is:
1. Built in 4G/LTE so I can activate an esim through vodafone and go out without my phone.
2. Good/accurate Strava logging. Happy to use a native app that then has good strava sync capability.
3. Standalone WhatsApp support because no-one does normal phone calls or text messages these days. Most smartwatch WhatsApp support seems to just be relaying notifications.
The closest I've found is the Ticwatch Pro 4G/LTE which has been sitting in my Amazon wish list for weeks. Point #3 above is the sacrifice.
Hard-Drive said:
Bit of a PH suggestion this, but if you are going to drop that much cash on something just for exercise, what about a proper Garmin bike GPS?
The Edge 530 is about £230. I spent £100 more and bought the Edge 830, but the only difference is that the 830 is touch screen. I don't regret it one bit...the turn by turn, full map satnav is great, and there is more data available than you can shake a stick at, even without the additional sensor kit. Plan a route on Strava on your PC or tablet, upload it to your Edge, get nav the whole way round, and automatically upload your Strava stats afterwards. It gives you data and "motivation" up the hills, and sends a message to a friend if you crash. I've only scratched the surface of it's capabilities so far, but I'm a total convert, great bit of kit.
It's a fair suggestion - at the moment I only go out for about 2 hours on the weekend, so I generally don't venture too far due to leaving my wife with three young kids, of which one has complex needs. The Edge 530 is about £230. I spent £100 more and bought the Edge 830, but the only difference is that the 830 is touch screen. I don't regret it one bit...the turn by turn, full map satnav is great, and there is more data available than you can shake a stick at, even without the additional sensor kit. Plan a route on Strava on your PC or tablet, upload it to your Edge, get nav the whole way round, and automatically upload your Strava stats afterwards. It gives you data and "motivation" up the hills, and sends a message to a friend if you crash. I've only scratched the surface of it's capabilities so far, but I'm a total convert, great bit of kit.
I think i must be a philistine... I don't use Strava. Years ago I started using 'mapmyride' and have just stuck with that. I need to make the change, but its one of those things you never get around to doing...
JPJPJP said:
I think he probably can... just seen they do a Vivoactive 4s, so might opt for that. 40mm (45mm is too big for me), stores music and I think does everything I would like. I have a Garmin 530 and Fenix 6Pro. I use both for cycling. The Fenix is overkill but I need the big display for my ageing eyes. I bought an Instinct at the same time which does most of what the Fenix does (no mapping but trying to use a map on a watch is pretty difficult, for me anyway) but returned it because I simply couldn’t see the display when I wore my glasses or contacts. If you aren’t an old fart I’d suggest you look at the Instinct. I like having the cycle computer out front though as you get to track your mileage, speed, average speed, time etc. If I was to have one or the other, it would be the cycle computer but a watch can also track your steps. The 530 has been great but I do have to occasionally unpair it from my iPhone 11 and then go through the re-pairing process which is a pain. I don’t know what the issue is.
OP, I have Polar Ignite watch, have a read to see if it fits your needs -
https://www.polar.com/uk-en/ignite?gclid=CjwKCAjwq...
I like the watch and fitness functions. I ruled most of the "smart" watches out because a lot of them need charging every day, and I just can't be arsed with that. Plus, I assumed the tracking functions wouldn't work whilst charging, although I might be wrong.
Some of them are just too big, and a day to day watch costing £500 is too much.
I have a bike computer for logging my rides, so use the Polar for other activity; I don't upload to Strava from the Polar but the Polar fitness app seems to do most of what Strava does on a personal level. It's meant to be waterproof too, although I have yet to give it a proper dunking.
I don't bother with phone notifications via the watch so can't say how good or bad it is at that.
https://www.polar.com/uk-en/ignite?gclid=CjwKCAjwq...
I like the watch and fitness functions. I ruled most of the "smart" watches out because a lot of them need charging every day, and I just can't be arsed with that. Plus, I assumed the tracking functions wouldn't work whilst charging, although I might be wrong.
Some of them are just too big, and a day to day watch costing £500 is too much.
I have a bike computer for logging my rides, so use the Polar for other activity; I don't upload to Strava from the Polar but the Polar fitness app seems to do most of what Strava does on a personal level. It's meant to be waterproof too, although I have yet to give it a proper dunking.
I don't bother with phone notifications via the watch so can't say how good or bad it is at that.
I use my Tactix Charlie for cycling, it’s virtually the same firmware as the Fenix 5 but has the HALO jump mode which I’m ashamed to say I’ve only used twice. 
It works brilliantly with Strava, picks up the satellites instantly unlike a £1,200 iPhone and has readable maps on the watch face for following a pre programmed route. It beeps and vibrates, you look at it and it tells you the direction to turn.
It also gives me current speed, average speed, distance etc. at a glance.
I found using the iPhone as a cycling computer a pain the arse, this has solved the problem.
It works brilliantly with Strava, picks up the satellites instantly unlike a £1,200 iPhone and has readable maps on the watch face for following a pre programmed route. It beeps and vibrates, you look at it and it tells you the direction to turn.
It also gives me current speed, average speed, distance etc. at a glance.
I found using the iPhone as a cycling computer a pain the arse, this has solved the problem.
Thanks for all the replies, much appreciated.
I'll just have to wait and see if another decent offer comes along soon enough. It's not something I need, by any stretch of the imagination, but have been looking at for a while and thought I'd take the plunge with the 40% off. I'll also take a look second hand and look into the old Fenix 3.
It's curious how many people suggest there's no need to look anywhere past Garmin for this kind of thing - even wiggle must agree as I get offered gold member prices on Polars equivalents.
I'll just have to wait and see if another decent offer comes along soon enough. It's not something I need, by any stretch of the imagination, but have been looking at for a while and thought I'd take the plunge with the 40% off. I'll also take a look second hand and look into the old Fenix 3.
It's curious how many people suggest there's no need to look anywhere past Garmin for this kind of thing - even wiggle must agree as I get offered gold member prices on Polars equivalents.
Miocene said:
Thanks for all the replies, much appreciated.
I'll just have to wait and see if another decent offer comes along soon enough. It's not something I need, by any stretch of the imagination, but have been looking at for a while and thought I'd take the plunge with the 40% off. I'll also take a look second hand and look into the old Fenix 3.
It's curious how many people suggest there's no need to look anywhere past Garmin for this kind of thing - even wiggle must agree as I get offered gold member prices on Polars equivalents.
The first question is what do you want it for? Ie what information do you want to see while you are riding? What info do you want to look at after your ride? I'll just have to wait and see if another decent offer comes along soon enough. It's not something I need, by any stretch of the imagination, but have been looking at for a while and thought I'd take the plunge with the 40% off. I'll also take a look second hand and look into the old Fenix 3.
It's curious how many people suggest there's no need to look anywhere past Garmin for this kind of thing - even wiggle must agree as I get offered gold member prices on Polars equivalents.
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