Best Running GPS Units
Battery Life 11 Hours Training, 9 Days Watch, Activity Tracking, Notifications + Heart Rate.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"With a brightly coloured strap, it could even look like a trendy time piece that doesn’t scream “FITNESS TRACKER!”. --HR recording--. I compared the HR data to that from a Polar H7 Bluetooth Smart HRM and the comparison is shown in the attached pictures. Finishing time. Features like training calendar and my workouts require that you log into Garmin Connect web and do some planning. The FR 235 allows the user to set interval distance, duration and time right from the watch device. As for finishing time, you just need to set a distance and go about your run while the FR235 will display roughly how fast you can complete the distance based on the current pace. The screen during activity tracking can be set to a total of 5 screens of which 2 can be further split into 4 data fields each. So in total you’re getting 4+4+1 (Heart rate) +1 (HR Zone gauge)+1 (Clock)= 11 stats to view during tracked activities. --Smart notifications—. The FR235 allows you to expand and read smart notifications or set the mode of alert, be it audio, vibration or both. --All day activity tracker—. The FR235 tracks steps, distance, calories burned, sleep, all day HR and intensity minutes but it doesn’t track number of stairs climbed due to the lack of a barometer. I was able to set alerts during a tracked activity session to buzz when I go beyond a certain HR. • Measure all day heart rate and heart rate during tracked activity sessions. • GPS+Glonass enabled with smart or per second tracking. • Vibration and audio enabled for smart notifications, alarms, move alerts. • Expand and read full messages on FR 235 display. • Pick up phone calls only. • Heavily customisable. • Garmin Connect IQ compatible for apps and watch face downloads. • VO2 Max score, Race time predictor, Recovery advisor. • Automatic laps for 1km/1 mile or customised. • Auto pause during tracked runs. • Interval run features. • Water resistant to 5 ATM. • Big screen that is not touch enabled. • Sunlight readable screen with back light. • Connect IQ compatible. • Reads lap number and time from Garmin Connect mobile app from connected smart phone. • Shows weather and calender events from smart phone. • Water resistant to 5 ATM. Cons. • Navigation on the FR235 takes getting used to. • No virtual pacer feature. --Updated 28th Jan 2016--. Well I had the watch for a while now."
"I was a runner through the Charge and Surge (GPS) but then had a knee injury and became a gym rat through the Blaze time period. This was an epic fail for me and although Fitbit customer service was awesome and replaced it under warranty, the new unit still did not work on GPS. It had a lot of bluetooth problems including not connecting often so that I could access music controls. It's also MUCH easier to download apps, widgets and watch faces connected to your computer than to your smart phone. I have read lots of reviews here that say this product has a bad hrm, but I have found that to be untrue. Since I have had many fitbits with this feature and experience with Polar heart rate straps (they cut my skin so I had to stop using them), I believe that the heart rate monitor is pretty reliable. It does not show the heart beat moving like the Blaze does, but that's minor and it does take a minute to update. Also, the Garmin does not let you know when you have reached your goal and that feature on the blaze was kind of cute. I wish they made small watch band sizes for women like me. Here is where I agree with the reviewer about making sure that you are buying this watch for the right reasons! -On the first night I had my Garmin, I was 100% sure I was going to return it because the set up process was such a pain in the butt. If Garmin could hire a Fitbit software engineer to sort out their IOS app, I would be a happy camper. I don't see any icon or any indicator that it is charging and I have to just come back in a few minutes to see if the percentage has changed. I charged it fully on Wednesday and then used it only during the day (turning it off at night) and it is Sunday now. I was very sad to leave Fitbit and I will probably go back if they ever come out with a Surge 2 that is not square (hate that look) so I can use their awesome app and do challenges with my friends and coworkers."
Receive text, call, email, calendar and social media alerts,Display type:sunlight-visible, transflective memory-in-pixel (MIP). Activity Tracking - Displays Steps, Calories, Distance, Heart Rate, Floors Climbed, Intensity Minutes and Time of Day.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I had the Garmin Vivosmart HR for about 10 days and am writing this review which I hope might be useful for people who are interested in purchasing the device. The Vivosmart HR is the first of Garmin's devices to offer "Elevate" heart rate monitoring technology; Garmin's own in house tech and not something borrowed from Mio Global like the Forerunner 225. I suspect the Vivosmart HR work on "Smart recording" basis; the HR data is not captured per second but at various points during your workout or run where there could be a change in pace or direction and so on. Also you can't pair an ANT+ chest heart rate strap to the Vivosmart HR though you can broadcast HR data via ANT+ from the Vivosmart HR to compatible devices such as Garmin VIRB camera. During tracked activities such as a run, the Vivosmart HR will estimate your distance covered based on the accelerometer. You can also see weather (when connected to mobile device), use the Vivosmart HR as a remote to play music or control VIRB cameras, activate the "Find my phone" function, set alarms or receive "Move" alerts when you've been idle for 1 hour. Measures steps, distance, calories, heart rate, floors climbed, active minutes. Measures heart rate during tracked activity sessions. Always-on sunlight readable display with back light. Smart notifications. Vibration enabled for alarms and move alerts. Remote control music on connected mobile device, Garmin VIRB cameras. Find my phone function. Waterproof to 5 ATM. Up to 5 days battery life. Autosync. Cons: Non changeable strap. Dim backlight."
"My specs: I am 38 year old female, 161lbs, Beachbody on Demand user [Challenge du Jour program (means blending of P90X, Insanity, Hammer and Chisel, etc workouts = 6 days per week, Sundays off.). With this Vivosmart HR watch, you should allow enough to become acquainted with how it logs information your body sends it. I've bumped the screen a few times against hard surfaces and it hasn't scratched; a great feature for me because I am not delicate with my things. Before you start your killer workout :) ------> Tap the side button, tap the Running Man icon, tap the side button to start: Your Vivosmart HR is now in ACTIVITY MODE - While in ACTIVITY MODE, your watch will read your heart beat every few seconds and measure your calories burned + more. I always like to keep mine on the heart rate monitor screen because I like to see how hard I'm working and if I can max out just a little more [I'm at 148bpm? Makes sense because I am sweating a lot during those days and the screen should be freshly cleaned with more than just shower gel. All I really care about is heart rate, intensity minutes, calories, and sleep data. When I first got my watch, every time I had a question, I would email Garmin and submit a form at https://support.garmin.com/support/sw/escalateForm, and a rep would ALWAYS get back to me by the next day. I asked them about the difference between heart rate monitoring between non-ACTIVITY MODE and ACTIVITY MODE (That's how I found out how to use it properly), what the screen is made out of, and other things, and each time a rep emailed me back with a full explanation (They actually READ each part of your email and answer it). I'll usually work out, and if I see the low battery icon, plug it in, make my smoothie and take a shower, in less than an hour it's fully charged."
Move bar w/audible alert - Reminds you to stay active throughout the day by displaying a red move bar and sounding an alert after one hour of inactivity.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"For a quick review of the pros and cons (more detail below): PROS: No recharging. Waterproof (to 50 meters). Shows time and date. Audible alert (when you’ve been inactive for an hour). Backlit screen so you can see it in the dark. Default/home screen option. Locking strap. Automatic or customized step goal (optional). Activity timer. Pairs with a HRM (sold separately). CONS: No reminder alerts to bug you when you remain inactive**. No vibrating alert**. No customization with alert reminders. No manual alarms that you can set. ** Indicates why stars were lost – if they fix, I’ll update my review (I explain below under "Alerts"). GENERAL: I chose the Vivofit fitness tracker over the other options out there because it doesn't need to be recharged and its waterproof (to 50 meters) - two very important things for me. AUDIBLE ALERTS (new to the Vivofit 2): Audible alerts were lacking from the original Vivofit, and I was so excited for this option. Here’s how the new audible alert works on my device: as the inactivity bar first starts to grow (after 15 minutes of inactivity), it gives you a single chirp. So instead, I just manually entered my sleep time in Garmin Connect (when I did that, it still showed my activity level, but the sleep time was a total guess). SCREENS (on the device): I LOVE that the device shows the time!!! What’s great is that you can set a “default” screen for your device! On the device, you can scroll through the following screens: Time, Date, Steps, Step Goal, Calories, Distance, and Heart Rate. You can select which of these screens you want to see on your device by going to Garmin Connect > Device Settings. ACTIVITY TIMER: The Vivofit 2 now has an activity timer on the device. Without the HRM, I had to go into Garmin Connect and manually add an activity if I wanted it to show up. The device sends the activity info to Garmin Connect when it syncs – which then pushes the activity out to My Fitness Pal (more on MFP below). Sometimes it says the activity is “running,” but I can easily edit the title of the activity in Garmin Connect as needed. In the device settings area, I can choose the default activity screen and also which screens are available on the device during that activity, for example, I can hide the date screen during an activity but show it when not in an activity – very nice! I added a picture of what today’s activity looked like on Garmin Connect using both the activity timer and my HRM. The HRM on the machine (when I held it) showed my heart rate to be about 1-2 beats different than the device showed, but went up and down at the same time, so I think it’s pretty accurate. You can manually set the device to sleep mode when you go to bed and then turn off sleep mode when you wake up. In User Settings, you can set up your “Normal Sleep Time.” If you forget to turn on sleep mode, just go into Garmin Connect, confirm your sleep time for the night and it will show your movement levels anyway (so don’t worry much if you forget to turn it on). My device has been tracking my sleep time automatically (I think this came from a firmware update and will work on the original Vivofit also). I always forget to turn on sleep mode, and I had to go into Garmin Connect and manually enter my sleep time before it would show my activity level during sleep. With the Vivofit 2, my actual sleep time shows automatically – even if it’s not the same as my “Normal Sleep Hours.” For example, my “Normal Sleep Hours” are set to 8:00 p.m. – 5:00 a.m. Last night, I didn’t turn on sleep mode or confirm my sleep time in Garmin Connect, yet it shows that I slept from 9:34 p.m. – 5:37 a.m.!! STEP GOAL: By default, the device gives you an auto goal for steps that automatically adjusts depending on whether you miss or meet the goal. You do this on Garmin Connect > Device Settings. GARMIN CONNECT: Garmin Connect is fairly easy to use. The device now auto syncs with Garmin Connect. So when I’m active, Garmin Connect sends that activity (and calories burned) to MFP. On MFP, there’s an option to “Enable Negative Adjustments.” When I’m particularly inactive (very low on steps), Garmin Connect sends a negative activity adjustment to my MFP “Exercise” page. I’ve considered returning it several times because of the disappointing audible alerts (and lack of a silent alert), but in the end, I kept it because it’s the only device I know if that’s waterproof and doesn’t have to be charged."
"I've had the Fitbit Flex, Fitbit Force, original Vivofit, Vivosmart, Fitbit Charge HR and now have the Vivofit 2 AND the Fitbit Zip. After having gone back and forth between Fitbit and Garmin, I am going with the Vivofit 2 (for now). [Battery Life in Vivosmart and Vivofit 2] I had the original Vivofit and did a lot of international travel at the time. So for me, Vivofit2 > Vivosmart because: 1) I don't need alerts (on both wrists). 2) I don't have to charge it or even really think about charging it. 3) Readability of the screen. 4) Vivofit 2 has auto-sleep tracking (this may have been added via a software update to the Vivosmart - I do not know.). Like the Vivofit 2, the Fitbit Charge HR does auto-sleep tracking. That may not be a big deal for many people but more than once, I got into the shower, got it wet and then took it off and dried it immediately. Alerts for calls usually didn't hit the Fitbit Charge HR until I'd already answered a call so, again, not particularly useful for me but YMMV. Last, I found that the little nagging red bar on the Garmin devices (Vivofit, Vivofit 2, Vivosmart) really does make me get up and move. Fitbit gives you a 10,000 step daily goal which you can manually change. If you are like a lot of people who aren't very active and you start off at 5,000 steps and you do 5,000 steps - that a successful day for you. However, all of those days are 'fails' in Fitbit. Vivofit2 > Fitbit Charge HR because. 1) the Vivofit 2 is waterproof to 5 ATM. 2) battery life is amazing. 3) the inactivity alert does work for me and. 4) it connects to a HRM when I want it to (which is not FULL time). 5) some style alternatives. 6) adjusting daily step goals. *** Fitbit Platform/Dashboard v Garmin Platform/Dashboard *** Here's what will be a big factor for many people that is not going to be obvious from a hardware review. 2) If you want motivation from friends, most people have Fitbit over Garmin. It does little more than track steps for me and that's the basis of all of my competitions with friends in Fitbit so... that's how I keep the wrist-based wearable I like but can pretty easily still compete with friends on Fitbit (if you find yourself also debating these things). If you happen to use both, like me, when you do "activities" in Garmin, those *can* sync over to Fitbit so your jogs, workouts, swims - all of that - can be synced with Fitbit and show up there. *** Potential Sync Issue in Garmin Connect *** I have a Note 4 and when I first tried to pair the Vivofit 2 through Garmin Connect (the mobile app), it would initially pair, show as connected - and then immediately disconnect. I called Garmin and was told that I may have too many devices paired via bluetooth, even if only one device was actively connected."
Best GPS Units
Color: Black/Gray |. Style: Watch Only |. Configuration: New. Battery Life 11 Hours Training, 9 Days Watch, Activity Tracking, Notifications + Heart Rate.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"With a brightly coloured strap, it could even look like a trendy time piece that doesn’t scream “FITNESS TRACKER!”. --HR recording--. I compared the HR data to that from a Polar H7 Bluetooth Smart HRM and the comparison is shown in the attached pictures. Finishing time. Features like training calendar and my workouts require that you log into Garmin Connect web and do some planning. The FR 235 allows the user to set interval distance, duration and time right from the watch device. As for finishing time, you just need to set a distance and go about your run while the FR235 will display roughly how fast you can complete the distance based on the current pace. The screen during activity tracking can be set to a total of 5 screens of which 2 can be further split into 4 data fields each. So in total you’re getting 4+4+1 (Heart rate) +1 (HR Zone gauge)+1 (Clock)= 11 stats to view during tracked activities. --Smart notifications—. The FR235 allows you to expand and read smart notifications or set the mode of alert, be it audio, vibration or both. --All day activity tracker—. The FR235 tracks steps, distance, calories burned, sleep, all day HR and intensity minutes but it doesn’t track number of stairs climbed due to the lack of a barometer. I was able to set alerts during a tracked activity session to buzz when I go beyond a certain HR. • Measure all day heart rate and heart rate during tracked activity sessions. • GPS+Glonass enabled with smart or per second tracking. • Vibration and audio enabled for smart notifications, alarms, move alerts. • Expand and read full messages on FR 235 display. • Pick up phone calls only. • Heavily customisable. • Garmin Connect IQ compatible for apps and watch face downloads. • VO2 Max score, Race time predictor, Recovery advisor. • Automatic laps for 1km/1 mile or customised. • Auto pause during tracked runs. • Interval run features. • Water resistant to 5 ATM. • Big screen that is not touch enabled. • Sunlight readable screen with back light. • Connect IQ compatible. • Reads lap number and time from Garmin Connect mobile app from connected smart phone. • Shows weather and calender events from smart phone. • Water resistant to 5 ATM. Cons. • Navigation on the FR235 takes getting used to. • No virtual pacer feature. --Updated 28th Jan 2016--. Well I had the watch for a while now."
"I was a runner through the Charge and Surge (GPS) but then had a knee injury and became a gym rat through the Blaze time period. This was an epic fail for me and although Fitbit customer service was awesome and replaced it under warranty, the new unit still did not work on GPS. It had a lot of bluetooth problems including not connecting often so that I could access music controls. It's also MUCH easier to download apps, widgets and watch faces connected to your computer than to your smart phone. I have read lots of reviews here that say this product has a bad hrm, but I have found that to be untrue. Since I have had many fitbits with this feature and experience with Polar heart rate straps (they cut my skin so I had to stop using them), I believe that the heart rate monitor is pretty reliable. It does not show the heart beat moving like the Blaze does, but that's minor and it does take a minute to update. Also, the Garmin does not let you know when you have reached your goal and that feature on the blaze was kind of cute. I wish they made small watch band sizes for women like me. Here is where I agree with the reviewer about making sure that you are buying this watch for the right reasons! -On the first night I had my Garmin, I was 100% sure I was going to return it because the set up process was such a pain in the butt. If Garmin could hire a Fitbit software engineer to sort out their IOS app, I would be a happy camper. I don't see any icon or any indicator that it is charging and I have to just come back in a few minutes to see if the percentage has changed. I charged it fully on Wednesday and then used it only during the day (turning it off at night) and it is Sunday now. I was very sad to leave Fitbit and I will probably go back if they ever come out with a Surge 2 that is not square (hate that look) so I can use their awesome app and do challenges with my friends and coworkers."
Best Golf Course GPS Units
AUTOSHOT - Round analyzer measures shot distances with auto-recording for post-round analysis on your Garmin Connect account.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"In order to get, let's say hazards, you have to push the "OK" button to bring up the menu, press the up or down button to get to "HAZARDS," press OK button and it'll show you distances to hazards, if there is more than 1, you have to press the up or down button to look at each as it will only show 1 hazard at a time, then to get back to main screen you have to push the "BACK" button. When it's enabled, the watch knows you've just hit a shot and will ask you which club you just hit, so it can track it, it's also pretty good at figuring out which club you just hit and makes it the first choice, for example you hit a drive, the watch asks "driver?" It does take some getting used to to pressing buttons after EVERY shot, if you don't press anything and hit your next shot, no big deal, it'll still track your shot distance, but when you download info to Garmin connect it'll just show a ? Basically it says "the courses you play most often are updated automatically via the Garmin connect mobile app which by the way you must have in order to connect to bluetooth to get message notifications from your phone to the watch; it does not connect to bluetooth the traditional way, you must go through the app. SUMMARY: Good watch, some cool features if you don't mind pressing buttons all the time, at first it's frustrating because you will NOT remember to press the buttons after every shot, just part of the learning curve. Also, asked about being able to edit the club selection list for shot tracking and they said its not possible right now, but maybe with a future update."
"Here is my review: Opened the box and connected the S20 to my laptop via the included USB cable. I already have a Garmin account setup and the software on my computer because I also own a Vivoactive HR as my everyday activity tracker. When you walk onto the green it automatically pops up a prompt asking you to enter your score, number of putts, and whether you hit the fairway. My personal experience has been a great one so far, and I've thankful that it seems that Garmin has fixed the issues that seem to have plagued earlier firmware versions. I'm hoping that Garmin only improves the S20 and am looking forward to seeing what features they adding the future."
"Wish the score keeping was just a little easier, as I kept advancing to the next hole when I meant to add strokes to par."
"It allows you to record which club you use for each shot, shows where on the fairway you hit to/from, save your scorecard as well as use it as a step counter."
"I upgraded from the S2 because I wanted the added feature of getting distance to the hazards and to move the flag around the green."
"The display is sharp and easy to read, in the watch mode I can read the time without my glasses."
"Great Price Great Quality Great Service."
"Although they should do updates to the software, i.e., let you add in clubs, go back to make scoring changes, account for type of penalty, such as hitting into water or getting out of sand traps."